Esports Games Research Articles

Female students' participation (over the years) in esports and its implications on psychological conditions, communication, and virtual gaming risks

eSport is a sport of choice and is quite popular, especially among young people, including women. This virtual sport has been developed entirely with various ways to play. At the same time, there is a negative paradigm of eSport games for women in Indonesia, including damaging vision, causing numbness in the hands, forgetting to eat, being introverted, and using harsh language. From a cultural perspective, women who play eSport are considered to violate the nature of women because they reflect masculine characteristics. This study uses quantitative research with a causal-comparative design to examine the effect of female students' participation in playing eSports on psychological development, communication skills, and the risks of virtual games. The research data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially (Multivariate Analysis of Variance). The analysis results prove a simultaneous influence between eSport participation (duration of playing) and ​​female students' psychological conditions, communication, and virtual game risks. In partial testing, eSport participation only significantly affected the communication skills variable of female students, while the other two variables did not. Future research needs to conduct qualitative investigations to explore the clinical experiences of female gamers that help them train their communication skills. Given the existence of various gender discriminatory behaviours in eSports, female gamers may have good communication to protect themselves from the threat of discrimination, or vice versa.

"Trust the Process": An Exploratory Study of Process Visualizations for Self-Reflection in League of Legends

Self-reflection, a process consisting of evaluation, attribution, and adaptation, is recognized as key to learning in esports games. To better facilitate self-reflection, many games and third-party tools feature retrospective visualizations that provide players with details about their performance. However, previous work suggested that existing visualizations, which typically aggregate data, do not present sufficient information to players. In this work, we explore the impact of process visualizations, which present gameplay as a sequence of actions, on self-reflection and performance in a League of Legends training exercise through a mixed-methods study. Our results found that players who reflected using a process visualization significantly improved their performance and demonstrated significant differences in how they evaluated themselves compared to those who reflected using an aggregate visualization. We discuss what these results mean in relation to self-reflection and learning in esports and how they impact the future use of process visualizations in games.

Developing Graduate Attributes Through Competitive Gameplay and Learning Theories

The term competitive gameplay or gaming is predominantly associated with esports. Esports, a synonym, or abbreviation for electronic sports is an industry that has a global outreach with a lucrative market. This is accentuated by the event driven, business model focus and organised competitive events, often involving sponsorship. These additional characteristics associated with esports is what distinguishes it from traditional or casual gaming. Though esports games can be played individually, they are predominantly viewed as a team activity. Beyond the debate as to whether esports can be classified as a sport, it is an area that has attracted a significant amount of academic research. Research areas have often included esports psychology, esports player health and nutrition and esports management. Some research studies have also reviewed how esports have the potential to e.0quip esports players with relevant 21st century skills such as critical and lateral thinking. One area where esports appears to be under researched is in the relationship between competitive gameplay and learning theories. It can be argued that this is an important consideration when delivering esports from an educational perspective. The aim of this paper is to provide a scoping review of the esports literature identifying empirical research associated with competitive gaming and graduate attributes. Esports game genres will be explored from a gameplay perspective demonstrating via learning theory examples how these games can facilitate graduate attributes in players. Exploring the domain of esports game genres, learning theories and meta-skills, the paper presents a conceptual model illustrating the interrelationship between these areas. The paper also has practical value to educators, who may be as yet unfamiliar with esports, informing them of the subject’s educational benefits from a graduate attribute and employability perspective.

Research on Translation Strategies for Games Localization: A Case Study of League of Legends

With the rapid development of the digital technology, more and more e-sports games are accepted and recognized by the public. There are many games imported from abroad in Chinese gaming market. In addition to their super-excellent quality, what is more important is that they have achieved successful game localization after entering China. The most crucial aspect of game localization is translation of game texts, and translators often need to choose different translation strategies for different types of game texts to meet the needs of the target market and audiences. By analyzing the translation texts of the popular game League of Legends, it can be found that comprehensively applying various translation methods to different game texts of the game, its translation quality can be improved, making it much easier for the target audience to accept it.

