UH Esports: Varsity Program for Student Development, Academics, and Careers, Study notes of Business

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The UH Esports Business Plan 2020 Table of Contents UH Esports Program 1 Esports 2 What is Esports? 2 Professional Esports (League of Legends and Overwatch) 2 Esports and media 2 Esports in the Asia-Pacific Region 3 Collegiate Esports (Development, Careers, and Curricula) 3 Where Should it Go? 5 The Pillars of UH Esports (Systems) 7 Community 7 Student Development and Careers 7 Research and Academics 7 Diversity and Inclusion 8 UH Esports Foundational Goals 8 The UH Esports Arena (Competition and Media Production) 8 The UH Esports Teams 9 UH Esports Teams (System) 10 Scholarships 11 Academics (UH Esports Courses and Certificates) 11 Outreach (High School Esports) 12 Management and Positions 13 Director of UH Esports (Systems) 13 UH Esports Program Assistant (Campus-based) 13 Content & Media Creator (Campus-based) 14 UH Esports Head Coaches (Campus based: League of Legends & Overwatch) 14 Systems & High School Outreach Assistant 14 UH Esports Program Summary 14 UH Esports Foundational Goals (2019-2021) 14 Future UH Esports Projects 15 12-Month Timeline 2020-2021 16 stream video games, Twitch was purchased by Amazon in 2014 for close to $1 billion. Presently, Twitch attracts the lion’s share of video game engagement, with 80% of the market coming to their platform. Other streaming platforms, however, have emerged in the video game streaming space, such as Microsoft's Mixer, Youtube’s Youtube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming. Youtube Gaming and Facebook Gaming have positioned themselves to contend for viewers where Twitch has not gained a strong foothold (largely international markets), with Facebook Gaming already getting around 700 million gamers coming to its site each month (Raji, 2019). Esports in the Asia-Pacific Region The growth of esports is especially notable in China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia (in particular the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia). South Korea is considered the modern birthplace of esports when it began to take a serious orientation towards creating teams, holding large-scale esports events, and creating professional media broadcasts as early as 1999. Today, South Korea continues to be a powerhouse in the industry, fielding dominant professional teams in Overwatch and League of Legends According to Newzoo, a global esports market research firm, the Asia-Pacific region will continue to strengthen its hold over the culture and industry of esports over the next decade. Presently, 57% of esports enthusiasts reside in the Asia-Pacific region. Playing a large part in the discussion of esports growth in Asia-Pacific is the role of China. China accounts for around 300 million personal computer (PC) gamers, generating around $15 billion in gaming revenues. Finally, the growth of esports in Southeast Asia has largely taken place through the adoption of mobile phones. The next hardware platform iteration in esports is expected to take place with mobile technologies (cell phones & tablets) with projected growth of mobile technologies to outpace consoles (Xbox, PS4) and PCs in the esports market. Presently, mobile gaming brings in around $70 billion out of a global games market of around $180 billion1 (NYT, 2019). Collegiate Esports (Development, Careers, and Curricula) The growth of varsity-based collegiate esports is estimated to reach 200 schools by the year 2020. Schools with collegiate esports programs offer various levels of institutional support, from coaching and training, facilities with on-campus space (specifically designed esports arenas), and scholarships. 1 Global gaming surpasses both films and music in revenue produced worldwide The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tabled discussions in 2019 on whether the organization will regulate collegiate esports. In response, Riot Games created the Riot Scholastic Association of America (RSAA) to regulate the use of League of Legends with collegiate and high school esports in North America. Presently, the RSAA is the only (and first) official governing entity in collegiate esports. So far, gaming publisher Activision-Blizzard has not created a governing body for their game Overwatch. Collegiate esports teams in North America participate in three main competitions: College League of Legends (CLoL), the Collegiate Starleague (CSL), and Tespa. Both CLoL and Tespa are presently the only publisher-run tournaments, with hundreds of schools participating in their competitions either independently or through traditional college sports conferences. The CSL is the only independent (non-publisher) tournament organizer that offers tournaments for popular gaming titles in North America (NBA2K, CS:GO, Dota 2, Fortnite, etc). For UH Esports, the CSL, Tespa, and CLoL tournaments are the primary venues for our teams. Additionally, with the growth of college conferences taking part in esports, UH Esports has participated in the Mountain-West esports conference. This conference is currently working together with Riot Games so that the Mountain-West conference operates as a qualifier