Hi Teamliquid users! I'm doing a marketing project for college. Now instead of making a blog or something and most likely having it get closed. I figured I can do this and attract more people as well. My professor is requiring me to survey at least 100 people. With the power of TL and reddit I'm sure I can get more than enough feedback from you guys.
My topic? eSports of course! I'm marketing the current scene and the future of eSports as a whole. How the current community feels about it and how to possibly attract other demographics.
The survey consist of roughly 15 questions, mostly multiple choice. You can skip the demographic questions if you don't feel to give that information. All other questions require an answer though. For the questions that require more then a button click, feel free to give a brief sentence or even a one word explanation.
I greatly appreciate your help in my project and hoping this information could possibly help the future of eSports. I'll post the results after a week or so. Comments, feedback, and suggestions are encouraged. If there's a really good question I'm missing feel free to put in the comments below and I can still add it in.
Thanks, sYz-Adrenaline Jeremy
Discussion topic: How do you think eSports is going to impact the future of business in 2012/2013? Keep in mind that eSports is not just Starcraft II.
MLG definitely has the right idea making a deal with CBS. Good luck with the assignment. I almost wish eSports even came to mind when I had to do creative projects back in undergrad.
Completed the survey, good luck with your research. I recently applied for a grant to do an ethnography of Starcraft 2 players, don't know if I'll get it though since most people don't have any inkling that eSports actually exists.
Edit: I feel like this year, eSports will be similar to what it was like last year, but maybe slightly bigger, with bigger prize pools and better quality and such. Next year though, this whole push by CBSi for greater eSports content will kick in and (hopefully) there's gonna be a big swell in viewers/ sponsorships for all the teams all over the place as big companies realize that there's big money with us !
I said an official (world-wide) players and tournament events union to set regulations and standards. I believe that is the next big step for eSports. For some reason, I do not feel TV is necessary. Unless we want to force eSports on the mainstream... I believe waiting for generations to grow up and society to accept eSports as a serious and professional "thing" is inevitable. eSports can only grow.
On April 23 2012 10:04 Sumahi wrote: since most people don't have any inkling that eSports actually exists.
That's what my project is for. I printed off the numbers of MLGs 2011 Season to my professor to get the go ahead to market eSports, and as soon as he saw the numbers he got very interested in it. Then again he's a marketing professor, of course he's interested in new and growing businesses with large numbers
On April 23 2012 10:11 RaiKageRyu wrote: For #3, you should have added at least which question it was in relation to. I just had to assume it was in relation to #2.
I thought about it afterwards (right before launch), but I realize I can just click on the "View Response" button and see which choice they referred to in question 2. Also no one has assumed wrong it was in relation to #2 (out of a 100) so far so its all good.
some of the questions are unclear and don't define the number you are asking... and other questions have too finite a range of numbers.
examples:
1. How often do you watch eSport events or streamed events a week? (including daily events)
(answers range from 1 to 7)...
are you asking how many hours? If so, I watch WAY more then 7 hours... are you asking how many specific events? If so, you need to say "How MANY", not "How Often"...
6. Suppose more events started to charge money for viewing. How much would you pay to watch an online event?
Needs to be an option for "I wouldn't pay for single event viewing" or "I wouldn't pay for single events, but I might subscribe to an annual fee if it was reasonable"
These are the 2 that jumped out at me as not being very descriptive and quite misleading.
Filled it out! Hope you get a wide variety of answers for your survey!
Surprised people didn't fill it out #6 because they said they pay $0 for streamed events. You don't pay to watch GSL or have an MLG membership? You didn't put down the $5 for IPL4?
On April 23 2012 11:10 hacklebeast wrote: should add some other option to "what is your favorite event to watch" to include games other than starcraft 2. events like OSL or EVO.
Finished, but the question how much would you pay for an event is really dumb.
There is a big difference between paying for say $30 for a GSL (which for two months seems relatively fair to me), opposed to MLG where I wouldn't pay $10 for because it's a weekend long. So the numbers are going to vary.
I think that survey was great!!!! I really hope the results are posted on TL and they are looked at carefully.
There is no "next" step for eSports, but a multitude of little steps.I believe that the promotion of Starcraf 2, League of Legends, and other competetive eSports is what needs to be done at this point. With the recent CBS partnership with Twitch/MLG and the first SC2 based scholarship to play in the CSL, SC2 is moving forward and in the right direction. The average person needs to think of a progamer as someone who isn't some overweight or overly lethargic man. I know that when I have mentioned the SC2 proscene to my family they tell me that they are picturing the stereotypical "gamer-nerd" .
