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Narrative Bytes: Data-Driven Content Production in Esports

Published: 25 June 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Esports - video games played competitively that are broadcast to large audiences - are a rapidly growing new form of mainstream entertainment. Esports borrow from traditional TV, but are a qualitatively different genre, due to the high flexibility of content capture and availability of detailed gameplay data. Indeed, in esports, there is access to both real-time and historical data about any action taken in the virtual world. This aspect motivates the research presented here, the question asked being: can the information buried deep in such data, unavailable to the human eye, be unlocked and used to improve the live broadcast compilations of the events? In this paper, we present a large-scale case study of a production tool called Echo, which we developed in close collaboration with leading industry stakeholders. Echo uses live and historic match data to detect extraordinary player performances in the popular esport Dota 2, and dynamically translates interesting data points into audience-facing graphics. Echo was deployed at one of the largest yearly Dota 2 tournaments, which was watched by 25 million people. An analysis of 40 hours of video, over 46,000 live chat messages, and feedback of 98 audience members showed that Echo measurably affected the range and quality of storytelling, increased audience engagement, and invoked rich emotional response among viewers.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    TVX '18: Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video
    June 2018
    266 pages
    ISBN:9781450351157
    DOI:10.1145/3210825
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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    Published: 25 June 2018

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    1. content production
    2. data-driven storytelling
    3. esports

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    TVX '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 12 of 36 submissions, 33%;
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    • (2024)How Could They Win? An Exploration of Win Condition for Esports Narratives in Dota 2Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770798:CHI PLAY(1-22)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
    • (2024)Applying and Visualising Complex Models in Esport Broadcast CoverageProceedings of the 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences10.1145/3639701.3656319(108-116)Online publication date: 7-Jun-2024
    • (2024)From Passive Viewer to Active Fan: Towards the Design and Large-Scale Evaluation of Interactive Audience Experiences in Esports and BeyondProceedings of the 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences10.1145/3639701.3656318(94-107)Online publication date: 7-Jun-2024
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