Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
I’ve noticed in a lot of competitive games; Mobas, shooters, sometimes MMORPGS, that people talk a lot about this hidden stat called MMR a lot. Often they go to external websites to see what it is or how to manipulate it or whatnot. My question is that why is the MMR stat not visible within the game, anywhere? For example, in hots last season I made gold 3. Yet I was being placed with Plats and silvers sometimes and asked “What, is my MMR too high/low? How do i find out what it is?
MMR (matchmaking rating) is a tool that developers use to try and give you a good experience by finding players of similar skill for your team and the other team. If skills on your team are radically different, then you can’t do things like coordinate with your team for awesome combos. If skills between your team and the other team are radically different, it tends to mean you win or lose games not because you made good decisions, but because the teams were just super lopsided.
It may sound weird, but MMR isn’t really something you are supposed to get better at. I know, heresy, right? Realistically, players do tend to get better, because playing more games does tend to make you better at something. But there is probably a cap. While it is aspirational to think that if you just keep playing League games that you could one day go pro, but for the vast majority of players that’s just not going to happen.
Exposing MMR sets the expectation with players that it’s a bar that they are supposed to fill up, like an experience bar, high score, or some other form of progression. Even worse, it can lead players to make decisions to try to get their MMR to change, not decisions that help to win the game. Players, being players, try to game their MMR. And if the matchmaking system is doing its job, everyone in your game should be close to the same MMR anyway. Just remember that MMR isn’t deterministic. You shouldn’t assume you’re going to beat someone with a lower MMR just because their rating is lower than yours, and it doesn’t mean matchmaking is “broken” when you are occasionally matched with someone with a different MMR, and it doesn’t mean MMR is broken if you can’t beat someone with a lower MMR than you. For all of these reasons, it’s better just to keep it hidden and not a big topic of conversation.
TLDR, MMR is not something players are supposed to focus on - it’s a developer tool, not a player metric. Think of MMR as something like frame rate, or IP address - something mostly behind the scenes.
Instead, focus on your rank. If you are Gold 3, that’s the measurement of your progression. If you win more games than you lose, maybe you can get to Platinum. (
Source)