Another thing that I feel must be improved is the involvment of Blizzard in the SC2 community. The need to be actively supporting Starcraft in EVERY way possible. Blizzard needs to be a bigger part int he development and growth of Starcraft 2 in order for it to truely grow to its fullest potential.
On April 23 2012 09:42 RusHXceL wrote: I did a survey.
esports next step is tv.
i dont think well go to TV very hardcore
there will probably be some SC2 on TV but with how good streams are and how (imo) the world is moving away from TV anyway i dont see the TV transition will happen
anyway i did the survey, its the least i can do for someone who supports TL
at the question number 6, there should be an option to "nothing" because I am not willing to pay anything to watch an event. I prefer to watch something else than paying to MLG.
on average, i watch esports less than 1 time a week. should consider those who are less hardcore about esports. plus i would pay nothing if events charged me money, should consider that too.
On April 23 2012 13:19 cristo1122 wrote: probably should have asked people from where in the world they are from as this will effect how much they watch and what events that they watch
Agreed. I voted for an event that was near me instead of one of the ones listed. I simply can't watch GSL on weekdays for example.
Finished the survey, as I'm a professional in Marketing Research and I know how hard it can be to get people to respond! I'd look into going more in-depth on pricing (including subscriptions vs. one-time payments). I'd also make those a write-in rather than a categories, then recode them to ranges once you've compiled your data.
On April 23 2012 09:42 RusHXceL wrote: I did a survey.
esports next step is tv.
Nope, the next step for esports is to get it recognized globally at a mainstream level. I want to be able to talk to random people about competitive starcraft or any competitive game just like we do with sports such as hockey, baseball etc..
On April 23 2012 11:54 FiWiFaKi wrote: Finished, but the question how much would you pay for an event is really dumb.
There is a big difference between paying for say $30 for a GSL (which for two months seems relatively fair to me), opposed to MLG where I wouldn't pay $10 for because it's a weekend long. So the numbers are going to vary.
Yeah that is an incredibly difficult question. There are so many different pay structures and event lengths.
On April 23 2012 12:59 Kenpachi wrote: on average, i watch esports less than 1 time a week. should consider those who are less hardcore about esports. plus i would pay nothing if events charged me money, should consider that too.
I hope you post the results! I am sure many would like to know! Thanks for doing a survey that is much needed!
I think E-Sports it the future. We will see it become very big! Just like WPT use to be very big (It still is big but not as big as E-Sports will be). I also filled out your survey. So good luck with it!
SC2 needs to step forward and start respecting high level play over the casters, and also getting rid of the Korean vs Korean finals dislike. The game is competitive. If your favorite player gets knocked out, then so be it, but don't complain that finals of a tournament is "another" Korean vs Korean.
Respect the players and their high level of play. Without Koreans playing in SC2, the game wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable to watch.
On April 23 2012 18:15 BuLLeTPr00f wrote: Fix no6 it there should be an option for paying 0$ for watching events
I picked 5-10$ and added in comments section that I wouldn't be paying for events and picked least expensive option as "0$ is missing. Do the same! :-)
I still think television is the next step. You want this to get to a broader fan base? Go to the place where much of the public spend a considerable amount of time. If I were an advertiser I would push for this as well.
You'd be amazed at how many people in both the LoL and SC2 (I use these because, I play these. I know there are other games that sit under the umbrella known as eSports) communities that play the game yet don't know about eSports and don't know iconic pro-gamer names. This to me screams for attention by anyone affiliated with eSports that the message their trying to get across (Watch ESPORTS!) --- I'm not gonna say isn't getting across to their fan base. No it definitely is, to an extent, as you can see from just general interest in the topic. I just don't think their reaching everyone that could possibly be interested in an effective manner.
I think television is an interesting and creative solution because, let's face it your not going to be hit with advertisements nearly as often on the internet as you are on tv That would be silly and inconvenient. Commercials help entertainment businesses grow in a way to be self-sustaining, something with which eSports is now struggling with, as well as gives opportunities to ADVERTISE!...Ding ding ding. This is the biggest advantage of all.