for the CLoL tournament. Student development and esports. By creating an esports program, UH can enhance enrollment and harness student interests in games as a means of supporting student development. Research on video games has shown that video games as a technology can be channeled for student learning, development, and growth. With the emergence of esports, educators understand that the passions students have for esports can be concentrated to support collaborative teamwork, problem-solving skills, and career-choice opportunities required for student success. The benefit that esports offers draws from two distinct learning environments: sports and games. Esports provides students who are not inclined or have the ability to participate in traditional sports with the same benefits seen in athletics culture, such as: ● fostering a growth mindset (practice makes perfect via video games) (Richard & Ares) ● increased satisfaction with school (connecting video games to school) (Astin) ● interactions with caring adults and coaches via mentorships (Fox et al.) Video games provide an added layer of learning opportunities for students with: ● increased problem-solving and analytical skills (Adachi & Willoughby) ● the development of technology fluency (Hayes) ● the use of scientific reasoning as an important component to gameplay (Gee, Leander, & Steinkuehler) Careers, new media, and esports. Opportunities for development and growth for students also take place outside of being a player. Esports offers a variety of roles and career paths into a new media industry that is continuing to grow. A UH Esports program would be active in creating positions and opportunities for students that touch upon several vectors in the industry beyond being a player, such as: ● streaming & content creation ● esports media production ● commenting & analyst work ● marketing and public relations ● business management ● web development & data analytics ● art, animation, and creative media creation Education and curricula. Universities have started to offer courses and certificates in the realm of esports. UH Mānoa (UHM) offered one of the first semester-long courses on the development of esports at the School of Communications. Offerings in esports education have focused on courses related to marketing, business management, events planning, and sports psychology as applied to the topic of esports. In the last two years, some universities have started to create certificate courses for students interested in the field of professional esports (such as the University of California, Irvine). Finally, other universities (most recently Harrisburg University) have moved into offering degrees (such as Ohio State University for graduate and undergraduate) tracks in esports management and game development. In total, there are over 10 universities now offering some form of esports education in North America. Where Should it Go? Schools that have created esports programs have housed them through different departments on college campuses. From 2014, when the first program began at Robert Morris University, colleges began to place their esports programs in athletic departments because of the existing strengths athletics brings to recruitment, competition, and scheduling. Since then, schools have thought about departments outside of athletics where esports could be a conduit for student success. The University of California, Irvine, for instance, aligned its program in 2016 with Student Affairs to highlight strengths unique to that department. Alternatively, the University of Utah created its esports program under its Arts and Engineering program to leverage its already renowned video game design and development degree. Overall, there is no single model presently guiding how universities are creating collegiate esports programs. There has been a trend to think widely beyond athletics (but to always include it), and to see what other synergies exist between departments and esports. Given that esports encompasses a variety of strengths (competition, technology, communications, and entertainment), schools are finding that while a at the University of Hawaiʻi have a shared interest in looking at esports and video games as a serious topic of inquiry. The UH Esports program aims to be a hub of academic activity in the Asia-Pacific region by working with other universities that have developed research agendas designed to understand the continued development of esports. Diversity and Inclusion UH Esports believes in actively creating environments welcoming students from diverse backgrounds as an important part of our mission. While esports continues to grow, historically, there have been barriers to participation for women and LGBTQ players in esports. UH Esports encourages greater participation by students, at all levels of involvement. We understand that marginalized communities can feel uneasy in environments that place a focus only on competition. UH Esports, therefore, seeks to present creative opportunities for our students to interact with a more diverse video game culture on our campuses. UH Esports Foundational Goals The foundational goals for the UH Esports program are threefold: to find a dedicated location on