Investigation of factors contributing to university students' addiction to esports games

Investigation of factors contributing to university students' addiction to esports games

How Much Energy Do E’Athletes Use during Gameplay? Quantifying Energy Expenditure and Heart Rate Variability Within E’Athletes

BackgroundResearch into esports suggests that e’athletes experience physiological stressors and demands during competition and training. The physiological demands of esports are poorly understood and need to be investigated further to inform future training guidelines, optimise performance outcomes, and manage e’athlete wellbeing. This research aimed to quantify the metabolic rate of esports gameplay and compare this outcome with heart rate variability within expert e’athletes.ResultsThirteen healthy male participants ranked within the top 10% of their respective esports title participated in the study (age = 20.7 ± 2.69 years; BMI = 24.6 ± 5.89 kg·m− 2). Expired gas analysis indirect calorimetry measured gas exchange during rest and gaming. Compared to resting conditions, competitive esports gameplay significantly increased median energy expenditure (1.28 (IQR 1.16–1.49) kcal·min− 1 vs. 1.45 (IQR 1.20–1.77) kcal·min− 1, p = .02), oxygen consumption (0.27 (IQR 0.24–0.30) L·min− 1 vs. 0.29 (IQR 0.24–0.35) L·min− 1, p = .02) and carbon dioxide production (0.20 (IQR 0.19–0.27) L·min− 1vs. 0.27 (IQR 0.24–0.33) L·min− 1, p = .01). Competitive gameplay also resulted in a significant increase in heart rate (84.5 (IQR 74.1–96.1) bpm vs. 87.1 (IQR 80.3–104) bpm, p = .01) and decrease in R-R interval’s (710 (IQR 624–810) ms vs. 689 (IQR 579–747) ms, p = .02) when compared to rest. However, there were no significant differences in time or frequency measures of heart rate variability.ConclusionsThe data reveal increased physiological responses to metabolic rate, energy expenditure and cardiovascular function to esports game play within expert e’athletes. Further physiological research into the physical demands on e’athletes, the influence of different training programs to esport performance, and the added multivariate determinants to elite level esport performance are warranted.

Physical Activity and Self-Determination towards Exercise among Esports Athletes

BackgroundEsports is competitive video gaming, performed within teams or individually, across multiple genres. Players are required to be sedentary for extended periods and require a high-level of cognitive skills for successful competitive performance. There are conflicting findings within the physical activity research in the esports industry. The aim of this research is to explore self-reported physical activity through accelerometer-assessed physical activity, to gain a better insight into the physical activity behaviours of international e’athletes.MethodParticipants (n = 796) across multiple popular esports games, holding any in-game rank, competing at any level, were recruited. The survey consisted of demographic details, esports experience, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form (IPAQ-LF), and Behavioural Regulations towards Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-3). Within a convenience sample, local intervarsity e’athletes (n = 18) were recruited to wear a wrist-worn accelerometer to measure physical activity for 7-days and then complete the survey. Results from the accelerometers were compared to the survey results to explore physical activity reporting within this population.ResultsWhen comparing IPAQ-LF to accelerometer data, players significantly over-report moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and weekly MET-min− 1 (p = .018, r = .63 and p ≤ .001, r = .92). The BREQ-3 showed that e’athletes categorised as high physical activity displayed significantly higher levels of intrinsic motivation, when compared to players categorised as low and moderate physical activity.ConclusionsE’athletes significantly over report physical activity time when measured through the IPAQ-LF, suggesting previous surveys may overestimate physical activity and further research is needed. Given the exponential growth of the industry and the level of physical inactivity, esports may contribute to global physical inactivity levels.

Перспективы применения нейронных сетей для процедурной генерации игрового контента в киберспорте

This article provides an overview of research and practices on using neural network technologies in the field of procedural content generation for esports games. The authors explore the history, current approaches to using artificial neural networks in creating game elements, including levels, characters and scenarios, with the aim of enhancing the gaming experience and increasing the uniqueness of the virtual game world. The article covers various aspects of using neural network methods, such as generative models, autoencoders, generative adversarial networks, deep learning, and recurrent neural networks, for creating dynamic and unpredictable content. Examples of the successful implementation of these technologies in popular esports games are discussed, and potential challenges and issues related to applying neural networks in this context are explored. The authors discuss the prospects for the further development of neural network technologies in esports and offer recommendations for their optimal implementation. Overall, the article presents an analysis of the current state and future opportunities for using neural network approaches for procedural content generation in esports scenarios.