Think of football...american football not soccer -_- , then think of how the NFL makes it's money, then think of what you see before Sunday night on stations that may not even carry the game, but were paid money to slap it up in front of your eyes for a minute or less X amount of times a day... a commercial about who's playing and at what time. Now apply this to eSports. The only difference is that football teams have stadiums which sell tickets and merchandise which fund their enterprises. Teams of the cyber nature have to rely on merchandise, sponsors, and prize earnings. Speaking in terms of overall leagues this is great but it doesn't solve how the teams become sustainable themselves. Pro gaming is a somewhat rough way to make a living speaking both monetarily and in terms of job security. If you don't make it very far in any tourney all year, and you don't sell much stuff since you didn't win consistently, and the team itself has to be profitable to exist; your left with this pie slice that is your wage and that might not be there come time your contracts up. Granted this slice can be bigger for some than others, the point I'm trying to make is as of right now the life of a pro gamer is fairly non-glamorous apart from the fact you get to have an awesome job. Many pros turn to streams as another source of income which I myself love to support and do so frequently because, I know this is how these people make a living and I'm all for helping them out. <3 All pro gamers and <3 TL community as a whole. Just my thoughts and this may not be 100 percent accurate, seeing as I'm not a pro or affiliated with a team but, I think I nailed down quite a few good points here.
Just putting this out here for the people that seem to be upset over a survey being on the sponsored threads.
Sponsored Threads Looking for a more interactive advertising option? Sponsored Threads are like regular forum threads that allow for commercial promotion, whether it's advertising your product, holding a raffle, promoting a competition or conducting a survey. Sponsored Threads are listed on the TL sidebar underneath our News section as well as featured on our homepage. For the first 48 hours, Sponsored Threads have a yellow "New" icon, attracting attention. The TL community will be able to post in the Sponsored Thread with feedback and questions and as the thread creator you may respond to them however you like. Sponsored Threads are billed on a weekly basis and the price varies depending on the content. At the end of the campaign, the thread will be closed, remaining visible in the Sponsored Threads forum section but not accepting any new comments.
did you pay TL to get this posted in sponsored threads or how does this work? i'm just curious because when i contacted the staff nearly a year ago about posting my survey for my diploma thesis all i got was a "we will think about it" and more never happened.
gl and all the best for your survey and your thesis.
As a marketing major myself, I wonder why you don't ask people where they are from. This could be relevant to see if Americans like MLG more than any others, and Europeans like Dreamhack more than MLG.
Other examples: Are Europeans more willing to pay for streamed events than Americans, or vice versa? Are Americans spending more time watching streams than Europans/Asians?
I found one question to be very vague, however: the one asking how much we'd be willing to watch an event. There are too many variables here. It depends on who's playing, approximately how many hours-worth of play would be streamed, and the track-record of the tournament (including their history of production value, etc.).
You ask the question if were willing to pay more for events. I think you should have a follow up question on how often we'd be willing to pay for events also. As there are so many events going on these days if they were all PPV not everyone could afford it. Interesting survey looking forward to the results!
On April 23 2012 19:35 Ketch wrote: Esports next step is mainstream recognition I'd say. Brand awareness to speak in marketing terms. FIlled in the survey as well!
Done, I quite agree with this main step, for parents of children who wish to pursue this as a career to know what its about and to view it as e-sports rather than the less desirable term of "gaming" in my opinion.
Alright done, good questions in there. As others have said, the "next step" to me would be more familiarity among average people, possibly even some parents accepting that ESPORTS isn't about wasting time behind a keyboard for 14 hours per day, trying to get a level in smithing, but about setting goals for yourself and trying to achieve them in a competitive environment. gl with it ^^
On April 23 2012 23:58 MstrSplntr wrote: You're gonna analyse open qualitative questions with more than 100 answers? Prolly not. Good luck with your homework!
I'm going to skim through them and pick my favorites to put in the project. A lot of them already have only 1-2 different answers really.
On April 23 2012 23:58 MstrSplntr wrote: You're gonna analyse open qualitative questions with more than 100 answers? Prolly not. Good luck with your homework!
I'm going to skim through them and pick my favorites to put in the project. A lot of them already have only 1-2 different answers really.
You Can't do that, you can only remove outliers, removing anything else would ruin any credibility of your findings
Isn't question 4 going to skew your results over to RTS more than the other genres seen as your asking TL and r/starcraft for your survey, or doesn't it matter so much to you?
Did the survey though, answered truthfully and thoroughly.
