eveSports part 2: Is it actually a good idea?

In the previous post I highlighted what I felt were the key areas that needed work in order to make EVE into a suitable game for eSports. However, that post focused mainly on the mechanics and features that would need to be implemented such as custom arenas and an overall improved spectator experience*. What I want to talk about now is the consequences that turning the game into an eSport could have.

One of the most obvious problems is that it would require development time. I imagine that a lot of the features I described in the previous post would take a lot of work to implement. EVE has had its ups and downs over the course of its development and not all expansions have been equally well received. The player base in EVE puts great pressure on CCP and every small change, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is heavily scrutinized.  Incarna is one of the most memorable examples of player uproar, which literally had players rioting in game at how much they disliked the direction CCP was taking the game. Going the competitive eSports route would be a very significant change with the potential to alienate a large portion of the player base who have no interest in competitive gaming. This would especially be the case if it meant that their areas of gameplay were neglected in favor of developing the game into an eSport.

The second problem it would have is the effect on other areas of the game. Though this could manifest in many ways depending on the system implemented. The obvious one to me is the effect on ship balance. For the game to be truly competitive, balance would have to be tweaked to keep certain fleet compositions from becoming overpowered. The problem is that arena style play, such as in the Alliance Tournament (AT), uses different ship fittings and fleet compositions to those found in the regular sandbox. If balance changes were made with tournament style play in mind it could be detrimental to the game as a whole. I think the current ship balance is actually fairly good and it seems like a range of compositions get fielded in the current tournament formats. However, it is definitely something to take into consideration moving forwards. It is also tricky to predict what other areas of the sandbox would be affected. For example, what if the implementation resulted in players not having to pay for ships? How would the economy be affected? I think it is fair to assume that any ships or ISK given to players in the arena would not be allowed back into the sandbox. However, could this cause more players to engage in PvP in these private arenas at no ISK cost, rather than out in the sandbox, resulting in less content for regular PvP players?

Another issue is how it would fit into the lore of the game. I think EVE is an innately immerse game. I'd go so far as to say that all EVE players are role players, whether they mean to be or not. Politics and wars between alliances essentially add to the history and lore of the game. I think this immersion into the EVE universe is part of what makes it such an amazing game.Would an arena system be immersion breaking?Probably. For a true eSports experience I don't think it is practical to try and "force" the immersion by linking the arena system to some sort of sensible lore mechanic. I have heard many examples of how to implement an arena for regular AT style combat into the game. Just to pick one example, players have mentioned the use of dead space pockets and gates that only let the designated teams through. While a good idea, and a feature I think would add to the game in general, it isn't a great solution. You are taking the current brick wall barrier to entry and replacing it with a hurdle. The best eSports titles get you into the action seamlessly without having to faff around. My personal idea would be to have an extra service button in stations leading to a "VR simulation" of some sort. This would connect throughout every station. This "simulation" would then lead to a typical game browser as seen in other games. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. The point is to make the process of setting up a match as quick and painless as possible. Of course, this has the problem of players not getting out in space again. If too many players were jumping into the "VR mode" to get quick fights, it could cause real content droughts in other areas of the game. Not ideal.

Also problematic is the effect it could have on AT and New Eden Open formats. Part of what makes these tournaments so interesting is that they actually happen within the EVE universe with real assets being put on the line. It has a tangible effect on the sandbox and becomes part of the lore and history of the game. It requires a real effort to field an effective team and epitomizes EVE as a whole. It comes back to immersion. For example, Pandemic Legion recently took a major financial hit in the battle of B-R. They had to factor in the financial cost of the upcoming AT when considering their retreat and recovery as an alliance. If the AT were to occur outside of the sandbox then it could have impacted that decision process. The other element to this is the meta gaming that occurs in the AT. Teams have to to go great lengths to keep their compositions and fitting secret from other teams. It is a legit tactic and common for teams to spy on each other and try and hard counter each other. It wouldn't surprise me if teams also lay out bait for known spies and turn the tables in the tournaments. This adds to the atmosphere and narrative of the tournaments, adding extra depth, which wouldn't be as common if private arenas existed.

The final issue is the sort of player base it might attract to the game. Any League of Legend's player can attest to the toxic environment that highly competitive gaming can result in. The anonymity of the internet is a powerful thing. The current EVE community is by no means perfect. However, I'd like to think it has a certain amount of maturity to it. Easing the barrier of entry would undoubtedly lead to a flood of YOLOSW4G360NOSCOPE type gamers into the community. Is that really good for the health of the game as a whole?

