Are We Putting Too Much Emphasis on First-Person Shooter Stats?

By Mike Fahey

In today's 75 percent accurate edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter BattleMoose87 wonders if we aren't giving first-person shooter statistics more weight than they deserve. Are we?

Do statistics matter to you when playing online games? With the recent release of two shooter heavyweights in Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, alongside their own respective stat tracking services, I feel there is too large an emphasis on stats dictating how we are viewed next to our fellow gamers.

For example, according to Battlelog I have an average accuracy of (gasp!) 5.7%. On its own that statistic is pretty shocking, but does it really reveal much about myself as a player? Am I someone who fires from the hip haphazardly, while my teammates thank the Lord (or admins) that team damage is off. Or am I someone who carefully suppresses the enemy so my team mates can advance and flank the enemy?

MORE AT:
http://kotaku.com/5858285/are-we-putting-too-much-emphasis-on-first+person-shooter-stats

Scientists determine the best way to win at Rugby

What does it take to be a world champion at a sport? Some might say that it's years of dedication and training, but according to a new scientific paper, sheer physical mass might have a lot to do with it — especially in the bruise-laden sport of Rugby.

For those of you who don't follow Rugby Football — be it Union or League — the team is divided into two groups: the forwards and the backs. There are further specifics, like props, hookers, and whatnot, but now's not the time nor place. A new piece of research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the sheer size of the team members has a lot to do with their victories, but so too their experience.

The researchers complied data on 20 years of Rugby World Cup players, some 2692 athletes, and looked at their height, weight, and previous experience in the tournament. What they found was a distinct physical advantage that translated to more victories. On average, more successful players weighed 2kg above the counterparts, especially amongst the forwards. For the backs, height made a key difference, with the more victorious players generally sitting around 2cm taller.

MORE HERE >>

Sport Metrics

Concept for a Basic Soccer Analysis Service
http://www.im.ethz.ch/education/FS11/iotsem11_proceedings.pdf#page=21


Analytics of Play: Using Information Visualization and Gameplay Practices for Visualizing Video Game Data
http://piim.newschool.edu/journal/issues/2011/01/pdfs/ParsonsJournalForInformationMapping_Medler-Ben+Magerko-Brian.pdf


Relational Learning for Football-Related Predictions
https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/315399/1/janvanhaaren-ilp11.pdf


Situational Efficiency Analysis Of The Teams That Participated In 2008 European Football Championship
http://sportspa.com.ba/images/KOMPLET-RADOVI-CASOPIS-JUNI-2009.pdf#page=38


The Effects of Altitude on Soccer Match Outcomes
http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/The-Effects-of-Altitude-on-Soccer-Match-Outcomes1.pdf


Simulation Modelling and Visualisation: Toolkits for Building ArtificialWorlds
http://tur-www1.massey.ac.nz/~dpplayne/Papers/cstn-052.pdf


Competing on Talent Analytics
http://www.evolvondemand.com/media/resources/HBR_Competing-on-Talent-Analytics_Oct-2010.pdf