On April 24 2012 00:40 WArped wrote: Isn't question 4 going to skew your results over to RTS more than the other genres seen as your asking TL and r/starcraft for your survey, or doesn't it matter so much to you?
Did the survey though, answered truthfully and thoroughly.
My guess is that that question is to define the population answering the survey, not the population involved in watcing e-sports. The whole thing is tailored to WoL look at the tournaments mentioned, many of them are entirely SC:2 and (except for minimal exceptions) those that aren't are primarily based in the SC:2 scene.
Did the survey, I'm looking forward to the results.
Submitted I hope you get a lot of good info! I have to agree with sixfour though...
On April 24 2012 02:23 sixfour wrote: the question on "how much would you pay" is stupid as it doesn't allow you to relate to length/quality of the event you're paying for
I had trouble answering that question because a weekend like IPL i have no problem paying $5 a MLG arena is a little bit too much IMO but paying like $20 for an entire season of GSL is reasonable. Just my thoughts on that
Answered the poll, although it felt like you didn't think all of the questions and answers through enough. Good luck with your project and share results if possible.
On April 23 2012 23:58 MstrSplntr wrote: You're gonna analyse open qualitative questions with more than 100 answers? Prolly not. Good luck with your homework!
I'm going to skim through them and pick my favorites to put in the project. A lot of them already have only 1-2 different answers really.
You Can't do that, you can only remove outliers, removing anything else would ruin any credibility of your findings
You're telling me I can't pick which open ended comments I want to put in my project to highlight as my favorite responses and the rest as statistics?
On April 24 2012 03:04 Dirkzor wrote: I'm guessing you get more then 100 people to do the survey
Over 1300 right now, I'll have results by the end of the week.
I wanted to change my money answer after considering it a bit more, realised I couldn't. I would never pay for an online tournament, yet I would be perfectly willing to pay for an event I could attend in place. I didn't consider the offline portion where I am willing to spend money.
Really is an awesome project. Hope it all goes well, took the survey and it seems like the answers you get will have some pretty big implications. Share results with us!! :D
I noted in the survey that we need more non endemic advertising. Pretty much all the sponsers of gaming teams in North America and Europe are "gaming related". Brood war broke the mold and had Samsung and CJ as major sponsers albeit they make "everything" in South Korea.
On April 23 2012 09:42 RusHXceL wrote: I did a survey.
esports next step is tv.
Why do we need tv? I already hook my laptop up to mine. And we don't get stream chats to talk with other people.
The stream chat is a MAJOR reason why I watch live events, so much camaradie and jokes all the time, T.V. would have none of that and would be quite frankly boring to me. Also besides this, the only way esports on tv would work would be a large timeslot or a whole channel dedicated to esports since the length of a match varies.
Edit: Now that I think about it, they could broadcast prerecorded games and edit them to fit them into either 30 min or 1 hour timeslots depending on the match length and putting ads as fillers to fill in the times as needed.
you will have to find a good framework to present your findings given the enormous sample bias, perhaps stating upfront that the most knowledgeable population should be weighed heavier than general population
Took the survey. I hope big tournament events start getting them streamed to TV channels such as the CGS(championship gaming series) did for their CSS/cs1.6 games back in 2007 or so when they were still around. They got it shown on HBO if anyone wondered.
I also did I survey, which hit over 400 participants, because mousesports.de (yes, thorzains mousepsorts ) posted the link to the survey on their facebook-page. I dont know if you already did, but I think its not the worst idea to ask some of the "big fishes" of the scene to help you out.
One tweet/post from evilgeniuses, mousesports etc can get you a ton of clicks!
Good luck with your project!
EDIT:
In questions 2, are "streamed shows" reffering to esport shows or "non-esport-stuff" (tv-shows)?
EDIT2:
On April 24 2012 14:48 Cocoba wrote: The next step for me was to have amazing production value with minimal to zero screw ups.
My thoughts exactly. Right now, theres no "next step", the steps that have been done so far should be perfected (or made close to perfect). Dreamhack was an amazing show! They fucked up the mic-sounds sometimes, but especially the combination of pictures and music on the stream was amazing. Final moment give me nerdchills no matter how ofter i watch the vid
If you look at some of the press coming out of Twitch and MLG, it sounds like they're trying to create a new way to target young males for advertisers. So for business, esports is a largely untapped resource for targetting the young male demographic. It should be interesting to see if/how the advertising changes over the next couple of years.
oh wow, i somehow thought that phrase was gonna be more unique. great stuff, i love everything that has to do with e-sport and science overall... so far i have done 3 papers on videogames and e-sport, a total of 30 pages :D there isn't much material you can quote :D
On April 24 2012 23:31 SpaceFighting wrote: did the survey
esports meaning to me = life xD
edit: also good luck with your project!!!
haha I did the same.
