The most interesting part of this to me was that fact that players tend to use their birth year in their username. And that the number 88 was a statistical outlier because for some reason people must really like that number.
On Reddit a username with 88 in it can be interpreted as a dog whistle for racists.
Although considering how popular League of Legends is with Chinese people, the other hypothesis seems much more reasonable.
Or NASCAR fans. Which contrary to popular belief is not the same thing.