fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Bitident integration in MyETPWallet
By: Laurent Salou
Tags: Security, Blockchain, Metaverse, Authentication

Bitident integration in MyETPWallet

Bitident chose Metaverse blockchain as the platform to support its authentication system on the blockchain.

Implemented in MyETPWallet v0.8.0, Bitident protocol enables users to login to compatibles websites or applications in a fully decentralized way, using their Metaverse Avatar.

Bitident protocol makes identification easy to implement for developers looking for a decentralized authentication solution.

How does it work

In order to verify the identity of a user, a request is sent to him or her. The user can then use his Metaverse wallet to sign it and the requester can finally verify that the signature is matching the one of the Avatar.

Bitident published a working demo on their official website. This protocol can be integrated into any website that desires to use Metaverse Avatars in order to login, instead of the classic email/password pair, or as a decentralized 2FA instead of Google Authenticator or other 2FA solutions.

Step by step

First, the user has to specify which Avatar he wants to use in order to login. In that example, I will login using my Avatar ‘metaverse’:

A QR code will be generated: it contains my request, which is valid for 5 minutes.

The next step is to sign the request with the private key of my Avatar. This can be done in the Authentication page of MyETPWallet.

I can then scan the QR code using MyETPWallet app, or copy/paste the request if I’m using my desktop.

The request will be decoded in order to verify its information before signing. The main information are:

Source: it is the Avatar who created the request. in that example, the Avatar is ‘bitident’ and the request was signed by him. My wallet has already automatically verified that the request is indeed correctly signed by the Avatar ‘bitident’. If the signature is wrong, an error message will appear.

Avatar: the Avatar trying to authenticate, in this case ‘metaverse’. Only this Avatar can sign the request. If I do not own this Avatar, the wallet will notify me that I can’t sign this request.

Host: the request will be returned to the host after being signed.

Remaining time: remaining time till the request expires.

Callback: the full URL where the signed request will be returned.

Time of request: when the request was created by the source.

Timeout: the host can decide for how long the request is live. In this demo, it expires after 5 minutes (300 seconds).

After verifying the request information, mainly the source and host, you can type your password and sign the request which will be sent back to the callback URL. This step only signs the request using your private key, but never reveals your private key or any other information to the requester. Signing the request is sufficient for the requester to verify that you own the Avatar.

I can now go back to bitident and see that my identification was successful:

In a real use case, this can be used to login to an exchange or any other website using my Avatar as an authentication system.
What is the Metaverse and why you want to be part of it
By: Mattia Crespi
Tags: Virtual Reality, VR, Metaverse

What is the Metaverse and why you want to be part of it

The Metaverse is the future of the Internet. The networked dimension of Virtual Reality.

Internet will be in 3D and this is no news. Even thou the concept of the Metaverse has been imagined, described, written and filmed for many years now, it’s only in the recent years that we are placing the first fundamental building blocks for virtual reality to be developed. Some innovators and notable investors in the Silicon Valley eco-system, have been working for some years on the idea of making a 3D version of the Internet, in other words the first version of the Metaverse. The buzz around VR devices such as the Oculus Rift, are only a part of what is moving around VR. While smart VR devices to simulate movement, presence and other interactions, are very important, what is fundamental for the Metaverse to come alive, is the existence of a platform and system architecture, to sustain it. The processing power we need to power up a virtual reality based Internet, is already there. We only need to connect the dots and leverage the immense calculus potential of the Internet as a whole. This is exactly what some visionaries and architects of the future of the Internet are doing. And this is happening right now. The enablers are there and we are developing the technologies that will allow us to experience a truly immersive Online Virtual Reality experience.

Read more about Virtual Reality on our blog: https://www.qbittech.com/index.php/qbit-virtual-reality-blog
The Metaverse as Mediator between Technology, Trends, and the Digital Transformation of Society and Business
By: Mattia Crespi
Tags: Virtual Reality, Metaverse, Virtual Worlds

The Metaverse as Mediator between Technology, Trends, and the Digital Transformation of Society and Business

Here is an intro abstract and link to a very interesting article, wrote in a collaborative effort between myself and two other Researchers: Sven-Volker Rehm and Lakshmi Goel, for the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.

