Talking to Arizona State University on Careers in Esports and the Esports Industry

Usually I try to add something insightful, but it looks like there are already some well thought out additions here in comments. I'll just say that I relate to the hand sign difficulty my man. Holding up 1 finger to express either approval or disapproval is so much easier. So easy in fact you can do it while driving (Just probably not while taking the WA driver exam)!

As far as team exclusivity, thats when a player can only play with one team for the season or contract. I feel like if the team isnt helping boost the career and popularity of the player that is signed then there isnt a benefit that the player is really getting from signing this agreement, however if exclusivity comes with the perks of “we as a team will use our resources to push you to be the best player, help grow your personal brand and social media presence, and provide the mental health care you need” then that is a good team, one the career of this player is growing with skill, and a online presence which will boost the team viewership, and could help him outside of esports/going up to a pro or another team. That brand that was build though will follow through to the new team. Dont hold his brand hostage instead use that in your teams marketing such as (we here at ___ have proven that we can build you a brand and narrative so come in and join our team) also with a brand awareness of your team sponsers are more willing to put in funding to your team for the advertisement on the channels your team members have/ team channel itself.

The content problem in my eyes, is that its hard to get average viewers invested in the sport because there is no story anymore. The players are always changing rosters, and the team is almost never the same so you cant follow the team from failure to victory because its not the same team. But more on the story side you need to make youtube content, tik tok, just anything to advertise your team and make viewers invested into the team, and you do that by bringing out the personality in the players. So that the viewers themselves start relating and forming par-asocial relationships with these players and rooting for them to win and will result in the team as long as the team isnt changing the roster. I feel like devin at clg was having a hard time bringing out personalities of the league of legend players because all the players cared about and did was play, so he had to try and make the team look cool but the team has a hard time connecting to the average person because theres no personal attachment to inside the team. Im not sure if this makes since, i bet i could polish up my answer if given more time to think about it. But in short teams that do well have internet personaities of their players post content, then the team finds a way to make collaborative content , then build a story about the upcoming battle. “Jessi been out drinking to much we dont know if he will be able to pull off this move” *cuts to action* *reaction from the team* “omg jessi blew our minds!” Or the down of the team during a losing scrims, make the audience feel like hope is almost lost, then when they come out ontop its an underdog story.

After having some time to think about this, I have a couple questions. What is the “content problem” in esports? Is there already a video done in this? What is “team exclusivity” and why are you against it?

Chase Sommer

This was very helpful hearing about how Devin recommended that the students should leverage collegiate esports :) I was both President of Esports at the University of Iowa and now I run Esports at a community college! My goal is to get into pro esports one day :)

Chase Sommer