The Application of Machine Learning in Predicting the Results of Popular eSports Games: Win Rate Prediction in MOBA and FPS Games

Electronic Sports (eSports) are one of the most prevalent entertainments in modern society. As eSports is gaining more and more popularity over time, a proper evaluation system that can accurately analyze and predict players’ performance is indispensable. Therefore, machine learning is proposed as an effective prediction tool in the studying of data from eSports matches so that eSports teams can utilize it to ameliorate their future accomplishments. Two popular eSports game types (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena and First Person Shooter) are analyzed. Common features they share include communication, equipment, economy, and so on. Correct hero pick is the most predominant factor in MOBA games. Research shows that machine learning models like Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, and Neural Networks can effectively combine hero selection data to predict the outcome of a game. On the other hand, the most important factor in FPS games is the in-game equipment each round. Additional research proves that Logistic Regression, K-Nearest Neighbors, Random Forest, and Neural Networks are the most powerful models for predicting the team win rate. This paper can serve as an instruction for applying machine learning methods to making predictions in eSports games. Meanwhile, it can provide available techniques to help professional eSports teams improve their competitive level and future in-game understanding as well.

Re-examining the bias and market inefficiency in eSports betting markets: On the application of multivariate regression model

Favorite-longshot and reverse favorite-longshot biases have become widespread in various traditional sports betting markets in recent years. However, there is a limited number of investigations that have been conducted on the eSports betting market or the bettors that operate within it. In the present research, we have made efforts to re-examine the bias and market inefficiency in four typical eSport games: League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and King of Glory. Due to the natural characteristics of e-sports, we analyze the reasons for the market biases from 4 aspects: commission, region, match format, and tournaments. We find that both the favorite-longshot and reverse favorite-longshot bias occur in eSports. Moreover, the distribution of these betting biases is completely different among different eSports game titles and tournaments. The results of the weighted linear regression model reveal that long match format is the important factor of long-short bias, while regional tournaments are the important factor of reverse long-short bias in League of Legends.

The influence of acute sprint exercise on cognition, gaming performance, and cortical hemodynamics in esports players and age-matched controls

The relationship between esports and cognitive performance has recently gained increasing interest in the scientific community. However, our knowledge of the effects of acute sprint exercise (SE) on game performance and cognitive performance of esports players (as compared to age-matched controls) is scant. To address this gap, this study using a between-subjects design with pretest-posttest comparisons recruited amateur esports players aged between 18 and 35 years, and healthy age-matched controls who did not play esports games. The participants performed the Go/No-go test, Tracking Test, and the First Person Shooter (FPS) game Valorant immediately before and 5 and 30 min after SE. In addition to the behavioral performance, changes in the cortical hemodynamics of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were recorded before and after the acute physical exercise while playing Valorant using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results show that amateur esports players have superior performance in both game performance (p < .001) and specific measures of cognitive performance (i.e., Tracking Test, p < .05), regardless of the sessions. After the acute physical exercise, the gaming performance in both groups improved, and amateur esports players showed a higher accuracy in the Go/No-go task 30 min after SE. Regarding PFC cortical hemodynamics, no significant difference was noticed in the oxygenation values of both groups between pre and post tests, and between-group differences (p > .05). In conclusion, our study provides evidence that (i) amateur esports players have superior cognitive performance in specific domains and (ii) an acute bout of physical exercise can increase the gaming performance of both amateur esports players and healthy age-matched controls.

Exploring the Ideas of the Faculty of Sport Sciences Students on the Concept of E-Sports

This research was planned to analyze the opinions of the students of the faculty of sports sciences about e-sports games. The research was designed in a “qualitative research pattern” in order to examine in depth what e-sports games are, the sources of motivation in playing e-sports games, social development, psychomotor development and virtual reality perceptions. The data of the study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 students selected by criterion sampling method. The obtained data were coded, divided into categories and evaluated with content analysis. In the study, it was determined that the participants adopted the view that e-sports has negative effects in terms of social, physical and psychological aspects, and that it has positive contributions in terms of economic and leisure activities. Considering the nature of sports, modern sports theory and also the cultural and historical definitions, it can be said that e-sports games will not have a significant physiological contribution to the players since they are played by the computers in an inactive way. On the contrary some social and psychological contributions could be considered.

A comparative analysis for eye movement characteristics between professional and non-professional players in FIFA eSports game

Eye-tracking technology has been widely applied to various kinds of traditional sports research, such as football, basketball and table tennis. eSports is an emerging digital sport, which is currently enjoying rapid development. The previous study primarily focuses on the practical applications of eye movement in eSports, such as game design, visual attention, and performance analysis. However, there is a scientific gap for the specific differences between expert and novice players, the potential of eye-tracking as a biological marker for eSports performance, and the transfer of insights from real sports to eSports through eye-tracking studies. This study aims to uncover disparities in eye movement characteristics between professional players (N = 14, 24.1 ± 2.5 years) and non-professional players (N = 14, 25.2 ± 2.3 years) by employing the expert-novice paradigm. We extracted several key eye movement features, including average fixation counts, average fixation duration, first fixation duration, eye movement trajectory, and visits to areas of interest. The results indicate that professional players exhibit higher fixation counts, shorter first fixation duration, reduced average fixation duration, and employ a more effective visual search strategy. Professional players’ fixation trajectories are characterized by clarity and focus, with a greater number of fixation points concentrated on key areas of interest. In contrast, non-professional players demonstrate relatively random fixation trajectories, lacking distinct focal points. This study not only advances our understanding of eye-tracking in eSports but also provides technical guidance and practical significance for further research in this burgeoning field.