In this reflective article we discuss the potential of recent developments in virtual worlds for offering novel value propositions for the digital transformation of society and business. In particular, we consider the role of a Metaverse, understood as a globally accessible 3D virtual space and computing infrastructure — and today still a conceptual vision — as a mediator between technology trends and societal and business applications. We outline how current technology trends can be linked with high-value added application scenarios through the Metaverse as a mediating design space. Our insights project both a push effect, i.e. novel technologies fostering radical shifts in society and business, as well as a pull effect, i.e. radical ideas stimulating technology developments. Leveraging both effects for creating high-value added applications however, requires an integrated, mediating design space, which can potentially be obtained through advances of virtual worlds towards a Metaverse.

Read the full article here: https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/view/7149?utm_source=Journal+of+Virtual+Worlds+Research+Announcements&utm_campaign=9dfd81deef-Futures_is_Published&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_328ce3bba8-9dfd81deef-335680333
Is the #metaverse just around the corner?
By: A.C. Flory
Tags: Reviews, Technology, Metaverse

‘SEATTLE — Philip Rosedale wants to build the Metaverse, the virtual reality experience depicted in the Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash so many years ago. His first-generation attempt to do so was Second Life, the virtual world created by his former company Linden Lab…’

This article in Quartz sparked my interest because I actually tried Second Life, twice. The first time was some years ago when it was at the peak of its ‘buzz’. The second time was only last year. Both times were a disappointment, but perhaps that’s because I was evaluating the experience from the viewpoint of a gamer. To me, the Second Life graphics were ugly and clunky, the movement was clunky, the ‘crafting’ was ‘too hard’, and the whole thing just felt second best instead of immersive. But I did like the idea behind the experience — i.e. to be able to do in a virtual world everything you could do in the real one [shades of Innerscape, anyone?].

Sadly, I suspect Rosedale’s implementation of a metaverse will be just as clunky as the implementation of Second Life. But again, that’s not to say that someone won’t get it right.

Will that be within the next 20 years?

Honestly, I don’t think so. Technology takes leaps and bounds, and breaks out in unexpected areas — think mobile phone vs computer — but there is a world of difference between being able to produce an alpha grade prototype and creating the kind of technology that is as commonplace as the light switch. Yet that is what we will need if we are to stitch together the whole digital world into a metaverse.

Negatives aside, however, good on Rosedale for thinking big. You can find the complete Quartz article here:

cheers

Meeks
Deliveries by Drone: What will it be like?
By: Jason Sherman
Tags: Area 51, Drones, Featured, Gadgets, Tech

As most of you know, Amazon is getting closer to delivering your packages via drone. I’m sure everyone is wondering what it will actually be like. Will you have to stand outside when the drone arrives? Will the drone know that your dog is in the yard…and avoid it? How quickly will the drone deliver your much needed baby formula at 3 AM when your baby is crying? Well this new video Amazon just released shows how quick and easy the drone delivery system might be.

Some might question the drone landing area issue that comes with city living. What happens if you live in an apartment building with 30 units and you don’t have a yard? What if you live in a home that has a lot of power lines surrounding it? What if you live near an airport? These are the questions that will need to be answered in order for Amazon to truly live up to the fullest vision of drone deliveries.

First things first, we need at least one public drone delivery to happen with Amazon in order for this futuristic method of couriers to come to fruition. I’m curious to see what millions of drone deliveries happening simultaneously will look like. There obviously will be some sort of software handling drone traffic and safety. And of course there will be the bad apples who take to target practice from their back yards (to win a prize). Even then, I’m sure Amazon will have something in place to prepare for people shooting down their drones to get whatever package it’s carrying.

