I've played League of Legends for nearly 10 years.

Not to take anything away from Tyler1, because he really goes above and beyond, but it really doesn't take much mental focus or anything really to play it. Programming? It takes focus, you really have to think sometimes. But League? When I'm tired the game plays itself. It just feels like muscle memory.

It might take a bit more effort to play at a consistently high level. But I'm pretty sure it's mostly muscle memory for him too. There's very little actual thinking other than the big picture of what objectives to take and I'm sure when he's playing for 20+ hours he's just on autopilot for the majority of the time.

To put it into comparison with how little mental power it personally takes me, I like to watch a lot of Anime, that's Japanese animation with English subtitles. I can't watch Anime if I'm tired because keeping track of subtitles and what's on screen actually takes a substantial amount of mental power. But I can bash out 5 games of LoL back to back when I'm equally as tired.

Playing a game like LoL is like being in a battle or war.

Would you watch anime and shoot your gun with 'muscle memory' while fighting 5 ruthless, intelligent opponents?

A fight requires constant reevaluation of the situation and planning to win the game. If you play by "muscle memory" and win, you are playing against weak unthinking opponents or getting carried by your team.

If you played against good players, trust me you won't win thinking about anime and chilling. And it's very stressful because you're constantly on guard.

> Would you watch anime and shoot your gun with 'muscle memory' while fighting 5 ruthless, intelligent opponents?

Easy. At some point some actions are so engraved that you respond without even thinking. Example: blinking out on a slight enemy sight.

> A fight requires constant reevaluation of the situation and planning to win the game. If you play by "muscle memory" and win, you are playing against weak unthinking opponents or getting carried by your team.

> If you played against good players, trust me you won't win thinking about anime and chilling. And it's very stressful because you're constantly on guard.

You can use all those big words, but reality is completely different. I've watched amateur/pro Dota 2 since it's inception in 2011 and some pro Dota 1 before that. It is a team game, it is more about team cooperation and heroes you pick. Sure small things can overturn the game, but most of the time it is about bigger game than small actions.

> Playing a game like LoL is like being in a battle or war.

> Would you watch anime and shoot your gun with 'muscle memory' while fighting 5 ruthless, intelligent opponents?

No, I wouldn't, because those people can actually kill me. In comparison, losing in LoL causes me no direct bodily harm whatsover.

There's a difference between "playing the game" and playing the game. I can sit at a chess board and move pieces around and say that chess takes no focus because I chose not to focus

Is there thought? How do you know his skills are not due to a few hours (tens of hours, hundreds of hours) of intense training of a few basic rules, and the rest is just freeroaming like it is for every other player?

Because there are other players on the other side of the game. They will be at comparable levels of "intense training of a few basic rules" (due to ELO based matchmaking) and they will be trying as hard as they can to beat him.

You can't assume high-level players are trying as hard as they can in a proof that high level players are trying as hard as they can.

Your argument doesn't make any sense in the scenario I described.

Are you a pro League player? Because if not this is irrelevant. Even the difference between leagues is substantial. And I have played since beta if that makes a difference. Sure I am not bad and I get that I could auto-pilot. But I doubt either of us are all that good; I certainly am not a pro, despite playing for a decade+

Playing MOBAs all day is much easier than programming all day. It has bigger lows like exhausting 100 minute techie games or getting tilted by teammates, but it's still somehow easier. I think it's because you get a fresh start every game and a good game is refreshing in a way that finishing a problem isn't.

Sometimes grandmaster but frequently diamond player here that also built my own company where I frequently coded 12+ hours a day. I disagree with you completely. I was also significantly more exhausted from a long session of league then I was from a long session of developing one of my sites. You are always on for 30 minutes straight and near the end it’s almost non stop team fighting and positioning with micro decisions being made every few seconds versus coding where my mind will wander until I snap it back to focus.

You're an outlier, there's a reason why anybody can play games designed to hook at many people as possible and not everybody can program.

I mean, it's a game that most people choose to play voluntarily, right? It's designed to be fun at some level, or else nobody would ever play it.

Yeah I've played League for a bit. It really does get easier the more you play.

By the way, I've just read in the article that Tyler's been on Adderall since first grade, I guess that will help him stay focused.

wow, that explains so much, he usually plays it offlike its only the pre-workout bloodrush hes drinking

I would argue that is more due to stress than focus. Top players usually don't take laddering seriously (I.e. not stressed).

Also, if you're playing for that long you end up making a lot of mistakes even if you're a top player. I don't think it's comparable to programming.

> In my mind, it's at least as difficult as "easy" leetcode problems.

I have 3k hours in Dota 2. I know exactly what it is and how it works. It's really not. Not even close.

League is extremely fun and addicting. Its a huge dopamine kick. When I play, I stay hooked for hours on end and have to stop myself.

When I code, I'm mostly just thinking hard and not very happy. The best part is the "aha" moment, and the huge dopamine kick of solving the programming/debugging problem. It is also NOT addicting.

These are two completely different things. I'm not sure why you're so determined to compare the two. They are insanely different.