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With friendly rivalries, eSports gain traction in corporate world
SAN FRANCISCO, March 21, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Microsoft software engineer
Daniel Jost has found a way to take on his peers at Amazon, Apple, Facebook,
and Google in friendly fashion — through video game competition.
His team is the one to beat when it comes to using jet-powered cars to
score points by knocking giant balls, soccer-style, into nets on virtual
fields in Rocket League tournaments organized by the Corporate Esports
Association (CEA).
“It feels similar to the company bowling or soccer league, it’s just being
done in front of a computer screen instead of meeting at the bowling alley
every Friday,” said Jost.
Matches are streamed online at an array of platforms such as Twitch and
YouTube, with bragging rights and charity dollars on the line.
Like video-game play overall, interest in company team matches has boomed
during the Covid-19 pandemic as real-world options from soccer to softball
stopped being viable.
“It really is the corporate sports leagues in just a very slightly
different form,” said Brad Tenenholtz, a cybersecurity industry veteran and
co-founder in 2018 of the association with Terence Southard, a scientist with
Jeff Bezos’s space exploration endeavor Blue Origin.
Company workers are free to form teams and sign up to compete in leagues
set up by the CEA, with registration fees going to a charity chosen by the
victors.
“My dad works at a steel mill in Cincinnati, Ohio, and plays on his
corporate softball team,” CEA chief Tenenholtz said.
“No one is going to fly him to another city for some kind of national
competition, but with eSports we can bring people together electronically and
just as meaningfully.”
Leagues organized by the association include competitions for League of
Legends, Dota, Overwatch, Valorant, Call of Duty, and even chess.
– E-sportsmanship –
The association can also be hired by companies to run team-building
events.
Just as the pandemic was starting, CEA introduced a “Comprehend” tool that
analyzes which players are inspiring teammates and which are spoiling the
fun.
Players are told the tool is being used and are given copies of results.
“We’re explicit with players about what Comprehend is and what it
measures,” Tenenholtz said.
“We go to great lengths to make sure there are no surprises.”
The software can identify people who work well together and those to whom
peers look for leadership, according to Tenenholtz.
The tool also measures how well players communicate to achieve goals, and
it spots comments that cause conflict.
The feedback is intended to help companies improve workplace camaraderie
and collaboration, with happier workers who feel connected to peers being
less likely to quit their jobs.
Jost, whose Ninjacats team has only played in charity matches where
Comprehend is not used, credits the league with making him feel more closely
bonded with Microsoft, which, thanks to its Xbox division, has status in the
video game world.
A point of pride for his team is having won thousands of dollars for
Child’s Play, a charity that gives toys and games to children in hospitals.
“The bond with this community of players is absolutely a selling point for
me to be with Microsoft,” Jost said.
Playing for charity and representing one’s company helps keep rivalries
good-natured.
Plus, since tech talent tends to be mobile, players sometimes find
themselves facing former colleagues on rival teams.
“There is a lot of emotion and passion to win, and your competitive spirit
kicks into overdrive,” Jost said of matches.
“Amazon is particularly fun to beat because we share the same hometown.”
Nearly ever major tech company has at least one team playing in CEA
matches, with League of Legends and Rocket League the most popular games.
“It makes sense, as workforces attract a greater percentage of gamers, and
many of those games — Rocket League in particular — are easy to play and
fun for the participants,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
“I assume tech companies can brag about how their employees are the best at a
game,” he said, while adding that the general public might not be as
impressed.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0912 hrs