Obviously, the drones will need to be able to see their surroundings (and avoid obstacles). They will follow a chosen flight path, but I think pilots will be flying them. We are a long way from automated drones dropping off packages. As for actually dropping off the packages, the drones will need some room. This means homes with back or front yards will be first in line to receive the service. Either way, imagine you need an important item within 30 minutes and you just don’t have time to go to the store. This is what the drones will offer. A “Netflix-style” on-demand product delivery service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For now we have the video Amazon released to show their vision for the future in drone deliveries. Let’s hope it goes as smooth as it seems.
Twitch is now TSM and Cloud9’s exclusive sponsorship sales representative
By: Saira Mueller
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Twitch

Twitch is now TSM and Cloud9’s exclusive sponsorship sales representative

The streaming company hopes to bring more revenue to esports organizations and players.

Twitch is turning its considerable revenue machine to esports organizations and players.

Long-standing North American brands TSM and Cloud9 are the first organizations to partner with the platform, the company announced today. Twitch will now “act as their official sales representative to interested brands looking to reach their combined audience” (that’s either TSM or Cloud9 and Twitch, not TSM and Cloud9 together), with TSM and Cloud9’s players continuing to stream exclusively on Twitch.

“Both teams are unique, so we’ll structure their agreements with sponsors accordingly,” Twitch’s VP and Commercial Director for Esports, Kristen Salvatore, told Dot Esports.

The streaming giant is hoping to attract new non-endemic sponsors into the esports and streamer world by acting as the exclusive sponsorship sales representative for major esports organizations.

The partnership comes just a few months after TSM CEO and Founder Andy “Reginald” Dinh sparked a global conversation about revenue generation in esports. Reginald called out Riot Games and its popular title League of Legends in an interview and on Twitter, saying that the revenue ecosystem made it almost impossible to stay in League due to the costs of maintaining a team amid dwindling sponsorship opportunities. This led Riot to introduce crowdfunding via in-game items for the first time during its recent World Championship, with a percentage of the item revenue going directly to organizations and teams. This crowdfunding initiative more than doubled the Worlds prize pool this year, from the Riot-funded $2.13 million to $5.07 million.

“We’re thrilled Twitch will be representing TSM for future sponsorships,” Reginald said in a statement. “This will allow us to focus on developing long-term careers for our players and creating content for our fans.”

Since it was bought by Amazon in 2014, Twitch has rapidly expanded both its staff and its user base. The site currently brings in over 9.7 million daily active users. The streaming site partnered with Psyonix earlier this year for the Rocket League Championship Series, and has been involved in the Capcom Pro Tour for some time — the company’s first direct foray into the esports market.

“Twitch’s global sales team is nearly 100 people strong, with offices literally around the globe,” Salvatore told Dot Esports. “We’ve built a robust sponsorship sales organization within that team who’ll be leveraging the infrastructure and reach of our group as a whole on the direct sales side. And we’ve built a sponsorship operations group devoted entirely to the tactical execution of sponsorships, ensuring top-notch service to both sponsors and our teams.”

Twitch did not say how this partnership will affect TSM and Cloud9’s existing sponsorship deals, if at all.
Roger Huguet — Sports Rights Sales
By: Roger Huguet
Tags: Sports, Esports

Roger Huguet — Sports Rights Sales

Roger Huguet was a part of the New York office at the International Management Group, where he helped focus on sponsorship and television sports rights sales when dealing with the Copa America Tournament and the different South American leagues. Just like others in the media, IMG was trying to establish a place in the market and television broadcasting rights for sports events, which is an area that is profitable for both broadcasters and sports leagues.

Television broadcasting is vital for many professional sports, as it is a source of revenue. Therefore, in high-income places, the amount of revenue that goes from television broadcasting to major sports is only going up over the recent years. In fact, European football has seen a tremendous amount of growth in the last decade.

Besides the fact the TV broadcasting can be lucrative, some sports leagues are still skeptical about television. This is due to the fact that broadcasting will change the way fans are exposed to the sports, impacting both interest and attendance. This is because of the overexposure of TV broadcasting, coupled with the reservations from government officials it brings up a lot of issues. There are some reservations about sports rights sales — if should be allowed to be given to a single entity or if they should sell the rights at all.

