Skill-Based Differences in Spatio-Temporal Team Behavior in Defence of The Ancients 2

TL;DR

This study introduces data-driven measures of team behavior in DotA 2, revealing that higher-skilled teams exhibit more coordinated and dynamic spatial strategies, with distinct patterns compared to amateurs.

Contribution

The paper develops new spatio-temporal analysis methods for DotA 2 and demonstrates their effectiveness in distinguishing team skill levels based on positional behavior.

Findings

Professional teams have smaller within-team distances.

Higher-skilled teams perform more zone changes.

Distinct temporal patterns in team distances correlate with skill level.

Abstract

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games are among the most played digital games in the world. In these games, teams of players fight against each other in arena environments, and the gameplay is focused on tactical combat. Mastering MOBAs requires extensive practice, as is exemplified in the popular MOBA Defence of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2). In this paper, we present three data-driven measures of spatio-temporal behavior in DotA 2: 1) Zone changes; 2) Distribution of team members and: 3) Time series clustering via a fuzzy approach. We present a method for obtaining accurate positional data from DotA 2. We investigate how behavior varies across these measures as a function of the skill level of teams, using four tiers from novice to professional players. Results indicate that spatio-temporal behavior of MOBA teams is related to team skill, with professional teams having smaller within-team distances and conducting more zone changes than amateur teams. The temporal distribution of the within-team distances of professional and high-skilled teams also generally follows patterns distinct from lower skill ranks.