Hi all! First post here so hopefully im complying with all the rules!
So basically I have a question for the community as in what you guys think would be the next step for age of empires as an esport, or even, if there should be a next step.
DISCLAIMER: I am no expert in esports or tournament organisation and I am not stating that any of the following formats I am going to discuss don't currently exist since i am not an expert or aoe2 event organisation and all tournament formats. This is just my opinion with random thoughts i think about when comparing the game with other esports and seeing how this game has grown as of recent.
What i mean by this is that currently in most major esports (League of Legends, CSGO, Dota, Starcraft etc...) there exists some sort of yearly format that gives structure the to the sport and guarantees a calendar with which profesional organisations and professional players can organise themselves and also have a yearly planning on tournament attendance and income (arguably such structure could even provide a more tempting platform for more profesionals teams and sponsors to join in).
I would like to organize my thoughts in three areas: Tournament Formats, Esport organisation & Content creators/ Tournament Organisation
Tournament Formats
Some formats we could take a look at are for example the LEC or LCK from league of legends for example which has been franchised now for a while (although previous format with drop zone and promotion from a fixed tier 2 division was also an interesting model) This kind of League format has had success in some games (CSGO works more on individual tournaments divided in categorias rather than a league i believe :D ) I understand league formats have been used in other aoe2 tournaments, but i believe there isn't a yearly standardized one like in a national football league or League of Legends kind of style.
Imagine utopically a league where the best players of aoe2 are, play twice every week with a playoff bracket afterwords (just copying some formats that already exist i know) with the tournament duraction being established (lets say the sake of example, duration 1/2 months with breaks in between each season. Do you guys think there is demand for this? Would it work? is it what we as the community and the pros want?
Moreover, this would be just the elite tier of aoe2 players, obviously another aspect would be how community tournaments are organised etc... but i would rather not go into this at this point in much detail (However i do believe the demand for low elo tournaments (< 1200) is very very high)
Esport Organisation & Direction
At the moment it feels like to me, in my humble opinion, the games direction competition wise is left to creators organising their brand of tournaments (Battle of Africa, Hidden Cup, Nili's apartment Cupe tc...), orgnaised showmatches and also of course the big tournament organisers stepping in and creating their own tournament: Redbull, Microsoft etc...
I love watching tournaments and even though I am not an expert or longtime member in this community, it seems pretty random the tournament calendar without knowing what tournament could suddenly appear. I think liquipedia has been amazing in organizing all of this information (Good job guys!) but for me it still difficult to classify the importance of certain events, who are the current best players and which events this year should i be looking forward too.
This for me really ties in to my first paragraph on Tournament Formats since maybe this is what is lacking in my humble opinion. Maybe its just a personal preference of mine to have a structured competitive scene and perhaps this game, and more improtantly this community, thrives on community based events and torunaments :D (which are awesome!)
Last but not least... Content Creators and tournament Organisation
One of the classical slogans for a gaming company would be: "by gamers for gamers", I believe in aoe2 this is the essence of what has kept the game alive so long. Its amazing to see the uniqueness of this game for this reason with such a vibrant community, amazing personalities both as streamers, torunament organizers, content creators and volunteers in the community.
Whats even more interesting, and i believe a fact to take into account if someone would like to grow and profesionalize the tournaments and esport scene: Is that most of the tournaments are created by the community, be it by up and coming content creators or more established community members. It feels like big organisation organised tournaments such as redbull and microsoft hosted events are seperated in between one another and that there are not many of these events (i may be wrong on this point but when looking at tournament details in liquipedia, most of the time hosts are players, content creators or streamers, with sometimes sponorship coming from one of these companies, but it seems like the organisation is more in the hands of our community than their company)
Is this really a problem? To be honest im just making an observation, seeing other esports grow and have massive following with structured leagues, sponsors, channels and prizepools it makes you wonder what the future of the AOE community will look like. As I have tried to convey in this long extract (sorry about that btw!) maybe aoe is just a community game, that thrives on this aspect which has kept it alive and that the transition to a profesional esport wont exist (lack of popularity or interest by sponsors) or maybe its just a case of organisation and that maybe something like the LEC or LCK could indeed by implemented and hyped by the community!
Phew! for those still with me thank you, this is what i have been thinking lately and i wanted to share it with u guys. I in no mean have tried to say anything negative about anyway in this community or this game, Im just trying to convey my opinion and see what you think, where you agree and disagree and also learn about how this scene has grown and what you guys think is the current and future the state of this great game!
