- Introduction
- My Twitch Stream Settings
- Why I chose League of Legends
- What are the key factors that motivated me to do this
- A look on the restaurants menu
- Analyzing my ingame performance from start to finish
- What I have learned from this
Introduction
When it comes to life you have to train yourself and do the uncomfortable regulary. This prepares you well for situations you aren’t prepared for usually. Be it through workout to strengthen your physique or through learning to strengthen your mind, both exercises make certain situations easier. For example, if there is a fire and you have to rescue people, you don’t wanna end up in a situation where you only can watch, because you are too fat and untrained or too scared to jump in. Another example, you are at work and it is total chaos, and it requires a lot of smart decisions to compensate for this uncomfortable situation. Here you also don’t want to stand around and waste everyones time, because you haven’t trained your mind. These are just two examples and the first one probably a bit extreme, but I hope you get the point. Training and personal challenges are important to push your own limitations.
“I like to compare this with a sponge that gets fully soaked in water …”
For me it was always fascinating to stay awake for long hours. When I was younger I could go for 3 days and nights straight without sleep. 72 hours is a number that I achieved multiple times. But doing this live over the internet is something different. Especially, when you do it alone in your apartment. And even more so, when I look at my age of 39 years. I am not a teenager anymore that gets away with stupidity. What I can tell you from experience though, the body takes the sleep back over a period of time. You can make this experiment on your own. When you have a rough week, where you only sleep for 4 hours each night, eventually you will sleep for way longer on a free day to compensate for this. You can go for a long time on a tight sleep schedule, but sooner or later the body will take it back. I like to compare this with a sponge that gets fully soaked in water during a long sleep and when you are awake the sponge is wrung out. Even half soaked, there is still enough water left in the sponge to stay awake, but eventually at one point there is no drop of water left. This is the time when your body shuts down to hibernate. And you won’t be able to fill the sponge during one sleep session. For me it requires two or three nights to fully recover and be back at my usual rhythm.
My Twitch Stream Settings
For a very long time my stream appeared pixelated and the audio quality was horrible. In short, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I upgraded my PC recently and you can see the specs in the sidebar to the right or below this blog post if you are on a mobile device. There is a new AV1 codec out, but it hasn’t been implemented on Twitch yet, so my stream settings are still for the older .h264 codec, which was the standard for a very long time. I used OBS Studio 30.0.2 for my 24 hour League of Legends stream, but by the time you read this, there might be a new version available that offers even more features. To get access to the OBS Studio Settings, you want to click on ‘File’ in the top left corner and then on ‘Settings’.
> File > Settings > Output > Streaming
Audio Encoder: FFmpegAAC
Video Encoder: AMD HW H.264 (AVC)
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 8000 Kbps
Keyframe Interval: 2s
Preset: Quality
Profile: high
Max B-frames: 2
If you struggle with encoding overload in your OBS which results in a lot of stuttering, you want to reduce the Max B-frames to 0 and the Preset to either Balance or Speed. Your stream will become pixelated during sudden movements, but at least it will run fluid even on an old machine.
Why I chose League of Legends
If you read the address of this website then you notice the word esports. I am working hard to become the authority in esports, be it by building knowledge to have an educated opinion or by founding an organization that competes with the best in the world. Latter is far in the future, but I am already thinking about it. League of Legends is probably the most recognized title when it comes to competitive gaming. Counter Strike, Dota and some others are up there too, but League of Legends might have a small edge. So it was just a matter of time to dive into it.
“I wanted to create some muscle memory and become more relaxed.”
I picked up the game in 2022 and played casually ranked, which is the competitive mode. I started out in Bronze IV and made it up to Gold I, first as an Udyr Jungle and later as a Sona Support. After falling down to Silver IV again with Sona, I knew it was time for a change, so I commited to Maokai Support. Maokai has a great kit for playing objectives and slowing enemies down. He can zone out an entire team and is also great for punishing opponents out of position. I climbed up to Emerald III and then dropped back to Platinum I in the end of 2023. The Season ended in early January and shortly after a new Season started, I did my stream marathon. League is a game that keeps you awake, because it can be very intense and every game is different. I also wanted to overcome my anxiety from playing ranked. Most of the time I only do 1 or 2 games and then shut it down, because I am too exhausted. I wanted to create some muscle memory and become more relaxed.
