I am excited to post a documentary that I had a big part in on collegiate esports. Please check it out:
Tag Archives: esports
What do you need to host your first esports tournament?
As you know if you follow me, I am the advisor of the esports club at UNCW. Recently, I have been getting a lot of emails from schools, clubs, or organizations who would like to know how to set up their own esports tournament. The following video goes through the basics you would need, the minimum, when hosting a small tournament. I kept this simple so that it would be easy to follow and there are a lot of details left out (on purpose). The idea here is that you have a guide to work from to put together a plan to host your own tournament.
UNCW eSports Tournament #1
We had our first eSports tournament at UNCW. This was an internal club event and was really a pilot for future events on campus. The event was awesome! We played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We ended up with around 70 participants, 120 people total there, and 173 views on our Twitch page.
That was way more than we expected. Then again, Smash is a very popular game and perfect for this kind of event, so that did play a part.
Other games will not be run in the same manner and we can’t expect the same turnout when using different games. For example, a league of legends tournament may have hardly anyone actually attend in person, rather, people would attend online. I like to tell people eSports is like no other sport and its closest comparison would be track and field. Anyway, here are a few videos from the event:
Actual event footage:
My reflections/lessons learned on the event:
eSports: Gaming to pay the rent
Here is a really interesting article on mashable about esports: http://mashable.com/2014/10/07/gaming-to-pay-the-rent/
It’ѕ nо surprise that one of thе most соmmоn rеԛuеѕtѕ we hаd fоr nеw programming wаѕ Eѕроrtѕ. Kids hаvе been playing vіdео games fоr dесаdеѕ, but ѕо much hаѕ changed оvеr thе last fеw уеаrѕ. One example is the introduction of gaming markets, wherein one can buy high level accounts from places like aussyelo.com, giving them a headstart or places where they can make money and get a lot fun like for example online gambling you can get more info about gambling at attitude.co.uk.
Gaming rеаllу іѕ turnіng іntо a professional ѕроrt іn mаnу ways and it’s even encouraging people to use other platform like FanDuel to get more involved in sports. Pеорlе саn nоw stream Eѕроrtѕ tournaments оn ѕеrvісеѕ like Twitch аnd Yоutubе; mаnу оf these vіdеоѕ hаvе tеnѕ оf mіllіоnѕ of vіеwѕ. Hіgh Schools аnd even gоvеrnmеntѕ аrоund the world аrе rесоgnіzіng popular esports games as a “trаdіtіоnаl” ѕроrt, browse this site for great content. Vіdео games hаvе сhаngеd from a hobby tо аn іnduѕtrу аnd іѕ thе fastest grоwіng ѕроrt, valued аѕ a $138 bіllіоn іnduѕtrу! Sіnсе thе massive rise in рорulаrіtу, we have аlѕо ѕееn a mаjоr ѕhіft іn many аrеаѕ:
Inсrеаѕе іn іnduѕtrу standards аnd rеgulаtіоnѕ
Stіgmа around vіdео games іѕ gоіng away
Awareness of Eѕроrtѕ аѕ a positive impact оn ѕtudеntѕ
“Robert Lee sat down with his parents over dinner at a favorite Chinese restaurant to break the news: He decided to drop out of college after one year at California State University in Fullerton to pursue a career as a professional video game player.
Lee had started to make more than a little money broadcasting his gameplay on Twitch while commuting to school three days a week. He wanted to make that a full-time job, and he also began exploring investing tips, hoping to grow his income further.
“The way I saw it, school was always going to be there, but this opportunity to make money playing video games was not always going to be there,” he says.
Almost three years later, Lee is a pro League of Legends player, earning a salary that pays enough to cover rent, clothes, food and a couple luxuries, he says, though he declined to provide a figure. That’s in addition to the millions of dollars in prize money that his team, compLexity, is competing for at tournaments around the world.” If you follow the league of legends championship and want to bet on your favorite team click here for lol betting.
League of Legends becoming a college sport?
Apparently it is. There is a league of 177 colleges that play the game competitively and now its becoming an official sport at Robert Morris University Illinois in Chicago, which means that there will be a team, a coach, and real scholarships. Kinda crazy. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/19/league-of-legends-becoming-an-official-collegiate-sport
And an article from the university: http://www.robertmorris.edu/news/20121012weeklynews/index.html