Starcraft from the stands

Abstract

Video games are primarily designed for the players. However, video game spectating is also a popular activity, boosted by the rise of online video sites and major gaming tournaments. In this paper, we focus on the spectator, who is emerging as an important stakeholder in video games. Our study focuses on Starcraft, a popular real-time strategy game with millions of spectators and high level tournament play. We have collected over a hundred stories of the Starcraft spectator from online sources, aiming for as diverse a group as possible. We make three contributions using this data: i) we find nine personas in the data that tell us who the spectators are and why they spectate; ii) we strive to understand how different stakeholders, like commentators, players, crowds, and game designers, affect the spectator experience; and iii) we infer from the spectators' expressions what makes the game entertaining to watch, forming a theory of distinct types of information asymmetry that create suspense for the spectator. One design implication derived from these findings is that, rather than presenting as much information to the spectator as possible, it is more important for the stakeholders to be able to decide how and when they uncover that information.

“Not Only for a Celebration of Competitive Overwatch but Also for National Pride”: Sportificating the Overwatch World Cup 2016

“…In eSports, the audience is usually able to see more about the state of the game than its players are. This information asymmetry is one of the key differences in the way the game is presented to the audience in eSports versus traditional sports (Cheung & Huang, 2011). During the Overwatch matches, the broadcast shows the direct gameplay stream but modified to display the information required to make the viewing experience exciting and enjoyable (for a contrary example, see Witkowski, 2012a).…”

The Fall of the Fourth Wall

“…Using StarCraft (Saffire Corporation & Blizzard Entertainment Inc, 1998) and StarCraft 2 (Blizzard Entertainment Inc, 2010) as bases for their analysis, they outlined an initial set of personae for game spectators and attempted to infer what makes a game entertaining to watch by looking at the facial expressions of various spectators. Moreover, they identified some aspects that contribute to a spectator's experience, including not only the players and crowds, but also the gameplay commentators as well as the design of the game itself (Cheung & Huang, 2011). We will further discuss the spectator experience in the following section.…”

You Can Wear It, But Do They Want to Share It or Stare at It?

“…Each approach comes with its own benefits and concerns, but aims to create the best spectator experience. Around gaming, it has been reported that spectators most appreciate games designed to support visible actions and tactics, units in competitive play and emotions evoked during competition [7].…”