Overall, I'm not sure how EVE could truly be developed into a fully featured eSport title without causing harm to the sandbox as a whole. I'm pro eSports in general, I just don't feel that trying to drive EVE as an eSport and attempting to emulate other successful titles would be beneficial for the game. I think that more could be done to empower players to be able to host their own tournament in the Alliance Tournament format. However, I think it has to occur within the sandbox and fit within the lore of the game. Unfortunately I think developing the game into an eSport is directly contradictory to the immersive nature of the game.

* On a recent podcast my attention was drawn to the Null-Sec website. They have a 3D match viewer which allows you to watch replays of the matches from NEOII. It is a great interface and exactly the sort of thing I was thinking about in the previous post.

eveSports part 1: Is it feasible?

Warning. Long post incoming... and it's only part 1!

There are a number of games out there which have proven highly successful in the eSports scene. League of Legends, Starcraft II and CS:GO come to mind. They all have regular tournaments with sponsors and large prize pools. League of Legends is practically tailor made for eSports and the developers place a lot of focus on this. Starcraft and Counter Strike had much humbler beginnings. In the early days their development as eSports was largely driven by the competitive community. However, now Starcraft II and CS:GO have a lot more developer support helping them cement their place as popular eSport titles. EVE is in an interesting place and with the New Eden Open underway I thought it was good timing to discuss EVE as a potential eSport.

The Criteria

Firstly, what makes a game a good eSport? Here are what I feel are 4 key attributes that a game needs to have in order to succeed as an eSport:

1. Low Barrier of Entry
2. Competitive Community
3. Spectator Friendly
4. Developer Support

This is by means an exhaustive list! However, in my time playing games competitively I've watched many games come and go as eSports. The successful ones usually nailed all 4 of these points. So how does EVE do in each category?

Barrier to Entry

I think that EVE has a high barrier to entry and this, in my opinion, is extremely limiting in its development as an eSport. There isn't really any way for a brand new player to pick up EVE and get into a competitive match. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, there isn't really any way to quickly and easily set up the match environment found in the alliance tournament or new eden open. Secondly, the amount of ISK required to be competitive isn't realistically achievable by a young player. Finally, new players won't have the skill points to fly the range of ships required in tournament play, let alone have the support skills to be competitive in them against a veteran player. I think this is one of the most difficult things to change without negatively affecting the game as a whole but I'll get back to that in part 2.

Competitive Community

EVE is an extremely competitive game by its very nature. Also, the number of corporations and alliances in the game automatically lend itself to the formation of a large number of teams for competitive play. The community is also excellent at organising itself. The syndicate competitive league is a great example of this. If the tools were available to the playerbase as a whole to set up matches in the alliance tournament format, or other custom formats, then I imagine many more organisations like the syndicate competitive league would pop up. Podcasts, blogs and other communities already set up contests of various kinds. Extending this to tournament play would be natural if it was easier to actually set up the tournament conditions.

Spectator Experience

I don't think that EVE is a particularly fun game to watch for the untrained eye. To an uneducated viewer, there really isn't a clear way to tell what is going on. Even to an educated player it often just boils down to watching the battlefeed overlay at the bottom of the twitch feed without having to pay too much attention to the actual spaceships. Remind you of anything? It starts with O and ends with verview. Spreadsheets in space! How exciting! Anyway, my point is that more needs to be done to make the actual fight itself the focus rather than the battlefeed.

The second part to this is accessibility of the spectator system. My current understanding is that with EVE the battlefeed overlay is not readily available to players without CCP help. Also, the only way to spectate matches is through Twitch TV streams rather than via the game itself in some way. I think this particular limitation is also tied into the inability of players to set up their own "arenas" or servers to hold matches in. However, I think both would need to be addressed simultaneously.

The last element is the pacing during and between matches. I think this is partly due to how matches are set up, with CCP having to manually teleport people into a system on Tranquility which is inaccessible to the rest of the game. Up to 20 minutes of setup for a best of 1 which in some cases is a complete whitewash can be a bit anticlimatic. Credit where its due, I think CCP ran last weekends NEO matches very well and the discussion between matches was always relevant and interesting. CCP Rise, Fozzie and Dolan really know their stuff and I think Bro also did a good job directing considering it was his first time in the casting char. It also came across as very professional to me and the player made adverts in the intervals was a nice touch. However, due to the slow pacing, I did feel that it lacked a lot of energy and wouldn't really lend itself too well to a main stage atmosphere at a major tournament such as Dreamhack for example.

