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Auxiliary Entertainment at Esports Events

Company: N3rd Street Gamers

Problem

NSG's esport events normally last 3 days, half of the player population are knocked out in the first day. How do we retain players who are no longer participating in our tournament? And how do we entertain the non-gamers that accompany participants.

Solution

Isolated away from the main esport stages, we carve out unique experiences in the main resting (or nesting) areas of the venue.

How We Got There

Our First Event

When we first started throwing esports events the audience experience was neglected as we were concentrating on the player experience. We realized quickly that half of the player population turns into audience members after they are knocked out of the tournament on the 1st day (our events are normally 2 or 3 days long).

First Improvement

At our second event we created a better local viewing experince of the games being played at the tournament. A large TV accompanied by powered speakers. We also held raffles through out the day.

Almost immediately we saw a positive response in post-event feedback. Over the course of the next 5 events we improved the local viewing experience. Upgraded to a projector, and started building stages for "featured matches."

This image shows a low fidelity wireframe.

Low-fidelity floorplan of an esports event layout.

The Parents and Significant Others

As our events grew, more "non-gamers" started accompanying players. Even with a great local viewing experience there was still uninterested attendees.

After a white board session, we came up with a list of entertainment that was close enough relation to esports but also casual enough that even a grand-parent could participate.

Our last major event took place at a movie studio (Sun Center Studios). Besides 4 separate esports events it included:

Virtual Reality Arcade — Preloaded with the most accessible games we could find.
Retro Video Game Arcade — We have reached a point where every generation has played a video game. Parents had the opportunity to show off their favorite video game.
Modern Game Arcade — Accessible modern games included Mario Kart, Mario Party, Street Fighter...
Movie Theater — Keeping up with the theme of the venue