This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the George Mason University (GMU) GAMEmason convention on their Fairfax, Virginia campus. GAMEmason is a two-day convention focused on promoting collegiate esports and gaming. This event featured, “guest speakers from the esports industry; educational sessions featuring faculty and staff from Mason as well as alumni and business leaders; free arcade play; tabletop and console gaming; artist alley featuring work by Mason students; vendors and businesses from across the game industry, and more!” (GAMEmason) Additionally, collegiate varsity esports programs from across the region competed in various tournaments, including Rocket League, Valorant, Overwatch 2, League of Legends, Call of Duty, and more.
Collegiate esports is growing in both popularity and acceptance, and this event is an example of the unique ways any university can support the industry and get involved. These events are also beneficial for businesses to get involved in and support the collegiate esports space, as they provide a live depiction of the amount of hard work, learning experiences, and opportunities that collegiate esports programs offer students and companies.
Event Overview & CANA Involvement
GAMEmason was organized very well, with the vendor tent for all supporting businesses strategically placed between the two buildings where the esports and casual gaming tournaments occurred. This resulted in increased foot traffic for all businesses in support of the event, as players, students, parents, and companies alike would exit one building and walk through the vendor section to get to the other.
CANA had a booth as a supporter of GMU esports; we developed an API plugin and overlay for the broadcast of their Rocket League (RL) Championship. This overlay has various visual and analytical capabilities as the backend API pulls in real-time gameplay data and populates unique statistics.
The variations in the images above derive from the unique factor of our API that allows the production team to customize statistics shown, color, graphics, and image depicted on the overlay. The API CANA demonstrated at the booth included two additional aspects that GMU toggled off for their stream: Win Percentage and Flip Reset Indicator. The Win Percentage is a situational analysis metric that takes into account multiple variables such as the game score and time remaining to generate the probability of win for each team. It is a widely known metric that is used in many sports that we adjusted to apply to RL. The Flip Reset Indicator is a much more specific metric. If you are an avid RL player and/or fan, you know being able to track when a player has the ability to flip is crucial at the highest level of play. This metric indicates when each player possesses or does not possess the ability to flip. If you are interested in this API and would like to learn more about it, please feel free to contact me via email.
Aside from the direct support CANA provided for the GAMEmason RL tournament, I had the opportunity to speak with a plethora of players, students, parents, and other businesses. This exposure was wonderful for CANA esports, as I was able to discuss our unique API, our analytics capabilities, and our goal of supporting the esports industry. CANA can provide esports organizations and programs with the data and insights needed to inform decision-making and build a sustainable business model. I also had the chance to discuss the benefits and career opportunities esports offers that many people do not realize. This was particularly rewarding to help educate those who were less familiar with the industry and watch how their feelings toward esports changed for the better. Collegiate esports offers students the opportunity to learn transferable STEAM and other career skills through something they are passionate about. It is not all about pursuing a professional esports career.
One of my favorite things about attending events like GAMEmason is that I learn so much from the attendees. As a former GMU graduate, this event was even more fun as I had the chance to reconnect with some of the staff who helped me get to where I am today. Just like the GMU Career Fair I attended last year, I had an amazing time speaking with the players, students, attending companies, and GMU staff. As CANA esports builds for the future, with a focus on supporting the sustainability of esports programs, we look forward to more events like this, growing the relationships we’ve made, and expanding our network. CANA esports - providing the analytics intel for success!
To learn more about CANA esports, please visit: canallc.com/e-sports
Jack Murray is a Business Analyst and esports lead at CANA LCC. Connect with Jack via his email jmurray@canallc.com or on Linkedin.