A goal without a plan is just a wishAntoine de Saint-Exupéry
We cannot talk about eSports without discussing all the different types of events. From the well-known championships such as “The International” to the amazing fan conventions like PAX, eSports event genres are rapidly expanding every year. This module will help to equip you with the most efficient tools to plan and execute an eSports event. For this we will focus on the most common event when it comes to eSports: The Tournament or Championship event.
In the capstone assessment you and your team will have to plan, execute, control and evaluate an eSports tournament. This will be your final assessment so do not wait till the end to start working on it. We recommend to:
- Plan ahead
- An idea is a great way to get things going
- Do not wait until too late to get things started or get things done
- So... get those gears moving! We have got no time to lose!
- Execute the plan. By giving everyone a responsibility that matches their own skills you are ensuring not only efficiency but also a drive to make things better!
- Prepare for Constant Control during the event. Things can always be improved, even when things are not going well, stay calm with a positive mentality. You and your team have got this, do not be afraid and do your best.
- Evaluate your accomplishments. Be truthful with yourself and with others. Remind yourself that in order to criticise people you better have the answer for their problems. Do not forget to remember to be empathetic and think about what you are about to say before saying it. Another extra tip? Correct people in private and congratulate them in public.
Our capstone assessment is an eSports event where you will put your enhanced performance, technical, leadership and presentation skills into action. You really need to become familiar and practice using the technological tools for your online live event and collaborating with your teammates remotely.
To review the basics of the key tools you need, go to the Ready Player 1? How to guides.
Good communication is crucial in planning and executing an eSports event.
Creating a professional email account
Now, you could step up your game even further if you want. Here is a big move; creating a professional email account.
This will help you to be perceived as more serious through the eyes of businesses, investors, colleagues, etc.
No serious business will consider an email like cryptoking2k22@gmail.com so you better be careful.
Watch: How to get a professional email address (8:46 minutes)
It is important, to keep your personal life from your professional one. Professional emails promote a sense of credibility and professionalism.
Having a professional email address enables you to keep track of business related correspondence in one place without it being mixed with your online purchases and personal emails!
The following video shows you a step-by step guide on how to set up a professional email address
You may want to follow a couple of tips in this video on how to create a professional email for your eSports career:
Portfolio Checkpoint 2a: Your eSports email account
Set up a new email account for your eSports future pathway.
Remember to consider these points below when you create your email which is really creating your brand:
- Is it memorable?
- Is it unique?
- Is it simple? (Keep it short and catchy)
- Is it pronounceable?
- Is it trustworthy?
- Is it familiar or related to your future and your passion?
Share your new email account with your team and screen shot an email exchange with your teammates for your group presentation task.
YouTube, Twitch, OBS (Online Broadcaster Software) and Chatbots
Mastering YouTube, Twitch, OBS and Chatbots are critical tools for creating and executing remote/ online eSports events. Watch the videos below and make sure your set up is tight.
Watch: How to upload videos on YouTube (3:59 minutes)
Watch the video then review your YouTube account set up. Practice uploading a video on your desktop, phone, or any device you are using to your eSports YouTube account.
Watch: How to connect your twitch account to obs studio a Twitch account (0:46 seconds)
Review your Twitch account/channel and security settings and link your Twitch account to OBS Studio.
Watch: How to set up Nightbot for a twitch channel (tutorial and custom commands) (13:38 minutes)
Watch the tutorial and set up Nightbot for your Twitch channel.
Using Nightbot, create a !rules command with three rules you want your Twitch chat to follow.
Portfolio Checkpoint 2B: Set up your stream
Let's get you set up to start streaming. Once you have set up your OBS and have it linked to your account; you can start streaming with the touch of a button! This way next time you are partied up with your teammates or a group of friends, you can stream it to show off your skills! When you stream for the first time it is always a good idea to test everything, make a note of what is not working and find a fix. Small things like this will help prepare you for what lies ahead!
- Share a link to your personal YouTube account.
- Share a link to your own Twitch account.
- Share a test OBS Studio broadcasting recording. For instance, screen shot your settings for OBS, remember that you will need to link either your Twitch or YouTube account first. Make sure you make two screenshots; one of your already account setups and link to YouTube or Twitch and another screenshot of your recording on OBS with your face in it.
- Now try and record between 20 seconds-1 minute of your stream or try clipping a highlight.
Add your response to your Portfolio.
Streaming?
A few tips to a streamer, from a streamer
Get a chat bot for your stream, there are many to choose from – pick one you like and this way you can have it monitor things like spam. Set some rules for your stream, the last thing you want when you start streaming is to get put off it. Also try to set rules and place them on your Twitch/YouTube channel and when people do no follow them, either give a warning or ban them. When I first started streaming, I was afraid to ban people as I wanted as many people as possible watching and interacting in chat, however it is important to realise that negative interactions will only reduce the quality of your stream! Oh, I almost forgot, make sure you are enjoying yourself!
Now we have a handle on the remote tools of online eSports events let's get a bird's eye view of what we are working towards over the course. The graphic below shows what is involved in the main stages of running an eSports event.
Running an eSports event: What do you need to plan for in the pre-production stage?
Let's dig into running your first eSports event. When watching the video below on what you need to run your first eSports tournament, think about how some of these roles would work within your eSports event. How do these roles and what you need change for an online tournament?
For example, the players can check-in through Discord to let you know if they are ready for the event 1 hour beforehand.