Developer Support

I think EVE passes this with flying colours. It is evident that CCP is keen to test the waters with eSports. Cash prizes for the NEO, large support of the Alliance Tournament and the support they have shown to player organisations such as the Syndicate Competitive League make this quite clear. I feel reassured that they wan't to make it work. There are a number of steps I think they need to do to achieve this though.

Priorities and changes

1. Low Barrier of Entry
2. Competitive Community
3. Spectator Experience
4. Developer Support

I feel that the game does have the competitive community base to supports eSports in EVE and I also think they have strong developer support. 2 out of 4 isn't too bad. However, I think the barrier to entry and spectator experience are serious problems if EVE wants to grow as an eSport. So what would I do about it?

Barrier to entry

I talked about EVE's barrier to entry. Competitive play is extremely difficult to get into as a new player for the reasons mentioned earlier. One idea is to have a way to set up private arenas, like the alliance tournament, which also normalises the players skillpoints. Then give them access to free ships, or a pool of money to buy them, to address the ISK issue. There would then have to be ways to regulate the arena settings to force compliance with particular rulesets, like the points systems used for fleet composition in NEO and the Alliance Tournament. This could be taken further, like limiting the skill pool, skill points or even ISK pool to allow interesting tournament styles to evolve. The general idea though is that arenas need to be easy to set up and they need to be accessible to new players. However, I do appreciate that there are huge ramifications with implementing something like this into the game and I'll discuss them in part 2!

The ability to have multiple matches running in parallel is also important. This would result automatically if private arena matches were possible and it would make tournament logistics themselves much more feasible and potentially more interesting. There are only 32 teams in NEOII, yet the tournament has to run over 2 weekends. Best of 3 matches seem like a no brainer to me, especially when 1 round only lasts 10 minutes, but this would have caused the first 16 matches of NEO to take 18 hours or upwards instead of 6! 

Spectator Experience

Basically, more needs to be done to make the actual fight watchable. The battlefeed overlay is okay for extra information but it shouldn't be the main focus for a spectator. Putting certain information on the bracket system could be a problem in regular gameplay but not in a tournament setting where UI clutter is less of an issue. Especially since a spectator won't need things like chat boxes, module controls or an overview to take up screen real estate. It needs things like indicators on the actual ships in space demonstrating webs, damps and other effects. Ships could be given icons based on their point values. Ship health values could be indicated on the brackets themselves via a simple colour system e.g. blue = shield, orange = hull and red = structure. Vary the colour distribution on the icon to show how a ship is tanked (shield versus armor). While EVE isn't an RTS, I think spectating it from such a view isn't such a bad idea via a specific spectator bracket system. Ultimately, getting a good overview of the fight that isn't literally watching a spreadsheet with health bars is what I'm looking for.

Secondly, we need the spectator interface to be accessible from within the game. There needs to be a way to watch an arena game remotely, similar to watching a CS:GO match, via the ingame interface without being directly connected to that particular arena. Linking it into a recording system, like the demo system which has existed in counter strike for over 10 years, would be excellent and a good way to allow content creators to do casting of matches after the fact or create highlight reels.

Also, a private arena system would indirectly affect the spectator experience by making casting matches much easier. The ability to reset matches and get set up quickly would lead to better game pacing and less "forced" chit chat to stall between the matches. This would make also it easier for tournament casters to jump to the next game much quicker rather than 10-20 minute intervals between each 10 minute round. Also, it would allow longer match formats, such as best of 3 or best of 5 at earlier points in tournaments which I think would be more exciting. 1 round matches that are over in a whitewash are pretty underwhelming to me and often, in other games, a team who gets whitewashed in game 1 can often mount a comeback. I think it would lead to better tournament stories and enhance the experience.

Closing summary

I think EVE has a lot going for it as a potential eSport. The actual tactics and strategy involved are very complex and rewarding when learned. However, the barrier for entry makes it difficult for new players to get involved. Also, although many EVE players will find the matches really exciting, I feel it relies too much on knowledge of the game. Other games, such as Starcraft II, have good spectator turnouts even when the spectators don't play or fully understand the game. I think it is because they simply appeal better to the eye, have better pacing in a tournament format and then good casters to explain the mechanics and tactics going on in the matches. I feel improvements can be made, or things implemented, which would push EVE in this direction. However, that being said, implementing things like private arenas into the game are dangerous for other reasons. Some subtle and some more obvious but I will talk about that in part 2! So tune in tomorrow for the dangers of making EVE into a fully fledged eSport.