campuses for the UH Esports teams to be housed (an esports arena); get two (or more) collegiate esports teams on a competitive schedule; and turn the program into a scholarship-based esports program. The UH Esports Arena (Competition and Media Production) The first step to building a successful collegiate esports program at UHM is finding dedicated locations for an esports arena or gaming room on different campuses. The arena will be a local area network (LAN) center, outfitted with high-speed networks, high-end performance gaming computers, and esports media production capabilities. The specifications of the facility (physically) would need to take into consideration size, location, room for spectators, an esports media production section (streaming), and a community/non-esports gaming area for the general student population. The arena would be open to all students on the campus. Size: An esports arena should be roughly within the 3.5 to 4.5 thousand square-foot range to accommodate different communities of gamers and esports media production PCs: A minimum of 22 (ideally, 50) gaming (and streaming) computers would be used in the arena Location: The arena should be centrally located on campus or situated where students can easily use the facility between classes and throughout the school day An important element in the use of the arena will be esports media production and streaming. To effectively have an esports media production area, the arena needs to provide separate rooms or space away from where players are competing, where production equipment, “shoutcasters,” and announcers can be housed without external noise interference. The arena, therefore, has the capacity to serve as both a place for competitive gaming and a space where the media and video production of esports takes place simultaneously. The UH Esports arena will also serve as a place of learning for students wanting to gain knowledge about the gaming and esports industry. The arena will house various workshops and speaker series (the first set of esports/gaming speakers’ series having been successfully held fall of 2019 at UHM). The arena would also be a location for hands-on experience for courses offered in esports at UH. Future courses exploring the topic of esports will utilize the space to demonstrate the various pathways and industries in esports that lie beyond simply looking at competition alone. The esports arena will be home to the varsity UH Esports teams (in League of Legends and Overwatch presently) and serve as the location where the college esports players hold their weekly practices (scrims) and competitive tournament games (both online but also in-person matches). For the competitive teams, usage of the computers for the collegiate players often takes place during the weekends or later in the evenings or nights on weekdays. Please see the section under “UH Esports Program Summary” for further details about facilities used for esports on different campuses. The UH Esports Teams The second step in creating a UH Esports program across the system campuses is to actively maintain both Overwatch and League of Legends teams on a competitive schedule throughout the academic school year. Teams. UH esports will be active in both Overwatch and League of Legends tournaments. Therefore, the program should always have at least one team in League of Legends and one team in Overwatch for the academic year. The number of players for a League of Legends team is 5, and the number of players in the game Overwatch is 6. The goal for UH Esports, however, is to have a varsity (A team) in both games and a scrim team (B team) to practice with throughout the school year. UH Esports, therefore, will seek to maintain 22 students for program participation by students. In addition to players, the teams should have game-specific coaches and team managers (students) as a support structure to get the teams competition-ready before each academic year begins. Recruitment. Unlike traditional collegiate sports, collegiate esports isn’t limited in its method of recruitment. Open calls (online) before the academic year (July) will be announced for students to come try out for UH Esports. UH Esports will engage in face-to-face recruitment strategies by visiting high schools with competitive gaming scenes as one method of vetting talent. Based on funding, UH Esports will host scholarship tournaments throughout the school year, allowing coaches and management for our esports teams to access potential students for our program. Scholarships tournaments are open to domestic and international high school and college students. Tournaments & college conferences. The UH Esports teams will be competing in the Collegiate Starleague (CSL), Tespa, and the College League of Legends(cLoL) tournaments for fall and spring semesters. The CSL holds competitions with a variety of video games supported by their tournament. Tespa supports Activision-Blizzard games only, such as Hearthstone, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. The College League of Legends tournament is Riot’s publisher-held collegiate tournament only for the game League of Legends. For CSL and Tespa, the competitive seasons run through the entire academic year. For