As such, many sport leagues across the world are using different policies to govern the sale of sports rights or broadcast rights and how revenues are eventually distributed. Roger Huguet knows that it is important to understand the market to be successful with sports rights sales.
Snickers Goes After The eSports Audience By Sponsoring ELeague
By: Richard Yao
Tags: General Content, Esports

Snickers Goes After The eSports Audience By Sponsoring ELeague

What Happened

Snickers is going after the young, male Millennials that make up a large part of the eSports audience as the chocolate bar-maker signs on to sponsor ELeague, the professional eSports league co-owned by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG. As a sponsor, Snickers will run ad spots during the broadcast of season two of ELeague on TBS, sponsor a live pre-game show, and name a post-game bloopers segment after its campaign slogan “You’re Not You When You Are Hungry.” Earlier this year, ELeague struck a deal to live stream its content on Twitch to reach a wider audience online.

What Brands Should Do

Over the past few years, eSports has grown from a nerdy niche into a media platform that attracts a massive audience and generates billions of dollars. The first season of ELeague brought in a huge audience that no brand should ignore, and Snickers is smart to sponsor the series to reach its target audience. Previously, early-adopting brands such as Coca-Cola and Geico have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience who typically shun traditional ads. Therefore, now is the time for brands to include video game streaming and eSports as part of the media strategy via relevant sponsorships.
Terry Crews Wants to Voice The Next Overwatch Hero
By: Sam Lee
Tags: Overwatch, Gaming, Terry Crews, Esports, Blizzard Entertainment

Terry Crews Wants to Voice The Next Overwatch Hero

Courtesy of WENN

Known for playing NYPD Sergeant Terry Jeffords on the Fox sitcom Brooklyn Nine–Nine and his outrageous Old Spice commercials, Terry Crews recently shared his enthusiasm to join the Overwatch Voice Cast. Reddit user SleepyRicky made a post in the Overwatch subreddit stating that:

“If Doomfist becomes a hero I’d be so hyped if Terry Crews voice acted for him”

To which Terry Crews responded:

“I would LOVE TO PLAY DOOMFIST”

Courtesy of Gfycat

Now, this isn’t something completely out of character as Terry Crews is already known for being a big fan of the gaming world. He even helped promote Overwatch’s Free Weekend event on his Twitter not too long ago.

But wait, who is Doomfist?

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Doomfist is a character in the Overwatch universe that has been mentioned several times but has yet to make an official appearance. Pictured above are three posters referencing Doomfist on the map Numbani. We know the identities of the first two Doomfists are Adhabu Ngumi “The Savior” and Akinjide Adeyemi “The Scourge.” However, the identity of the third Doomfist has yet to be revealed.

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment/Gfycat

Doomfist is also referenced in the very first trailer for Overwatch when Tracer and Winston prevent Reaper and Widowmaker from stealing the Doomfist Gauntlet from the museum. Finally, Reaper hints at some sort of connection with Doomfist in a voice line that he has that goes:

“Doomfist should do his own dirty work.”

If you want Terry Crews to voice Doomfist too, let Blizzard know! Reach out to Andrea Toyias, the Casting & Voice Director at Blizzard Entertainment, on her Twitter to support Terry Crews as the voice of Doomfist!
G2’s woes continue—what’s next for France’s best?
By: Sam Nordmark
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Counter Strike

G2’s woes continue—what’s next for France’s best?

A loss to OpTic Gaming in the Northern Arena Montreal grand finals adds another layer of disappointment to G2 Esports. Sam Nordmark Nov 14, 2016·2 min read

Photo via Fragbite

For the second time in two weeks, a North American team has successfully won an international LAN event featuring top-rated competition.

This time it was OpTic Gaming who lifted the trophy after a brutal last half on Dust2 where the Canadian/American roster only dropped a single round to their opponents G2 Esports.

G2 may very well have over-performed during its short reign starting in June.

But while OpTic’s victory gave the squad its first LAN and series victory against a European team, what does this mean for G2 Esports? The strongest French team of the year had been soaring far above most of the established teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

A cursory glimpse of the performances of the team’s star players Richard “shox” Papillon, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Cédric “RpK” Guipouy over the past three months shows a significant dip in their overall stats. While stats don’t account for things such as team cohesion or out-of-game struggles, you can’t ignore that G2 may very well have over-performed during its short reign starting in June.