Cheers
PD: Sorry for Typos, spelling, inaccurate information, broken community guidlines or anything else :D
So basically I have a question for the community as in what you guys think would be the next step for age of empires as an esport, or even, if there should be a next step.
DISCLAIMER: I am no expert in esports or tournament organisation and I am not stating that any of the following formats I am going to discuss don't currently exist since i am not an expert or aoe2 event organisation and all tournament formats. This is just my opinion with random thoughts i think about when comparing the game with other esports and seeing how this game has grown as of recent.
What i mean by this is that currently in most major esports (League of Legends, CSGO, Dota, Starcraft etc...) there exists some sort of yearly format that gives structure the to the sport and guarantees a calendar with which profesional organisations and professional players can organise themselves and also have a yearly planning on tournament attendance and income (arguably such structure could even provide a more tempting platform for more profesionals teams and sponsors to join in).
I would like to organize my thoughts in three areas: Tournament Formats, Esport organisation & Content creators/ Tournament Organisation
Tournament Formats
Some formats we could take a look at are for example the LEC or LCK from league of legends for example which has been franchised now for a while (although previous format with drop zone and promotion from a fixed tier 2 division was also an interesting model) This kind of League format has had success in some games (CSGO works more on individual tournaments divided in categorias rather than a league i believe :D ) I understand league formats have been used in other aoe2 tournaments, but i believe there isn't a yearly standardized one like in a national football league or League of Legends kind of style.
Imagine utopically a league where the best players of aoe2 are, play twice every week with a playoff bracket afterwords (just copying some formats that already exist i know) with the tournament duraction being established (lets say the sake of example, duration 1/2 months with breaks in between each season. Do you guys think there is demand for this? Would it work? is it what we as the community and the pros want?
Moreover, this would be just the elite tier of aoe2 players, obviously another aspect would be how community tournaments are organised etc... but i would rather not go into this at this point in much detail (However i do believe the demand for low elo tournaments (< 1200) is very very high)
Esport Organisation & Direction
At the moment it feels like to me, in my humble opinion, the games direction competition wise is left to creators organising their brand of tournaments (Battle of Africa, Hidden Cup, Nili's apartment Cupe tc...), orgnaised showmatches and also of course the big tournament organisers stepping in and creating their own tournament: Redbull, Microsoft etc...
I love watching tournaments and even though I am not an expert or longtime member in this community, it seems pretty random the tournament calendar without knowing what tournament could suddenly appear. I think liquipedia has been amazing in organizing all of this information (Good job guys!) but for me it still difficult to classify the importance of certain events, who are the current best players and which events this year should i be looking forward too.
This for me really ties in to my first paragraph on Tournament Formats since maybe this is what is lacking in my humble opinion. Maybe its just a personal preference of mine to have a structured competitive scene and perhaps this game, and more improtantly this community, thrives on community based events and torunaments :D (which are awesome!)
Last but not least... Content Creators and tournament Organisation
One of the classical slogans for a gaming company would be: "by gamers for gamers", I believe in aoe2 this is the essence of what has kept the game alive so long. Its amazing to see the uniqueness of this game for this reason with such a vibrant community, amazing personalities both as streamers, torunament organizers, content creators and volunteers in the community.
Whats even more interesting, and i believe a fact to take into account if someone would like to grow and profesionalize the tournaments and esport scene: Is that most of the tournaments are created by the community, be it by up and coming content creators or more established community members. It feels like big organisation organised tournaments such as redbull and microsoft hosted events are seperated in between one another and that there are not many of these events (i may be wrong on this point but when looking at tournament details in liquipedia, most of the time hosts are players, content creators or streamers, with sometimes sponorship coming from one of these companies, but it seems like the organisation is more in the hands of our community than their company)
Is this really a problem? To be honest im just making an observation, seeing other esports grow and have massive following with structured leagues, sponsors, channels and prizepools it makes you wonder what the future of the AOE community will look like. As I have tried to convey in this long extract (sorry about that btw!) maybe aoe is just a community game, that thrives on this aspect which has kept it alive and that the transition to a profesional esport wont exist (lack of popularity or interest by sponsors) or maybe its just a case of organisation and that maybe something like the LEC or LCK could indeed by implemented and hyped by the community!
Phew! for those still with me thank you, this is what i have been thinking lately and i wanted to share it with u guys. I in no mean have tried to say anything negative about anyway in this community or this game, Im just trying to convey my opinion and see what you think, where you agree and disagree and also learn about how this scene has grown and what you guys think is the current and future the state of this great game!
Cheers
PD: Sorry for Typos, spelling, inaccurate information, broken community guidlines or anything else :D