What are the key factors that motivated me to do this
Let’s be honest, sitting on a chair for 24 hours and more to play video games is not normal. But I wouldn’t call it insane either. As I mentioned earlier, for me this is some kind of training. I want to be able to stay awake for long hours, I want to be able to perform on a high level for long hours and I want to limit test myself regulary. Playing video games for so long without sleep is extreme and I like to explore the extreme. Some people climb mountains, something I definitely want to get into this year too. Others drive extremely fast cars, something I could easily enjoy here in Germany, because on the Autobahn we have many tracks without speed limit. I am pretty sure the YouTube video with the 417 km/h fast Bugatti was recorded on the A2, a relatively quiet track with long straight parts that is right infront of my door.
“I think success in life comes from doing the uncomfortable on a day to day.”
I can see myself driving over 300 km/h there and I am a little sad that I haven’t done this already. I have a license for cars and trucks, but never purchased my own car. I drove a lot when I was younger, but that was many years ago and the fastest I hit so far was something around 240 km/h. I think success in life comes from doing the uncomfortable on a day to day. It gives you resilience and it makes you feel life is a boring thing, because you practiced the hard stuff already. Now challenges start to feel easy. And when I look back, this 24 hour stream passed so fast, it was no challenge at all.
A look on the restaurants menu
Some people might wonder what I eat during such an event. Nutrition can be very important when it comes to gaming. I remember during my grind in World of Warcraft Classic for Grand Marshal back in 2020, I had to play 18 hours each day for a couple of weeks. Back then I was unemployed and could afford it more or less. It becomes mind-boggling, when you start thinking about what you must eat to reduce your time in the toilet. You want to have as little downtime as possible and you don’t want to feel heavy or tired, because you have to perform on the highest level. For Grand Marshal I had to chase as many Honorable Kills as possible to maximize my Honor and secure my first place in the leaderboards. In League of Legends I also had to be at the top of my game. Ranked is no joke and you don’t just deal with your opponents, but also with your teammates who might have a mental breakdown at any time for no reason.
Fruits and a lot of water helped me to stay light and focused. I also ate 2 packs of Magerquark over the day. I don’t know if you guys have this in your country, but in Germany this is the cheapest protein source you can get and mixed with a bit of water and an apple or a banana, it tastes really good and fills your stomach for quite some time without giving you that tired feeling. I also ate a few slices of dark rye bread with butter and light cheese or Lachschinken. I didn’t find a good translation for Lachsschinken, but I think it is dry-cured and cold-smoked ham. It has very low fat and high protein which I really like. Later during my 24 hour stream, I also ate some nuts.
| Amount | Product | Energy | Fat | Carbohydrates | Protein |
| 1000g | Magerquark | 700kcal | 3g | 42g | 121g |
| 250g | Dark Rye Bread | 630kcal | 7g | 115g | 22g |
| 15g | Butter | 110kcal | 12g | – | – |
| 80g | Cheese | 208kcal | 13g | – | 22g |
| 70g | Lachsschinken | 82kcal | 1g | – | 17g |
| 400g | Apple | 208kcal | 1g | 56g | 1g |
| 70g | Nuts | 418kcal | 36g | 13g | 15g |
| Total | 2356kcal | 73g | 226g | 198g | |
I am a bit surprised how much protein this was. But then it also goes hand in hand with my lifestyle. In March 2022 I’ve reached the highest weight of 140kg and was really unhappy with myself. Since then I have made a lot of changes which let to a total body transformation.
You can check the before and after picture on my X account:
X Link
and while you are at it, please consider pressing the follow button. For you it is only one click which cost you nothing, but for me it is the motivation to create content like this blog post, thank you!
Analyzing my ingame performance from start to finish
Having such a long gaming session especially in competitive means that there might be some fluctuation in performance. I play Maokai Support which is pretty chill, unless I become impatient. Then it can be a recipe for disaster. Imagine I engage and my ADC, Jungle or any other laner doesn’t follow. Then I am in a place without escape. I recall that there was a time when I almost fell asleep and closed my eyes for several seconds. I also remember that I had really bad games. So let’s take a look on the Wins and Losses first.