Make no mistake, these performances from the G2 trio made up some of their best in, sometimes, years. At the time of ESL ESEA Pro League and the ECS Season 1 finals, shox and ScreaM in particular looked like the most explosive duo in the game. And while still retaining solid ratings all across the board, that X-factor which allowed G2 to simply turn any situation into a favorable one has gone missing.

You also can’t ignore ignore the fact that rivals and countrymen EnVyUs are looking at an upward trajectory after spending the majority of 2016 in its worst slump as a team. And even though G2 successfully eliminated EnVyUs in the Northern Arena semifinals, one has to imagine that G2 are casting a waking eye at their rival’s recent strides back into the top of CS:GO.

This means that the final group of the ongoing season of ELEAGUE, which forces teams to lock their rosters for the duration of the season, may be more significant than initially thought. In case EnVyUs fails to advance from Group D, which also features Fnatic, Team Dignitas and OpTic Gaming, then the French teams may indeed be looking to change their rosters prior to the major.

Whether this means a stronger G2 or EnVyUs, however, is uncertain.
Everything You Need To Know for the 2016 LoL All-Star Event
By: Sam Lee
Tags: Esports, League of Legends, Riot Games, Gaming

Everything You Need To Know for the 2016 LoL All-Star Event

Courtesy of Riot Games

What is the 2016 All-Star Event?

Similar to last year’s 2015 All-Star Event in Los Angeles, fans will vote for their favorite players to represent their respective regions. The players with the most votes will then be assigned to Team Fire or Team Ice based on their performance in the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational and 2016 World Championships. They will participate in regional battles, one on one matches, and more.

When and where?

The 2016 All-Star Event will take place at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain from December 8th to 11th. Doors will open at 8:00 a.m. EST and the event will start at 10:00 a.m. EST each day.

How much are tickets and where can I purchase them?

Ticket Prices:

€20 (21.48 US Dollars) Floor/Bleachers

€15 (16.11 US Dollars) Lower Bowl

€12 (12.89 US Dollars) Upper Bowl

Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster and you will need to sign up for an account to purchase them. Note: You may only purchase a max of 6 tickets per transaction.

Who will be playing?

The votes are in and the fans have spoken. Here are the players who will be attending the 2016 All-Star Event.

Team Ice

EU LCS (Europe)

TOP: sOAZ of Origen

JUNGLE: Jankos of H2K

MID: xPeke of Origen

ADC: Rekkles of Fnatic

SUPPORT: Mithy of G2 Esports

LMS (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao)

TOP: Ziv of ahq e-Sports Club

JUNGLE: Karsa of Flash Wolves

MID: Maple of Flash Wolves

ADC: Bebe of J Team

SUPPORT: Albis of ahq e-Sports Club

LPL (China)

TOP: Mouse of Edward Gaming

JUNGLE: Clearlove of Edward Gaming

MID: We1less of LGD Gaming

ADC: Uzi of Royal Never Give Up

SUPPORT: Mata of Royal Never Give Up

Team Fire

LCK (Korea)

TOP: Smeb of Rox Tigers

JUNGLE: Bengi of SK Telecom T1

MID: Faker of SK Telecom T1

ADC: PraY of Rox Tigers

SUPPORT: Madlife of CJ Entus

NA LCS (North America)

TOP: Impact of Cloud9

JUNGLE: Reignover of Immortals

MID: Bjergsen of Team Solo Mid

ADC: Doublelift of Team Solo Mid

SUPPORT: Aphromoo of Counter Logic Gaming

Finally, the winners of The International Wildcard All-Star Event (IWC) will determine the last five players that will complete Team Fire. The IWC will also be set in Barcelona, Spain but will take place a week before from December 1st to 4th.