cLoL, the tournament takes place in the spring. Finally, the UH Esports program will be participating in the yearly Mountain-West Esports Series conference. The conference welcomes Mountain-West colleges to take part in a collegiate esports tournament in the games of Overwatch and League of Legends. For the 2019-2020 year, CSL offers the largest pool of monetary prizes to students. UH Esports Teams (System) The creation of a UH Esports program can be implemented to fit into the system of 10 campuses based upon the development and existence of gaming communities on campuses. The initial development of an esports program across the system of campuses should unfold in 3 stages. Once a structure is set up with clubs, teams across the system can begin to hold intramural competitions. First phase. The development of an esports program across the system would require a fact- finding excursion into campuses to locate the existence of gaming communities at each campus. The result of that mission should be to locate student-leaders on campus who have an interest in video games to explore the option of turning an informal community of gamers into a formal student club (if none exists). Second phase. The campus must commit to providing both infrastructure and student development support for esports and club gaming activities. The club should find a leader and student coaches for teams to begin club development. Depending upon the culture of the gaming community on each of the campuses, the clubs could orient themselves as general gaming clubs (open to a variety of genres, one of which is esports) or the clubs could be created to cater specifically to esports interests. Third phase. The club should field teams into competitive collegiate tournaments. If rules allow, the clubs at different campuses can compete in the same tournaments (CSL, Tespa, cLoL) as the Mānoa UH Esports teams without selecting a single team to represent the university (a single university or college is allowed to enter multiple teams into a single tournament). Alternatively, tournaments may require one team to represent a single university/college. Having a competitive UH Esports program with multiple teams across the system will allow the UH Esports program to hold intramural games between different campuses. Holding competitions between campuses can be beneficial by: ● determining which clubs/teams get to represent the university in major tournaments if tournaments require a single representative team ● generating school/campus pride via esports teams & competitions UH Esports in creating relationships with high schools are to create pathways for students to see college as a viable option and fit for gamers. UH Esports would work with high schools by: ● setting up inter-collegiate and high school competitions between high schools and UH Esports to be held on UH campus ● holding educational workshops with high schools and parents about the growth of esports ● creating long-term relationships between the high school students and mentors (coaches and players) at UH Esports UH Esports has been approached by Gear UP Hawaiʻi, an early awareness and readiness program for low-income families, to work with a cohort of high schoolers that the organization has been federally funded to support in their efforts for college preparation. Gear Up Hawaiʻi sees the benefits of using esports as a means of appealing to students’ interests in video games as a pathway into college. A comprehensive UH Esports program that offers students access to gaming technologies, relationships with mentors and coaches, and a pathway to college could serve a tremendous community benefit to Hawaiʻi ’s youth. Management and Positions Director of UH Esports (Systems) The UH Esports Director will oversee all aspects of the UH Esports program. The director will be responsible for creating a sustainable esports program. Core responsibilities will include engaging with faculty and departments to develop courses and seeking sponsorship and fundraising opportunities. Initially, as UHM is the only campus with a competitive team, responsibilities will include assisting with recruiting players and managing the operations of an esports arena/training facility. The UH Esports Director will contribute to the academic and research mission of the program. Beyond running the program, the director will teach esports courses, and contribute peer- reviewed academic research exploring various topics related to professional and collegiate esports. Lastly, the director will contribute to the instructional component of the program by teaching a yearly course that provides a background, overview, and critical assessment of the esports industry. UH Esports Program Assistant (Campus-based) The UH Esports Program Assistant will run daily operations of the UH Esports program and assist the UH Esports Director with core responsibilities. The main roles of the UH Esports Program Assistant will be to work with head coaches to make sure teams are competition ready. The duties of the program assistant will also extend into working with student gaming communities on campus, coaches, and team managers for teams. Content & Media Creator (Campus-based) The media production specialist