Learning Team-Based Esport Games: Success Factors in Learning from Spectating

Electronic sports (esports) is a fast growing phenomenon in digital games where players compete, in teams or individually, in tournaments or series. Research has recognised spectatorship as a core aspect of esports, motivated among other things by the desire to learn how to play. Yet how to support newer players in learning to play from spectating is little explored.

Over three studies, this thesis therefore aimed to explore how players learn to play team-based esport games, focusing particularly the role and effectiveness of spectatorship. The first study used grounded theory with player interviews to explore learning processes, outcomes, and tools in two team-based esport games. The second study then used a qualitative survey design to identify what players found helpful, useful, or productive about videos and streams for learning to play. The final experimental study tested the hypothesis of a “sweet spot” in learner-teacher skill difference where learners see the greatest improvement in performance.

Overall, spectatorship was found to be an important form of self-regulated learning embedded in esports culture as an informal learning environment. Players deliberately reflect on their learning needs and evaluate available content against them, consuming content that they deem valuable into their learning activities. Helpful features of media highlighted by participants as being helpful for learning are contributory towards these value judgements, including competency, explanations, demonstrations, and relevance, with the most popularly discussed feature, competency, being demonstrated as effective for learning. The findings of this thesis also help to set a foundation and a potential path from which esports research can move towards helping make esport games more accessible and enjoyable for newer players.