Click below to watch the official announcement:
The hottest sports action in Korea is computerized
By: D. Yvette Wohn
Tags: E Sports

Some of the hottest sporting action this summer is taking place on computer screens. Crowds of thousands lined the beaches in Busan and Seoul’s Olympic Park recently for separate computer gaming events.

E-sports is more than a kid’s game ― it is a 100 billion won ($107 million) market in Korea, and it nearly doubles in size every year.

At Olympic Park in southern Seoul, the Seoul International e-Sports Festival ended a four-day event yesterday amid game character fashion shows, concerts and other events.

The festival also included the finals of a 256-team “StarCraft” single-elimination tournament offering a cash prize of 20 million won. The winner of a single-player “WarCraft 3” competition got $20,000. About 50 gamers from numerous countries, including China, Poland and Sweden, participated.

Although many of the participants were professional Korean gamers, international teams came out strong in the shooting game “Counter-Strike.”

In Seoul, gamers compete this past weekend. Provided by the organizations

The Seoul City government said next year it expects some 200,000 people for the event; the entire event was broadcast live on the Internet video portal GomTV.

Also part of the e-sports festival, the 2007 Korea Pump Festival drew huge crowds of people who wanted to see contestants dance.

“Pump” is a Korean-developed game similar to “Dance Dance Revolution,” where players have to step on pads on the floor as directed by arrows that appear on the screen. At yet another venue, digital avatars danced away in a competition for the game “Audition,” where cyber figures do the actual bodywork.

The Seoul festivities were just one of the many summer computer game festivals going on nationwide this summer.

On Aug. 4, Busan’s Gwangalli beach was packed with people watching the finals of the Shinhan Pro League, one of the biggest StarCraft tournaments in Korea.

The event attracts tens of thousands of spectators each year.

Prior to Busan, e-sports festivals also took place in the city of Daegu, in the mountainous region of Gangwon and at the Gyeongpo Beach in Gangneung City in Gangwon ― all drawing big crowds.

“I heard that e-sports will be a pilot category for the Beijing Olympics,” said Ma Jae-yoon, a top Korean StarCraft player. “It motivates me to play harder.”

By Wohn Dong-hee

Staff Writer for JoongAng Daily
CS:GO Bangladesh Community League Invitational
By: Sazid Hossain Banna
Tags: Esports, Gaming

CS:GO in Bangladesh has come a long way. According to the data collected by community servers, there are 2214 active steamids in Bangladesh. Around 753 steamids play at least once in any given week. And 1208 steamids play at least once in a month. Since the competitive scene of CS:GO community is kinda stale, some players have come forwarded with the idea of having an invitation only league. This league will rejuvenate the cs:go competitive scene once again. The features of the league will be:

10 teams invitational round-robin. In case the quota isn’t fulfilled, quotas will be fulfilled from teams who have applied for entry.

Separate server with ANTI-CHEAT measures and STATS.

The league will run for 3 months. After 3 months there will be a 1-month recess.

There will be relegation system like ESL. Bottom place teams will loose invitation.

These are just draft features of the league. After talking with top teams, everything will be set in motion.

The first league will have neither any prize pool nor any entry fee (unless anyone comes forward with a sponsorship). We will see how it runs then we will decide about monetary matters.
Enjoy BlizzCon 2016 right here on Twitch
By: Alice Karsevar
Tags: Esports, Events, Press, Twitch

With tickets selling out faster than you can say, “loot box”, there’s no need to fret because you can still enjoy BlizzCon 2016 without being there in person. Blizzard promises that this year’s event will be the most exciting yet, and Twitch — with exclusive rewards and the only destination for foreign language streams — is where you’ll want to be to catch all the action!

The fun begins with Opening Week on October 26–31, where the best teams and players you’ve been following all year are competing against one another for a chance to win big on the BlizzCon 2016 stage November 4–5.

For those of you who can’t stop playing the new World of Warcraft expansion Legion and Heroes of the Storm’s new brawl mode, tune into the World of Warcraft Arena Championship and Heroes of the Storm Fall Championship tournaments for a special in-game reward, only available on Twitch.