Watch: What do you need for your first eSports tournament? (12:33 minutes)
Have you taken part in an eSports tournament before?
If yes, what was your experience like?
If you haven’t, think about what you would like your first tournament experience to be like.
The following video describes what you need to hold your first eSports tournament. The video provides information on the target audience, the considerations including what is needed incase of technical issues, how to troubleshoot and the various roles that are required within an event.
Watch: What do you need for your first eSports Tournament (12.33)
Portfolio Checkpoint 2c: eSports event Brainstorm
Add your event plan brainstorm and/or design to your Portfolio by answering these questions:
- Where is your tournament going to be held?
- Decide the system: PC, Mobile, Console
- Decide the game:
- Which technology tools are needed?
- How long is going to take?
- How are you going to make the bracket system (smash.gg)?
- Which are going to be the prizes? (It does not need to be expensive, a simple recognition on a Discord server would do wonders)
- How are you going to keep the records?
- How are you going to advertise it?
Add your response to your Portfolio.
Traditionally there are three key technical roles in a Face-2-Face eSports event:
- Camera operators
- Sound engineers
- Technical engineers
Watch: eSports production company studio tour- Welcome to DreamHack Sports Game (8:07 minutes)
This studio tour gives an overview about how eSports broadcasts run, and the professional equipment used to make the broadcast flow as smoothly as possible.
Roles in our eSports event
For your capstone eSports event, you will need to be familiar with the roles required to be able to execute the event in a small, online context. Obviously, you will not need people beyond the number of your course teammates for your event. However, you will need to assign roles for each other to make a smaller but effective event. Pick three of the roles mentioned in the DreamHack video and include whether you think they will be needed for our eSports event at the end of the course.
eSports Case studies: Tournaments
Armageddon is a great example of a large-scale event within Aotearoa-New Zealand which heavily incorporates gaming and the world of eSports. Armageddon’s event planners need to decide on what they choose to include since it's such a broad large-scale event that encompasses many different things.
Watch: Winter Auckland Armageddon Expo 2022 Highlights! (1:27 minutes)
Watch this video that shows the highlights of the 2022 Auckland Armageddon Expo and list anything that you think is relevant when it comes to making decisions as an event organiser. Make sure you also think about what you would like to see as a fan of eSports and gaming.
What games, events or tournament styles do you think need to be included if you were an event planner for Armageddon 2023?
Formats of eSports events
As you can see in the video content, there are lots of potential decisions to be made to create a well-produced eSports event that utilises technical skills in the most effective ways. Event pre-production preparation is as important as the event itself. For example, thorough databasing is crucial if you want an event that is as diverse as Armageddon, to ensure that you are including the best things possible.
When creating a tournament event, you not only need to worry about the logistics but also the best format for the tournament as format can make or break a tournament. In different games and genres, different formats need to be used and figuring out the best format to use can be tricky.
The following video highlights the various tournament formats that can be used when creating an event. It is important to factor how each of these formats work to determine which will best suit the event you are hosting.
Watch: Explaining esports tournament formats (3:03 minutes)
When watching the video below, think about your game of choice and what formats are typically used in the events. Would you change to a different form of standard format? Why?
Case Study: League of Legends World Championships
For example, in the League of Legends World Championships, they use a group stage comprised of 4 groups of 4 teams where they play double round robin where the top 2 teams in each group advance. Then there is a single elimination Bo5 knockout stage. Due to this format, it is common within the League of Legends world championship for the best two teams to versus each other before the finals, and one of them being eliminated. This in fact makes the finals and Worlds as a whole, much less exciting than it potentially could be. There has been lots of talk within the league community of having a double elimination playoff stage for years now, but Riot do not seem to be changing their mind on this one.
Portfolio Checkpoint 2D: Tournament Formats
Using your game of choice, create a tournament format and explain why you made the choices you did. From the lens of a player – how do you think they would feel about the format you have thought about? Do you think they will find it fair? Does it give players their best opportunity to perform?
Add your response to your Portfolio.
Case Study: TeamfightTactics
In TeamfightTactics, format has been an issue with tournaments. Since it is a relatively new game and scene, there have been lots of constant changes when it comes to formats for each region and the worlds event at the end of each set. For example - In set 6, worlds were 6 games day 1 where half the field were cut (32 to 16) and 6 games day 2 where a further half were cut (16 to 8). However, in set 7 they changed this to 5 games day 1 and 5 games day 2 for all players and the top 8 make it to the finals (32 to 8). This gave a bigger sample size for more players, giving them a better opportunity to perform which is very important in a game where sometimes things are out of your control and do not go your way.
Portfolio Checkpoint 2e: Learning from history
Look up a game's history that you are not too familiar with, but are interested in. Consider the potential changes you could make as a tournament organiser based on what you have learned. If you are having trouble finding something a potential tool you could use is Liquipedia as it shows histories of many eSports.
Find an esports event that faced challenges, can these issues possibly occur? If yes, how do you stop your event from having these issues?
Add your response to your Portfolio.
Your eSports event/tournament checklist
Now is the time to start planning your eSports event. In smaller scale events, what roles do you think will be required?
Portfolio Checkpoint 2f: Remote event plan
Your eSports event will be an online event for players. This will be broadcast remotely from wherever you are streaming from.
Create an event plan to work out how you will stream your event and what you need to consider.
Add your eSports event Plan to your Portfolio.