The Influence of Esports on Adolescents' Social Skills

The incredible popularity of video games among teenagers today is a direct result of technological advances over the last few decades. With smartphones that are now more and more available to the general public. Previous research findings are still raising concerns in the eSports community about how teenage eSport players can provide valuable socializing time with peers and family. and esports players show that interacting with friends online is more enjoyable and satisfying than doing it in person. The study aims to test the impact of esports on adolescent social skills. This research is quantitative and correlational. The respondents in this study were teenagers who often played esports games, which amounted to 13 respondents. Selection of research subjects using purposive sampling method. This study uses the Real and Electronic Communication Skills questionnaire (RECS). The data gathered showed that five teenagers had low social skills, four people with adequate social skill, three people with high social skills and one person with very high social skill.

Do Chinese viewers watch e-sports games for a different reason? Motivations, attitude, and team identification in predicting e-sports online spectatorship.

Understanding factors that predict the intention of e-sports game online spectatorship has drawn a great deal of scholarly attention. Prior work on this topic has primarily focused on explaining the mediation mechanism between the spectator motivations and behavioral intention, such as attitude and subjective well-being, while overlooking the specific role of team identification and satisfaction with past experience, which were understudied in the previous studies but also prominent in the context of e-sports spectatorship. Besides, previous research was mainly conducted in a Western context; therefore, little was known about the online e-sports audience in China and their motivations to view e-sports games on live-streaming platforms. The current study thus aims to examine if and how these factors are related to the intention of watching e-sports games online by hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling. Results from a survey of 452 Chinese e-sports online audiences suggested that three motivations (skill improvement, entertainment, and friends bonding), attitude towards e-sports game online spectatorship, and satisfaction with past experience were positively related to watching intention. These motivations and satisfaction also positively influenced attitude, while socialization opportunity (one of the motivations) negatively influenced attitude. Furthermore, team identification negatively moderated the relationship between satisfaction with past experience and behavioral intention. Also, attitude mediated the association between motivations, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. In general, our study identifies the motivations that relate to Chinese e-sports viewers' attitude as well as their watching intention, and underscores the role of satisfaction with past experience, attitude, and team identification in the context of e-sports. These findings contribute to deriving a holistic view of e-sports game online spectatorship.

Beyond the Meta: Leveraging Game Design Parameters for Patch-Agnostic Esport Analitics

Esport games comprise a sizeable fraction of the global games market, and is the fastest growing segment in games. This has given rise to the domain of esports analytics, which uses telemetry data from games to inform players, coaches, broadcasters and other stakeholders. Compared to traditional sports, esport titles change rapidly, in terms of mechanics as well as rules. Due to these frequent changes to the parameters of the game, esport analytics models can have a short life-spam, a problem which is largely ignored within the literature. This paper extracts information from game design (i.e. patch notes) and utilises clustering techniques to propose a new form of character representation. As a case study, a neural network model is trained to predict the number of kills in a Dota 2 match utilising this novel character representation technique. The performance of this model is then evaluated against two distinct baselines, including conventional techniques. Not only did the model significantly outperform the baselines in terms of accuracy (85% AUC), but the model also maintains the accuracy in two newer iterations of the game that introduced one new character and a brand new character type. These changes introduced to the design of the game would typically break conventional techniques that are commonly used within the literature. Therefore, the proposed methodology for representing characters can increase the life-spam of machine learning models as well as contribute to a higher performance when compared to traditional techniques typically employed within the literature.

"Features of Playing Esports Games and the Impact on Status of Students and Athletes"

"Features of Playing Esports Games and the Impact on Status of Students and Athletes"

The effect of playing e-sports games on young people's desire to engage in physical activity: Mediating effects of social presence perception and virtual sports experience.