To view the full schedule of events, visit: https://blizzcon.com/en-us/news/20271915

Want to experience BlizzCon 2016 in a language besides English? Twitch will be offering over a dozen different language options depending on the game. For the English language stream, visit: https://www.twitch.tv/team/blizzcon and for other languages, check out the channel listings and tournament details below:

Hearthstone

The Hearthstone World Championship features $1,000,000 in total prize money and sixteen of the best players from around the world.

Heroes of the Storm

The Heroes of the Storm Fall Championship brings together twelve of the best teams from every region for a shot at a $1,000,000 prize pool.

German: KnowMe

French: Millenium

French: GameWard.tv

Italian: Merlo

Russian: HappyZerg

Polish: Rivid

Spanish (EUR): Sarly21

Spanish (LATAM): Aulox

Portuguese (LATAM): NomadTV

Chinese (TW): 4Gamers

Korean: Inven

StarCraft II

The World Championship Series Global Finals will award $200,000 to the champion that emerges from the field of sixteen qualified players.

Overwatch

The Overwatch World Cup assembles national teams from all over the world to decide 2016 international bragging rights once and for all.

World of Warcraft

The World of Warcraft Arena World Championship features eight top teams playing for a share of the $250,000 prize pool.
Muffin Lightning takes Echo Fox’s spot at the North American ELEAGUE Minor
By: Sam Nordmark
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Counter Strike

Muffin Lightning takes Echo Fox’s spot at the North American ELEAGUE Minor

Image via Valve

One team is getting a second chance to qualify for the North American ELEAGUE minor.

Muffin Lightning has taken over Echo Fox’s slot in the minor after its entire Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster entered free agency. Muffin Lightning placed just below Echo Fox in the ELEAGUE major’s closed North American minor qualifiers.

Now the squad will compete against Cloud9, Immortals, and Team SoloMid between Dec. 3–4 for one of the two spots for the ELEAGUE minor, which acts as the final stop before the ELEAGUE major.

Muffin Lightning roster includes several well-known faces in the lower ranks of competitive CS:GO in North America, with former players from NRG, Splyce, and compLexity making up the roster.

Muffin Lightning’s performance in the closed qualifiers could only be described as a mixed bag, with its biggest win being against a newly restructured Immortals roster that had just replaced its in-game leader Wilton “zews” Prado for Lucas “steel” Lopes.
How long does it take to climb a tier if your win rate is 52%?
By: Philip Z. Maymin
Tags: Gaming, Esports, Winning, Probability, League of Legends

How long does it take to climb a tier if your win rate is 52%?

Let’s say you have a 52% win rate on your main. That would be really good! Very few champions have consistent win rates that high. You’d be OP.

And let’s say you need to win five games more than you lose to get to the next tier.

How long would it take you?

How many games should you expect to have to play to climb out of your tier?

Try to guess. Maybe you think around ten to twenty games? Or maybe you are a glass-half-empty kind of person and think it’s like a thousand games, or simply impossible.

The answer can be calculated mathematically. The formula is just:

n / (2p — 1)

where n is the extra number of wins you need, and p is your win rate. See for example here for details.

If you’re at a 52% win rate and need five extra wins, you should expect to play 125 games to climb out. One hundred and twenty-five! That’s a lot of games for an OP champ with such a high win rate.

Here’s a table of the number of games it would take for different levels of your win rate:

WIN RATE | NUMBER OF GAMES NEEDED

51% | 250

52% | 125

53% | 84

54% | 63

55% | 50

56% | 42

57% | 36

58% | 32

59% | 28

60% | 26

Look at that! There are some really interesting takeaways from this chart.

The obvious point is that a small difference in win rate makes a BIG difference in the time it takes to advance tiers. By just improving your win rate from 51% to 52% you save yourself 125 games. Improving from 52% to 55% saves you another 75 games. At ~30 minute matches, this amounts to weeks of playing time you could save by improving your play — thereby improving your team — and moving on up to the next tier.

Put another way, if your win rate was 51% and you dedicated 100 hours to improving your skill such that your win rate increased to 55% — you’d make the next tier faster than if you had just kept queuing up.

