League of Legends fans, I need help with my esports research survey. Let's make LOL a sport!

bobyuunm·Oct 11, 2018·2 votes·1,851 views

Examining Motives of Online and Onsite eSport Spectators

Dear League of Legends fans,

I am a PhD student majoring in sport management at Texas A&M University. I played eSports since 2008, and for sure I played League of Legends. Being a loyal fan, I wish to increase the awareness of esports in sport industry. I am now working on a research to study why esports fans watch the matches.

You are invited to participate in this study voluntarily. This Qualtrics survey should take you around 10 minutes to complete. Your identity as a participant will remain anonymous during and after the study. There is no incentive to take the survey, but I still want to express my sincere gratitude here for your help and support. I can share the results here after the study finishes.

If you would like to participate, please click on the link below to our survey: https://tamucehd.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Y6hXK8aYDffFTD

If you have any questions before, during or after the survey, please e-mail me directly. ([email protected])

Thank you for your support! Let’s make LOL a real sport!

10 Comments

TheUrbanKitsuneOct 11, 20181 votes

"Thank you for your support! Let’s make LOL a real sport!"

Uh, it's been a sport, bud. It's got a pretty decent esports following. I'm not sure if you mean you want it televised much in the way a baseball match would be, but there are a few problems with that. My biggest one being that League is pretty... unfriendly as a spectator sport.

I don't really care for baseball and have no idea on the more intricate rules or strats (if there are any) but I can gather from watching for around 5 minutes that-- guy hits ball, guy runs to base, if he runs all the way around the diamond they get a point.

League however requires A LOT of game knowledge to be able to 'enjoy' watching. Someone who has no idea what any of the 140-some characters do, what items are, how towers or objectives work, what the heck a baron is, why a ton of little cloaked guys are running down the lanes or even what the end goal of the game is in general, probably won't enjoy themselves sitting and watching pro players farm for 10 minutes before someone inevitably kills someone else. Heck, sometimes in teamfights in pro games I lose track of what's happening and I play the game pretty regularly.

Don't get me wrong, I love League and I love that there is a respectable pro scene, I just think theres a lot getting in the way of it being as widely consumed as spectator sports we have already.

Horse GrenadesOct 11, 20181 votes

I would argue that the reason League is such a popular esport is its ease of viewing, unlike Overwatch or FPSs

bobyuunmOct 12, 20181 votes

Is it because this is a longer game?

Horse GrenadesOct 12, 20181 votes

No, I think the biggest factor that makes League easy to watch is, for the most part, you see what all 10 players see. Whereas in FPSs you only see from one players perspective. Think about basketball where you only see it from LeBrons PoV, it makes the experience less meaningful and the decisions of the team seem more random.

bobyuunmOct 12, 20181 votes

Yeah, I agree. I think some of the broadcasts in FPSs are better. Like in PUBG, I think they allow audience to view from a third party POV. That could be a very good suggestion to FPS games.

bobyuunmOct 12, 20181 votes

Thank you! That's really a good point. I think League producers might consider how they can make the game more approachable to people who don't have knowledge of LOL.

zolikingOct 12, 20181 votes

There's a question in there about whether I've watched eSports in the last couple of weeks. In terms of LoL you might get some skewed results, since the Worlds just started a few days ago, and there are in game rewards for watching.

bobyuunmOct 12, 20181 votes

That's a real good catch. If you took my survey, you might noticed that I include in game live streaming as a way to watch LOL. I think in previous research, such in game channel is omitted.

zolikingOct 12, 20181 votes

{quoted}

That's a real good catch. If you took my survey, you might noticed that I include in game live streaming as a way to watch LOL. I think in previous research, such in game channel is omitted.

I think there's a misunderstanding. What I meant was that players who wouldn't normally watch e-sports at all are incentivized in game to watch the Worlds. There's no in-game streaming, the stream is accessible through a website with imbedded Youtube and Twitch players.

bobyuunmOct 12, 20181 votes

Oh, I got you this time. That's a good promotion from LOL.