will be responsible for conceptualizing, designing, and creating media projects for UH Esports. The media production specialist should be able to produce content about the esports teams, whether that may be creating graphics, commercials, films, short videos, audio messages, and more. The media production specialist should also have skills with streaming and an understanding of social media and marketing. UH Esports Head Coaches (Campus based: League of Legends & Overwatch) The UH Esports Head Coaches will be the primary leader for our esports teams and are expected to assist the director and program assistant in identifying and recruiting new talent. The head coaches will be responsible for creating strategies for competition, teaching relevant skills (tactics, and techniques), and providing feedback to players. Systems & High School Outreach Assistant The Systems & High School Outreach Assistant will be the main contact for all UH esports programs and high school programs. As the UH Esports program expands, the outreach assistant will work with other UH campuses to see the progress of their esports initiatives. In addition to systems work, the outreach assistant will help high school campuses in creating their own esports programs under the guidance of the director and program assistant. UH Esports Program Summary UH Esports Foundational Goals (2019-2021) The UHM Esports program has been able to meet one of the foundational goals set out in this document by creating teams in two esports games: Overwatch and League of Legends. Competitive teams. UHM Esports has successfully launched a total of five competitive teams in the game League of Legends (3 teams) and Overwatch (2 teams) for the academic year of 2019- 2020. The teams have entered into a competitive schedule with Blizzard’s Tespa tournament, the Collegiate Starleague, and Riot Games’ College League of Legends for the fall of 2019. The UHM Esports program, additionally, will be taking part in the Mountain-West Esports Series conference for the academic year of 2019-2020 (previously participating in it for the 2018-2019 year). Facilities. Since spring 2018, UHM Esports has used the iLab (with computers purchased by Chris Lee) with the permission of Chad Walton as its location for esports-related activities (weekly practices and competitions). Starting in spring 2020, the iLab will be under new leadership and guidance. UHM Esports has started exploring options to find a location for the program by petitioning the Campus Center Board Facilities Management Committee and Campus Center Operations for space. UHM Esports was declined occupancy in the fall of 2019 for what was previously the “Gamesroom” in the campus center. The relevant campus authorities plan to conduct a survey that includes esports as part of their efforts to expand student programming on campus. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the world, the university was forced to run at a limited capacity. This saw the iLab have no use for all departments, allowing UH Esports to take hold of the space. The iLab is now the home of UH Esports and will be the designated space for our teams to compete, stream, and host activities. UH Maui College has established a designated area with 8 gaming stations. UH West Oahu (UHWO) plans to have a dedicated esports arena with 24 gaming computers starting the fall of 2020, when the new ACM building opens, with the possible expansion of up to 50 gaming stations if needed. UHWO’s ACM building will also have space for spectators for fans with a large LED wall for viewers located in the lobby area. Scholarships. Students participating in our League of Legends and Overwatch teams are not under scholarships for the 2019-2020 academic year. Systems (Maui College). Besides the efforts on the UH Mānoa campus, Maui College has begun in earnest to create esports teams on their campus with exhibition matches and games having already taken place, with one international match between Maui College and a sister college in the Philippines completed. High Schools. UHM Esports has been contacted by multiple high schools to begin working together on their own programs, to come for workshops, and speaking engagements with parents. Presently, UH esports has only made commitments to Moanalua High School for the spring semester to formally establish connections with high schools for spring 2020. Future UH Esports Projects In addition to the foundational goals of UH Esports, the program is currently working on major projects for the future development of esports at UH and for Hawaiʻi. UCI college esports consortium. UCI has organized a working group of colleges to begin the process of developing collegiate esports standards (how to define varsity esports, student eligibility, research, and outreach) for varsity programs, aligned with the academic mission of university members and focused on student development outcomes. UHM (through the participation of Nyle Sky Kauweloa) has been asked to take part in the development of the consortium. When completed, the consortium will seek to get recognition from Riot Games, the publisher of the game League of Legends, as an official governance structure for collegiate esports in North America.