Total Matches: 40
Total Wins: 24 (60%)
Total Losses: 16 (40%)
Longest Winning Streak: 7
Longest Losing Streak: 3
Wins and Losses are telling quite a story. Overall my performance was pretty good and I won 60% of my games. But winning alone isn’t all. In League of Legends a lot depends on your matchmaking. This is probably the most important lesson I have learned over the last couple of months. Usually, the outcome of my games is pretty streaky, which means I win a lot or lose a lot of games in a row. As a result my matchmaking gets either catapulted way above my skill level, where winning anything becomes impossible. Suddenly, every step I make is a mistake and I get punished for it. Or the other extreme, my matchmaking falls so low that every game becomes a joke and I end up with insane KDA and losing is impossible even if your Top Laner goes 0/15/1 in his lane. Another effect are your League Points, the LP which you either win or lose depending on the outcome of a game. Each Division has 100 LP and once you reach that threshold, you get promoted. If you lose while being at 0 LP you drop a Division. If you keep winning or losing you change Tiers as well. In League there are Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald and Diamond and each of these Tiers has 4 Divisions. Beyond that are the Tiers Master, Grandmaster and Challenger and here only your LP matters.
“This is a plus of 315 League Points.”
During my 24 hour League of Legends stream, I started out with Platinum IV and 25 LP which is very low in Platinum Tier and by the end I was Platinum I with 40 LP. This is a plus of 315 League Points.
Another way to look at it from an individual perspective is KDA which is your ratio for Kills and Assists combined and this is divided by Deaths. For example as a Support you end up with the stats 2/5/8, which means 2 Kills, 5 Deaths and 8 Assists then your KDA is 2. Hopefully I did no mistakes, but I have submitted all my stats into a spreadsheet and the result can be seen below.
Total Stats for all 40 Ranked Games
Kills: 98
Deaths: 263
Assists: 512
Avg Stats per Game
Kills: 2.45
Deaths: 6.58
Assists: 12.8
KDA: 2.32
There were two games I would call outliers. In Match #23 I was forced to play Braum, because someone picked Maokai against me. I didn’t enjoy this one and I lost well deserved. Then in Match #30 the ADC picked Yumi after I already locked in Maokai. Yumi is another Support which forced me to play Maokai as ADC. I made the best out of it and we won so easily, it was unbelievable. In this game I also recorded my highest KDA with 19, while being executed once for tanking a turret without giving any indication of moving out. At this point my brain was a bit slow in processing the given information and I died like a man. You can watch the clip right below, but I recommend checking out the entire match, because it is evidence that nothing is written in stone when it comes to League of Legends and every challenge should be treated as an opportunity.
Twitch Clip:
What I have learned from this
An entire week has passed from my stream marathon and I am able to reflect a little bit on the valuable lessons learned. First of all it was a very rewarding experience. I peaked at only 9 viewers, but overall there were 26 people chatting and 128 unique viewers watching. Nobody was rude and even if people made some jokes I could laugh about. The best example was calling me out as grandpa. The beard and the low bodyfat probably make me look older than I am. Forming a bond with a partner and having a family is something I definitely want to achieve rather sooner than later. So you see, it is still a very long journey to achieve grandpa status.
“But then when the moment came, I choked.”
I could have reached way more people, but I was a bit too scared. I prepared 400 flyers that listed all the details of the event and I even drove into the center of the city to hand them out. But then when the moment came, I choked. I wasn’t ready to talk to strangers and I wasn’t ready for such an exposure. I am a guy that feels out the situation a lot and trusts his guts. Even if I can’t explain my decision with words immediately, I trust my instincts blindly. I think for the next stream marathon in a couple of months I will be ready to hand these flyers out. The University might be a good place to start.
I might want to pick up a different game then, because League of Legends is very demanding and doesn’t leave much time to interact as much with the chat as I wanted to. Viewers and especially active chatters make a stream marathon easier and way more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I know my work schedule only 2 weeks in advance and last minute changes happen all the time. That’s why I do these streams from Saturday to Sunday 10 PM each. This gives me enough time to get home from work in case I have to work late at Saturday and also provides enough space to recover in case I have to work Monday morning.
I hope you enjoyed this first blog post and the only thing left for me to say is thanks for reading! You find the entire stream marathon below and I would love to see you in the next one! Bye Bye!
24h League Stream Part 1:
24h League Stream Part 2: