The popularity of Electronic Sports (esports) have grown tremendously in the last few years, becoming one of the most popular forms of digital entertainment. Despite continued growth, definitions and classifications of esports remain elusive, and the industry is still considered by many to be in its infancy. Understanding of esports originate from diverse, sometimes conflicting fields, which has created fragmented interpretations of its definition, positioning and core components. This has hindered esports from embracing opportunities afforded by emerging digital technologies and progressing as a distinct field. The purpose of this conceptual paper is threefold, to redefine esports, propose a unified framework to capitalise on esports business potential, and inspire a more structured future esports research agenda. The proposed esports Matrix, presents four distinct realms that distinguish esports; esports as a representation of current physical sports (sports digitalisation), esports as traditional (multi-player) game experience (competitive multiplayer computer games), esports that modify existing sports, player rules and setups through digital augmentations (digitally enhanced sports), and new types of esports involving emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality (immersive reality sports). The esports Matrix was developed incorporating industry expertise thus verifying its suitability and relevance to advance conceptual and empirical understanding, and importantly, facilitating a more structured approach, to enable businesses to realise the potential of esports.
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Electronic Sports (esports) is a form of digital entertainment, referred to as "an organised and competitive approach to playing computer games". Its popularity is growing rapidly as a result of an increased prevalence of online gaming, accessibility to technology and access to elite competition.Esports teams are always looking to improve their performance, but with fast-paced interaction, it can be difficult to establish where and how performance can be improved. While qualitative methods are commonly employed and effective, their widespread use provides little differentiation among competitors and struggles with pinpointing specific issues during fast interactions. This is where recent developments in both wearable sensor technology and machine learning can offer a solution. They enable a deep dive into player reactions and strategies, offering insights that surpass traditional qualitative coaching techniquesBy combining insights from gameplay data, team communication data, physiological measurements, and visual tracking, this project aims to develop comprehensive tools that coaches and players can use to gain insight into the performance of individual players and teams, thereby aiming to improve competitive outcomes. Societal IssueAt a societal level, the project aims to revolutionize esports coaching and performance analysis, providing teams with a multi-faceted view of their gameplay. The success of this project could lead to widespread adoption of similar technologies in other competitive fields. At a scientific level, the project could be the starting point for establishing and maintaining further collaboration within the Dutch esports research domain. It will enhance the contribution from Dutch universities to esports research and foster discussions on optimizing coaching and performance analytics. In addition, the study into capturing and analysing gameplay and player data can help deepen our understanding into the intricacies and complexities of teamwork and team performance in high-paced situations/environments. Collaborating partnersTilburg University, Breda Guardians.
De huidige trend van afname in fysieke activiteit onder Nederlanders, met name jongvolwassenen, vormt een groot probleem voor de volksgezondheid. De toename van sedentaire levensstijlen, mede veroorzaakt door de stijgende populariteit van gaming, draagt bij aan deze afname. Echter, gaming biedt ook kansen om jongvolwassenen juist wél in beweging te krijgen (Gao & Chen, 2014) (Lindberg, Seo, & Laine, 2016). De uitdaging is om manieren te vinden om deze doelgroep te motiveren meer te bewegen en fysiek actief te zijn, door de positieve aspecten van gaming in te zetten.Dit onderzoek richt zich op de impact van Extended Reality (XR) en volledig lichaamstracking op de sportieve activiteiten en houding ten opzichte van sport. XR omvat technologieën zoals Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) en Mixed Reality (MR), die interactieve digitale omgevingen creëren die de fysieke en virtuele wereld samenbrengen. Door deze technologieën in te zetten als exergaming, een combinatie van exercise en gaming, wordt verwacht dat dit kan bijdragen aan een verhoogde fysieke activiteit en een betere lichamelijke conditie
Een veilige sportomgeving voor talentvolle, jeugdige (top)sporters is niet vanzelfsprekend. In dit onderzoek brengen we op basis van het ROCIES-model in twee living labs met behulp van een serious game in kaart hoe je toewerkt naar een sociaal veilige en prettige topsportcultuur.