Also if possible can/will you be posting your results? Doesn't have to be specific results but I'd really like to see a blog or a thread with your survey results in the future
Good luck! I imagine we blew your required applicants out of the water. haha
Discussion Topic: I think in the upcoming years eSports will continue morph game systems into community platforms where the players are just one part of the ecosystem. Game Publishers will explore ways to monetize access to their player communities just as facebook is exploring ways to monetize their userbase.
I can only pray that eSports doesn't also choose monetization by exploitation.
don't u guys get it yet???? esports will never become popular because the common hypocritical man detests nerds! and EVERYONE INvolved with esports is a nerd.
On April 25 2012 11:35 RaiD.RaynoR wrote: don't u guys get it yet???? esports will never become popular because the common hypocritical man detests nerds! and EVERYONE INvolved with esports is a nerd.
You couldn't be more wrong. The common man enjoys entertainment and opportunities to hang out with friends. Do you think people played baseball or soccer for the past thousand years? Or do you think that they became popular at a particular time and place.
You may have noticed that eSports is becoming popular.
About the survey, there are answers missing: for instance, I never watch TV, and I don't have a choice for that: minimum is 1 hour watching. Also, I think you should define what you mean by e-sports, because it's far from clear, and your survey may suffer from that.
On April 25 2012 11:35 RaiD.RaynoR wrote: don't u guys get it yet???? esports will never become popular because the common hypocritical man detests nerds! and EVERYONE INvolved with esports is a nerd.
in america maybe , in europe i never saw a " nerd " playing video games , maybe you should check again internet caffes around east europe and ul see what kind of players there are .
il link you 2 internet caffe around the place i grow up and if you check gallery ul see 0 nerds .
On April 23 2012 23:58 MstrSplntr wrote: You're gonna analyse open qualitative questions with more than 100 answers? Prolly not. Good luck with your homework!
I'm going to skim through them and pick my favorites to put in the project. A lot of them already have only 1-2 different answers really.
You Can't do that, you can only remove outliers, removing anything else would ruin any credibility of your findings
You're telling me I can't pick which open ended comments I want to put in my project to highlight as my favorite responses and the rest as statistics?
On April 24 2012 03:04 Dirkzor wrote: I'm guessing you get more then 100 people to do the survey
Over 1300 right now, I'll have results by the end of the week.
It looked at first like you meant that those favorites would be the only ones used for statistics. Also, did anyone else give you a video response for what esports means to them? :p
We need some kind of olympic games of eSports. WCG sucks. We need a real world wide, prestigious, recognized contest. A much bigger/better wcg. Then getting up esports federations in countries.
This may have already been said, but I think TV is the next step for eSports. I know some people have already hooked their comp's to their tv's and stuff, but thats complicating and time-consuming. The average person may not be as tech-savvy. Millions of people watch TV because its really easy. Who wants to spend hours setting up their computer for eSports viewing? Not only that but some places dont let you watch without paying. By using a tv as a broadcasting agent for eSports, they would get tons of money from commercials and sponsors. Lots of people would open their eyes and realize that gaming is the future. Right not sc2 and eSports live in this underground market almost and nobody is going to find it unless they are looking for it. TV would allow people to stumble upon it easier.
Another thing about eSports which i HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. This makes me so upset.... So imagine a caster, IE: day9 is just babbling on about something esports related. Throughout his spiel he describes his audience as nerds. NERDS? Ok thats not too bad right? Well guess what? the word, "Nerd" is defined as
"Noun: A foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious: "one of those nerds who never asked a girl to dance". An intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession." (google definition)
I dont want to be a nerd, since it is a negative connotation. Seriously lets get past the word and open esports to the average baller, rather then keep it to You nerds. Doesn't that just sound terrible? You nerds.
Offer as a College elective course. Worth 3 credits. Finals would be practical/gaming in class and an essay? Heheh...if they had his when i was in college, it would be the only class where i wouldnt be sleepy even after a whole night of cramming.
Finals this week and had exams + military drill this weekend, I'll post the results soon. T__T I have the results just need to make time to sit down and put it into a post.
EPT
!
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