Article

Live Feedback for Training Through Real-Time Data Visualizations: A Study with League of Legends

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Abstract

With competitive gaming on the rise, players have developed an increased interest in data-driven feedback of their in-game performance. In many cases, this feedback is presented visually post-play but live companions that provide real-time analytics are gaining more and more attention. However, the design of such systems poses different requirements which have been little explored from a scholarly point of view. In this paper, we report on a study of two visualizations - a physical and digital one - providing live feedback to League of Legends players designed based on a community survey (N= 175) and expert input. We further discuss results of a qualitative evaluation with 13 players and an expert, touch upon potential benefits and drawbacks of physical and digital implementations, and present derived design considerations and challenges for such real-time data visualizations, revolving around issues of information density, contextualization, representation, and a diverse range of user needs.

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... The rapid evolution of esports and gaming technology is creating new and engaging interactive experiences for players and spectators alike [27,44]. Given the competitive nature of esports, players have developed a growing interest in support tools that allow them to review their performance and help them to continuously enhance their skills [25,28,62]. ...
... Such endeavors can benefit from an understanding of the features provided by such tools to identify avenues for research and unmet opportunities. In this respect, Rijnders et al. [44] looked at the design space for real-time data visualizations and their usability in the context of live feedback and subsequently developed design considerations for live companions. Likewise, Kleinman et al. [26] presented implications for the design and development for training support tools based on an interview study with esports players. ...
... Companion tools for esports games are applications that present information about gameplay and assist with various aspects of gaming such as helping players to learn a game [24,25], informing players during a match (e.g., assisting in decision-making [3,12]), and offering support for match analysis [2,44]. Typically, the information presented is accompanied by data visualisations, available to players during different stages of play such as in post-play [25,44]. ...
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... This makes the esports learning and training culture more data-driven [50,87,108,113], making it unique and distinct from traditional sports. Recent studies [10,50,87,108,109,113] have consistently stated the importance of data analytics in esports and the potential value it can provide to players. ...
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... Esports encompasses a large community, including players of all skill levels, fans, and commentators (or "casters"), and has provided intriguing directions for HCI . This includes cognitive and mental health in esports (Madden & Harteveld, 2021;Türkay et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2021) and visualization systems for esports (Afonso et al., 2019;Feitosa et al., 2015;Kuan et al., 2017;Rijnders et al., 2022;Wallner et al., 2021;Xenopoulos et al., 2022). Additionally, computer games offer unique opportunities for cognitive research on neuroplasticity (Kowalczyk et al., 2018), and in their richness of stimuli can be compared to how biofeedback facilitates skill acquisition (Chen et al., 2021). ...
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... Esports encompasses a large community, including players of all skill levels, fans, and commentators "casters", and has provided intriguing directions for HCI [17]. This includes cognitive and mental health in esports [9,18,19] and visualization systems for esports [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Additionally, computer games offer unique opportunities for cognitive research on neuroplasticity [26], and in their richness of stimuli can be compared to how biofeedback facilitates skill acquisition [27]. ...
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Esports and high performance human-computer interaction are on the forefront of applying new hardware and software technologies in practice. Despite that, there is a paucity of research on how semi-professional and professional championship level players approach aspects of their preparation. To address that, we have performed, transcribed, and analyzed interviews with top-tournament players, coaches, and managers across multiple game titles. The interviews range from competitive events occuring between 2015-2020. Initial processing included transcription and manual verification. The pre-processed interview data were then organized and structured into relevant categories, touching on psychological, physical, and nutritional aspects of esports preparation. Further, where applicable, interview responses where rated and quantified via consensus judgement by a panel of experts. The results indicate that physical training was most often mentioned as a relevant or consistent activity, while nutrition was indicated as relatively unimportant. Qualitative analysis also indicated that consistency and resiliency were noted as the most key factors recommended for upcoming esports competitors. It is also clear that many players put emphasis on balancing their gameplay time and with activities. Lastly, we identified important areas of inquiry towards a deeper understanding of the mental and physical demands of professional esports players.
... Such games are inherently skill-based, requiring the players to understand the intricacies of gameplay to achieve mastery (see also [27]). Steep learning curves and being required to practice the game while already competing against others [46] complicates skill acquisition further. As such players have started to seek out assistance by relying on their own or others' collected behavioral data to re ect upon their performance or compare themselves to and learn from others (cf. ...
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