Notes · editorial
Notes explain a choice behind the profiles or the planner. Each one is short enough to read between matches.
Four of the five games here are built around teams of five. Rocket League's ranked modes stop at 3v3, and private matches stretch to 4v4.
A group of five has three options with it: split into a trio and a duo and queue separately, play private matches with one person rotating out, or choose another game for that evening. The planner shows this as a seat warning instead of hiding it.
Before asking whether the group prefers shooters or MOBAs, ask how long the evening is. Dota 2 All Pick averaged 40.1 minutes on patch 7.41c in DotaCoach's data. A Rocket League match has a 5-minute clock.
In a 45-minute window, the first allows one match and the second allows five or six. That is why the planner asks for time before it asks about taste.
Each game gets four ratings from 1 to 5: rules to learn, aim and control, talking load and session flex. They describe what a game asks of a group, so a 5 is a heavier demand and a 2 is a lighter one.
Dota 2 gets a 5 for rules because of its item shop, hero pool and map objectives; Rocket League gets a 1 because its rule set is a ball and two goals. The ratings are editorial judgements built from each game's documented rules and modes. They are not measurements of player data.
In all five games the next match is one click away when the last one ends. A stopping rule set before the first queue, such as two Swiftplays or one All Pick, is easier to keep than one argued about at midnight.
The Play safe page lists the time and spending controls on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.