How to run an esports tournament

Eight important decisions to make before setting up your event

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Whether or not you ended up here after watching the latest League of Legends Championship Series match and beaming with excitement about the huge CGI drake flying above the heads of thousands of people, or whether it was after enjoying the outstanding dance Ahri, Akali, Evelynn and Kai’sa performed in front of the audience, now you must be left wondering about the day you’ll be the one to make all of this happen.

If you’re thinking about organizing an esports tournament, you’ve come to the right place. I won’t promise that you will be a master of CGI technology, neither can I assure Ahri will be dancing in your bedroom, but in this article and in the ones to follow, we’re going to see how to run an esports tournament.

So, let’s begin with the first foremost important step to take.

1. Which video game should I choose for my first event?

Well, unless you have comprehensive knowledge of every single video game, this should be quite an easy choice. The first event should be focused on the game you know best, mostly because knowing the video game would make things run much smoother. In doing so, organizing an event on something you love instead of choosing the title because it is the most known or followed, will allow you to be more involved in the project.

However, how to behave when your love for both League of Legends and Overwatch is equally shared? In this case, carrying out a little bit of research would be profitable. given the opportunity of choosing between two video games, going for the one that’s most watched or played is indeed preferable.

The factors influencing the views vary accordingly to different variables:

The country

The first variable you should consider when looking for the most popular video game is the country. For example, running a League of Legends tournament in the US, would be the wisest choice given the fact that Worlds 2020 has been the most followed event with almost 4 million viewers. Are you from Italy? Then just try FIFA or Call of Duty. If you hail from England instead, setting up Counter Strike events would probably be your best pick.

The timing

When talking about “timing”, make sure to pay attention on the scheduling time slots: if your event falls on the same days as the Overwatch League, then your Twitch account views will hardly add up to a double digit number, as well as the participants of your tournament. All this is not meant to imply that you’re a not worthy enough, and neither that your tournament is not up to snuff, however, organizing smaller events while Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is playing the best match of his carreer during the LCK would cause the so-called “cannibalization”.

In the language of marketing, this term is used to indicate a decrease of demand of a product because of the introduction of a newer product in market. Even if the term is used with a slightly different connotation than its original one, it fits nonetheless. It’s quite common and quite obvious that bigger events always obscure the smaller ones. For example, even titles such as Rainbow Six Siege would have never become significant esports, had ESL scheduled the Six Invitational, despite well-known tournaments being played simultaneously. Choosing the right time window is the key to success.

The place

Think about esports and think about their fast/endless/non-stop growth. Why do you think esports have been rising so significantly over the past few years? It’s quite a new phenomenon if we consider that the first official esports tournament was the Space Invaders Tournament held in 1980.

How has it all been made possible?!

Esports are seen to be everywhere, yet nowhere. They will always be available since they’re on the internet. You can see the League of Legends Champions of 2013 on Twitch or you can go on YouTube to enjoy the best plays by Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson while he was still playing for Fnatic. This has been happening since the beginning: esports are naturally considered a form of digital entertainment. Thereby, think twice when you consider the chance of organizing an event in your lan room: planning online tournaments would give you higher chances of gathering more participants, more views and a different level of virality.

Anyway, despite all these variables, my first advice is “choose the video game you love the most”; is it known just by twenty people? It doesn’t matter as long as enthusiasm, love and passion are beside you, success is guaranteed… And who knows? You could even make a new game popular.

2. Make sure to think about the rule book

Every tournament needs rules and no one would like to play in a toxic environment.

Deciding the mode in which the tournament will be played is the first step: if you’re running a League of Legends tournament for example, then you should pick the map (Howling Abyss or Summoner Rift?), the number of players (1v1 or 5v5?) and set up your bracket: will it be a single elimination or a double elimination type of tournament? How many players will be able to join your event?

Be sure not to miss anything. People will have a tendency to ask you countless questions despite being given the most detailed report ever. It’s for this very reason that if you haven’t been clear about the rules, good luck with the hundreds of emails or messages that will pop up on your screen at 3 a.m.

After deciding on the generic rules, be aware that you are likely to be asked questions like “What about smurfing, aimbots, and account sharing?”.

Smurfing, aimbots and account sharing

Everybody knows these are the main issues in the gaming community: cheaters will always be there, ready to ruin your experience and your promotion from silver 1 to gold 4. Anyway, as long as it happens during a Street Fighter best of 3 or an aram, it’s no big deal. Even competing against a full team of smurfs in a ranked game might be acceptable… You’re still probably going to scream and uninstall after that game, but it’s nothing compared to losing a tournament or in the worst case scenario, losing prize money.

Imagine if someone decides to play in your tournament and is matched against “supercuteguy”, an extremely brilliant iron 2 player who could auditioning for G2, be aware that the first one’s going to rightfully complain. As the TO, you’re the one who’s in charge of solving the mystery (is “supercuteguy” a smurf or not?), otherwise you would be losing a player or even the whole team.

One solution that can be recommended is the division of the tournament to accommodate different player levels. By dividing the tournament in different tiers, each rewarded accordingly, the players will be more motivated to run for their prize. This, by no means, indicates that the cheaters will be gone, but the chances of them playing at your tournament will be reduced for sure.

Another advice is to check every single match being played, or you can simply hire a referee. From here we move on to the 3rd step…

3. Ask people’s help

A tournament may not be easy to set up. As you will be caught up in a lot of activities, having someone to help you will reduce both the time needed and work load for the organization.

The next thing that may pop in your mind is that “I don’t even have money for myself, how to afford hiring someone else?”. You would be surprised to know that there are many people out there who would be more than glad to help out and collaborate with you, whether they are paid for it or not, most esports fans just want to be a part of the scene. This gives rise to one of the main issues: esports are precluded to professionals and there is no place for amateurs.

Whenever there is the opportunity to get involved in a tournament, or any other kind of event, you will probably end up meeting guys full of passion and will to do something: just try to reach for them on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter or any other trusted community for that matter. Having said so, take into consideration that unpaid people could easily lose interest and start delaying their jobs. Hence, be sure to be surrounded by reliable people who are driven by a lot of passion and a strong sense of duty.

A perfect compromise

Coming to think of it, our thought process might be along the lines of:

“You just suggested me about hiring someone for free and then you warn me about the possibility they would stop doing their job altogether”.

It’s not something bound to happen every time. Most organizers have found the perfect way to avoid having their best collaborators quit on them: you only pay the members of the staff who have proven to be valuable.

Remember to always treat your staff as a family and show appreciation for what they’re doing. Be sure they’re always satisfied and on the same page about your decision-making. Listen to their ideas, even if they don’t seem viable and make sure that they feel part of your community instead of being your subordinate.

Someone who’s gratified in the environment he/she is a part of, will be less likely to leave.

4. Should an entry fee be applied?

This is a tough question. One could think about a participation fee only in the case where a cash prize could be financed from it, just like what happens in the DOTA 2 tournament “The International” where the prize pool is financed through a sort of crowdfunding: even the money coming from the Battle Pass bought by the players is used for the event.

Consider that the amateur scene is largely made by players who join tournaments for sheer entertainment purposes. Most of the time we’re talking about fifteen-year-old gamers without a consistent income that would be most likely spent on a pizza rather than an esports tournament if they are not involved in competing.

What amount should be levied as the entry fee?

To read the full article, click here “how to run an esports tournament”. We have a beautiful infographic, too!