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Points covered by my lecture: What are e-sports? Brief summary of the history of competitive gaming. E-Sports today. An analysis of the growth of e-sports, and the debate of their validity as an entertainment medium; mainly, do they generate enough revenue from spectators and events?
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Points covered by my lecture: What are e-sports? Brief summary of the history of competitive gaming. E-Sports today. An analysis of the growth of e-sports, and the debate of their validity as an entertainment medium; mainly, do they generate enough revenue from spectators and events? What type of games are most commonly played on a competitive stage and why. E-Sports
General Definition: The Competitive play of video games however, the term is usually used to describe games that are by nature set up with clear and decisive rules that determine a winner and loser, and have a professional 'scene' Today, games -MUST- be playable over a network connection Often highly 'skill' based These games might seem somewhat straight-forward or simple at first glance, but almost always have incredible depth to their game-play. Few random factors to determine outcome
'Skill' based game-play The use of skill in this case isn't exactly how we would use the word with other sports/competitions Most games that are successful in attracting a large spectator crowd are complex in how they are played by the user, but 'simple' to watch. Game knowledge is just as, if not more, important! Example: League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Street Fighter Games reward/punish high-risk / high-reward plays adds entertainment value for spectators
Competitive games played by amateurs Amateur audiences watch pro-games to learn Commentators/Shout-Casters often spend time explaining in detail why players do certain things. A 'reason' to watch Success of most communities depends on the casual player's willingness to watch! Most games advertise through their game client. Some games 'draft' top tier amateurs.
A History of Nerd Rage • Early Arcade Tournaments : Atari: 1980, Nintendo;1990, Blockbuster/GamePro; 1990s • Billy Mitchell Netrek – 1986; cross platform open-source. Unix. first online team competitive game still played today • Early PC FPS era: doom,quake, later-CounterStrike **irc organization • Rts era: Age of Empires 2, Starcraft, Warcraft3 World Cyber Games – 2000, MLG – 2002 South Korea and Europe
Nerd Rage Today • Most games organize their player-base themselves rather than relying on third parties, such as IRC – more advertisement • Company sponsored/organized tournaments • CSL • Professional Gamer Teams and Houses • Sponsors • Popular competitive games today Starcraft2, League of Legends, Dota2, Street Figher4, Halo4, Call of Duty, ect
The pro-gaming scene of today • Streaming : twitch-tv / justin-tv tv broadcasts (not successful thus far in America D: ) Barcrafts E-Sports 'Celebrities' : DJ wheat, day[9], totalbiscuit ~10k viewers daily
Recent events and growth • League of Legends world championships 8.2 million unique viewers 1.1 million viewers at peak 8k spectators in-house 2 million$ prize pool
MLG Dallas League of legends, Starcraft2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. • ~300k viewers • Engagement : ~150 minutes **more than the super bowl** 95% completion rate on ads 170k total prize pool
What makes a game a good candidate for competitive play • Give players a sense of 'advancement' • Replay / Spectator modes 'lol-replay, sc2-replay' • A means for regulating game length. Can't be too short or too long. • Home-screen designed to allow information and ads to be delivered from the community managers to the player base (not product ads!) • Usually follow the rule of 'easy to play, difficult to master' • Minimal RNG factor • Perfect server-structure -lag is bad- • Periodic updates / balancing • Clear and definitive win/lose conditions • Visual/Audio ques for audience • Hiring the right commentators
Sources • steel series http://steelseries.com/us/gaming/esports • razer http://www.redbull.com/uk/en/stories/1331586144954/razer-gaming-interview-console-esport • twitch-tv/justin-tv streaming services • http://www.gamespot.com/news/blizzard-mlg-twitchtv-execs-speak-on-rise-of-esports-6405233 • http://gosugamers.net/lol/news/21603-official-viewership-of-world-championships-boasts-largest-in-e-sports-history • http://www.couchathletics.com/content/344-The-Rising-Viability-of-E-Sports ***** • http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/tech/post/_/id/3979/league-of-legends-mimics-regular-sports*** • http://www.team-dignitas.org/articles/blogs/Interview/2200/Interview-with-Team-Paradigm-Is-GW2-a-viable-eSport-/