Most of my recent work is in esports analytics with Dr. Choong-Soo Lee, a computer scientist also at St. Lawrence University. A few of my published projects include:

1. Lee, C.S. and Ramler, I. (2017) Identifying and evaluating successful non-meta strategies in league of legends. In Proceedings of Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) 2017. doi: doi.org/10.1145/3102071.3102081. (Received Best Paper Award at FDG 2017.)

   Abstract: League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game where teams of five players compete against each other. Over the years, players (the crowd) have formed a metagaming strategy, which is widely adopted. This paper questions and answers whether the wisdom of the crowd defined the best strategy. We investigate players’ choices of champions (and builds) and their team performance from matches in the North America and Western Europe regions, using the data gathered through the Riot Games official application program interface. We classify team compositions by players’ spells and attributes of items, and identify several non-meta strategies that show a consistent advantage over the meta.

2. Lee, C. S. and Ramler, I. (2015) “Rise of the bots: Bot prevalence and its impact on match outcomes in League of Legends,” 2015 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames), Zagreb, 2015, pp. 1-6. doi: 10.1109/NetGames.2015.7382992

   Abstract: League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game where features are unlocked as players level up their accounts. Because it takes a significant amount of time to reach the max level, there exist accounts that are leveled automatically by illicit “bots” and then sold on the market at the max level. These bots participate in matches like human players but are incapable of either playing intelligently or cooperatively with teammates. This paper presents an investigation into the prevalence of bots in player-versus-player match types and their impact on match outcomes on the North America and Europe West servers, using the data gathered through the Riot Games official application program interface. We demonstrate that bots are present in all major match modes at various levels and that they negatively influence the balance of matches on both servers.

3. Lee, C. S. and Ramler, I. (2015) Investigating the Impact of Game Features and Content on Champion Usage in League of Legends. In Proceeding of Foundations of Digital Games 2015.

   Abstract::League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game that follows a freemium model, and the available in-game transactions do little to impact a player’s performance or ability. Although champions can be purchased with actual (or in-game) money, another aspect of the game is a weekly rotation of ten free champions where players can test new champions before buying them. This project involves scraping champion usage data from online sources where we then analyze what lasting impact the free rotation feature and new and updated content (such as new and updated champions, new skins and official game updates) have on champion usage. Additionally, we have constructed a simple web application (LoLNOVA) that allows users to compare charts of usage statistics, perform simple data analyses, and download data for champions of their choice. Educators can use these data as they are relevant and interesting to many students and help increase students’ interest in quantitative fields.