E-sports game experiences can help enhance young peoples' willingness to participate in sports and fitness. However, e-sports game studies have mostly focused on users' violent tendencies and aggressive behaviors, and less attention has been paid to the positive effects on young peoples' sports health. The purpose of this study is to provide reasonable guidance young people away from sedentary, addictive and other negative behaviors and to promote active sports and healthy exercise and development. Following the random sampling criteria, questionnaires were distributed to Chinese young people aged 14 to 24 through gaming communities as well as social media platforms, and 1608 valid questionnaires were obtained after eliminating invalid ones. The influence mechanism of e-sports game experience on young peoples' intention to participate in sports and fitness was examined empirically by using factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The e-gaming scenes (β = 0.399, p<0.01), virtual sports experience (β = 0.257, p<0.01), and social presence (β = 0.258 p<0.01) each had a significant positive effect on young peoples' intention to participate in sports and fitness; virtual sports experience [OR]0.099, 95%: CI 0.077-0.121 and social presence[OR]0.052, 95%: CI 0.035-0.071, were known to have mediating utility in the e-gaming scenario's influence on young peoples' intention to participate in sports and fitness. Using the significant features of sports video games such as entertainment and simulation to awaken the interest and willingness to participate in young people sports is an innovative way to accelerate the development of mass sports.

The “why” behind generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions

PurposeTechnological advancements in games increased the popularity of online gaming. The rapid expansion of the eSports market may largely be attributed to the ever-increasing popularity amongst Generation Y amateur gamers. The primary objective of this study is to determine the factors influencing Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the extended unified theory of acceptance as the theoretical framework. Data analysis included exploratory principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis.FindingsThe results of the confirmatory factor analysis suggest that Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions is an eight-factor model that is reliable, valid and has acceptable model fit. The results of the path analysis indicate that habit, price-value, flow, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions have a statistically significant positive influence on amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions, whilst social influence and hedonic motivation have a negative but non-significant influence on those intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample was formed using only amateur eSports gamers. In this regard, the opportunity exists to research professional eSports gamers. This study only focussed on Generation Y members between 18 and 36 years old. As a result, there is an opportunity for researchers to research the different generations of South African eSports gamers to determine whether there are any differences or similarities between generational segments.Practical implicationsThe results of this study clearly indicate that flow, together with habit are salient contributors to ongoing gameplay intentions amongst amateur eSports gamers in South Africa. A reasonable assumption that can be made here is that flow is also instrumental in encouraging habitual gaming, which increases the importance of flow in overall ongoing gameplay intentions. This suggests that R&D expenditure should be directed at enhancing user engagement by building increased levels of flow into eSports games.Social implicationseSports game developers can also achieve a desired state of flow by creating daily challenges that reward players when the players achieve specific objectives, which will encourage gamers to enter a state of flow when provided with challenges to complete. However, these in-game challenges should have a variety of levels regarding difficulty, ranging from beginner, intermediate and advanced levels so as not to exceed the effort expectancy of different groups of players. Game developers should provide regularly updated challenges to gamers to ensure that eSports games remain enjoyable and does not become predictable.Originality/valueGiven the nascence of research on eSports behaviour, the results of this study provide a novel addition to the knowledge pool, particularly in terms of amateur eSports behavioural intentions. Interestingly, hedonic motivation and social influence were non-significant negative predictors of Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions. The recommendations provide various marketing strategies and opportunities for eSports business expansion.

A formula for success: How Formula One racing embraced digital and social media to engage fans

In January 2017, Liberty Media finalised its purchase of the world’s premier motor racing series, Formula 1. At the time of acquisition, the sport had developed a reputation as an ‘old boys club’. Global viewership and fan engagement were declining, and the sport had lost sponsors. This decline was largely attributed to a lack of marketing and a failure to adapt to the digital age. Liberty engaged in extensive marketing research to understand fans’ desires and interests to reverse this trend. Its research identified two key target markets: existing committed fans who skewed older and a new younger target market — millennials. To meet the needs of existing fans, Liberty developed a strategy that involved providing more detailed information about the sport through podcasts, enhanced YouTube videos and F1 TV streaming services. For younger fans new to the sport, Liberty created a number of initiatives across different platforms, including the Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’, an esports game, encouraging fans to vote for their favourite ‘Driver of the Day’, and promoting race-specific hashtags on social media. Liberty also recognised the importance and power of social media and the need for involvement at all levels of the sport — association, team, driver and sports member — to keep fans engaged year-round. This case study highlights the importance of data-informed decision making, understanding how fans are developed, what motivates them and how fan engagement manifests across different platforms.