Ireland's first e-sports research lab opens

[Achtano]

Sources:

RTÉ

Irish Times

 

From the articles:

Quote

“This is a massive growth sector. Top professional players can earn millions of dollars per annum. However, unlike other professional sports, there has been very little application of sports science to the participants to date,” said Dr Mark Campbell, director of the Lero [The Irish Software Research Centre] esports research lab.

That's a fair point. Sport science is a big field and there is a lot of research going on in soccer or American Football, but eSports is mostly ignored or labelld as not being a 'real sport'. He also raises the point that eSport had a massive grow in the last couple of years and that professional players can earn a lot of money. So it makes sense to figure out why some players are so good and others aren't. Plus it could be fun if they create some scale, so you could scientifically show how much your opponent sucks.

 

Quote

Prof Conor Ryan, Lero researcher at UL [University of Limerick] said: "We will work with both amateur and professional players. The research will include detailed monitoring of numerous functions from mouse grip to players' peripheral vision and aural range. The findings will be of benefit to players, managers and sponsors of professional e-sports teams and could contribute to the design of future computer peripherals."

Oh boy, more ergonomic keyboards and mice reviews! But there are many theories about your optimal setup, which mouse sensitivity is the best, monitor refresh rates, ... Some of them are regularly addressed in a LTT video. So it's nice to see that full-time, professional researches are now also looking into those things, too.

 

Quote

Lero has already conducted initial research at international events analysing players of the most popular e-sports games including "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" and "League of Legends".

The lab just opened, so it makes sense that they grabbed their first data set form those 'international events', but I think that not many armatures played at those events.

 

So, yeah, this Lab just got create, but I'll definitively keep an eye on them to see what results will come out of that.

[PopsicleHustler]

Nice to see Ireland getting involved into something interesting rather than selling alcohol to the rest of the world.

[mr moose]

There's money in this e sports thing, lets milk it for all it's worth. 

 

good to see nothing is exempt from entrepreneurial exploitation.

[The King of the Undead]

cool! maybe I can spend more on the mouse for Rocket league than my computer is worth. And not waste it.

[TheSLSAMG]

2 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Most multiplayer games are typically enjoyed by toxic people with a superiority complex so they can feel better than others of their same kind by constantly insulting and degrading each other while filling their egos like balloons.

Tetris 99: 100 jerkoffs, only one winner.

[DildorTheDecent]

4 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Most multiplayer games are typically enjoyed by toxic people with a superiority complex so they can feel better than others of their same kind by constantly insulting and degrading each other while filling their egos like balloons.

tru

[spartaman64]

18 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Most multiplayer games are typically enjoyed by toxic people with a superiority complex so they can feel better than others of their same kind by constantly insulting and degrading each other while filling their egos like balloons.

exactly why i play mmos Kappa

[jiyeon]

I like that eSports is getting more and more on the radar of professional sports and athletes, there's a big market for competitive gaming and obviously there is that competitive aspect to all multiplayer games. I've always been a 'Yes to eSports' person and I'm very glad for Ireland for coming up with such an idea.

[williamcll]

Who are sponsoring Irish e-sports teams?

[Trik'Stari]

On 9/5/2019 at 5:16 PM, mr moose said:

There's money in this e sports thing, lets milk it for all it's worth. 

 

good to see nothing is exempt from entrepreneurial exploitation.

Normally I'm all for entrepreneurial exploitation, but I really fucking hate E-sports.

 

If you're putting that much effort into gaming, it isn't really gaming anymore. Similar opinion to how, once upon a time in some other sports, various leagues banned getting paid for playing, because it "diluted the purpose of the sport".

[Trixanity]

36 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

If you're putting that much effort into gaming, it isn't really gaming anymore. Similar opinion to how, once upon a time in some other sports, various leagues banned getting paid for playing, because it "diluted the purpose of the sport".

Well, that much is true. To many of them it's a job. It's hard to maintain personal interest after years and years of playing the same thing.

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Normally I'm all for entrepreneurial exploitation, but I really fucking hate E-sports.

 

If you're putting that much effort into gaming, it isn't really gaming anymore. Similar opinion to how, once upon a time in some other sports, various leagues banned getting paid for playing, because it "diluted the purpose of the sport".

When people say the word game, its something entertaining to pass the time. Not really a game when you do it like that. You're not really relaxing.

[Trik'Stari]

3 hours ago, Trixanity said:

Well, that much is true. To many of them it's a job. It's hard to maintain personal interest after years and years of playing the same thing.

 

3 hours ago, floofer said:

When people say the word game, its something entertaining to pass the time. Not really a game when you do it like that. You're not really relaxing.

My point exactly. It's no longer about the fun of playing the game, it's a serious competition with financial aspects.

 

Even worst, it's gotten to the point that it's decreasing the variety of games coming out. Every developer has been trying to copy fortnite or overwatch for a while now, and it's gotten old.

[Cyberspirit]

On 9/5/2019 at 11:42 PM, Caroline said:

Most multiplayer games are typically enjoyed by toxic people with a superiority complex so they can feel better than others of their same kind by constantly insulting and degrading each other while filling their egos like balloons.

B-but I'm just a healer main who is trying to help others. >.<

[Cyberspirit]

On 9/6/2019 at 12:02 AM, spartaman64 said:

exactly why i play mmos Kappa

Nothing like getting killed in BDO because you accidentally stepped into someone's farm spot.

[spartaman64]

1 hour ago, Cyberspirit said:

Nothing like getting killed in BDO because you accidentally stepped into someone's farm spot.

when a wizard flags on you because he wants to do a 5 room rotation in aakman

[Drak3]

5 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

Every developer has been trying to copy fortnite or overwatch for a while now, and it's gotten old.

Every household tripple A maybe. Still tons of developers working on other things.

[Trixanity]

5 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

 

My point exactly. It's no longer about the fun of playing the game, it's a serious competition with financial aspects.

 

Even worst, it's gotten to the point that it's decreasing the variety of games coming out. Every developer has been trying to copy fortnite or overwatch for a while now, and it's gotten old.

Most games aren't esports-friendly. It's actually very difficult to make one and some of the recent ones require the developer to pump lots of money into the scene to artificially kickstart it. A game like Fortnite relies solely on Chinese money to sustain it because they keep making changes favoring the casual player to the detriment of competition. From what I hear there are also lots of RNG elements which is also a big no-no; you want to keep RNG to a minimum if you want players to not get frustrated with the game mechanics.

[mr moose]

11 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

 

 

If you're putting that much effort into gaming, it isn't really gaming anymore

I feel that way every time I die 3 sec in on an online FPS game and people tell me i just need to practice more. like you need a few hundred hours to get reasonable at it?  fuck off, I want to play a game for fun not train to be good competitive.  people have lost sight of what computer games are about.