You actually save time by focusing on improving, rather than rushing through matches trying to advance.

Second, this explains why the rise and fall of ranked play can seem so dramatic for people. If you just go on a small-sample-size streak, you can move really far up or down. But you might not see a statistically significant change in your win rate until you’ve played dozens or even hundreds of games.

But just because it is hard to see the difference statistically through wins doesn’t mean it is not there. If you are a better player, maybe there are other ways to measure your improvement. Are you farming at an elite level? Are you focusing their carry in late game? Are you warding like the best players in your tier? Are you covering the map enough?

If you could get good metrics like these for your games, you could see your own improvement, even if it would take some time for the statistical results of your win rate to show up. But you will start climbing at your faster speed.
FirstBlood Moving Toward Alpha Version of ESports Platform
By: Brandon Kostinuk
Tags: Blockchain, Ethereum, Esports, Cryptocurrency

Just after the official end date of FirstBlood’s successful crowdsale, the Boston-based company shifts focus to development

The crowdsale was over in just a matter of minutes with the goal of $5.5 million worth in Ether, the native cryptographic currency of the Ethereum network, secured.

Now, Boston-based FirstBlood Technologies is pivoting focus toward a late December release of an alpha version of its eSports rewards platform.

The platform is a peer-to-peer gaming framework and will offer competitors the opportunity to win tokens by challenging each other in skill-based games.

According to Marco Cuesta, head of business development at FirstBlood, a semi-private test phase will kick off toward the end of this year, allowing users to try out the platform and compete against peers in a popular online multiplayer title.

For the upcoming TestNet launch, anyone signed up on Firstblood’s Slack channel at slack.firstblood.io as well as those signed up at the company’s official site — done by entering an email address — will be able to participate. There are close to 850 users currently signed up at FirstBlood’s slack channel.

Cuesta explained, testers will receive a unique sign-up code allowing users to log-on and participate. There is also no limit to the number of total users that can test the eSports platform.

Read Full Article: Here
Who to Watch for at The Summit 6
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Dota 2, Dota

Who to Watch for at The Summit 6

The Summit 6 will be the first DOTA 2 event to have the top 3 placed TI6 teams competing against one another since the International.

Courtesy of Beyond The Summit

The teams competing for the $100,000 prize pool are Wings Gaming, Digital Chaos, Evil Geniuses, OG, Team NP, EHOME, Team Faceless, and Virtus.Pro.

So who should you watch for?

Wings Gaming, the TI6 winners, showed a dominate performance in Canada last week, winning the NA BEAT Invitational grand final against Team NP, 2–0. They will look to continue their success during The Summit 6.

Digital Chaos has only played one event since their 2nd place finish at TI6 in August, so seeing them back at it will definitely be exciting.

Evil Geniuses took 3rd at TI6 and have been looking very strong over the past few months. They had a rather disappointing 4th place finish at the NA BEAT Invitational last week, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them come back more focused.

All of the matches should be very close, and it will be interesting to see if Wings Gaming can win their 3rd LAN event in 4 months. You can watch The Summit 6 from November 16th-2oth at www.twitch.tv/beyondthesummit
Snickers Goes After The eSports Audience By Sponsoring ELeague
By: Ipg Media Lab
Tags: General Content, Esports

Snickers Goes After The eSports Audience By Sponsoring ELeague

What Happened

Snickers is going after the young, male Millennials that make up a large part of the eSports audience as the chocolate bar-maker signs on to sponsor ELeague, the professional eSports league co-owned by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG. As a sponsor, Snickers will run ad spots during the broadcast of season two of ELeague on TBS, sponsor a live pre-game show, and name a post-game bloopers segment after its campaign slogan “You’re Not You When You Are Hungry.” Earlier this year, ELeague struck a deal to live stream its content on Twitch to reach a wider audience online.

What Brands Should Do

Over the past few years, eSports has grown from a nerdy niche into a media platform that attracts a massive audience and generates billions of dollars. The first season of ELeague brought in a huge audience that no brand should ignore, and Snickers is smart to sponsor the series to reach its target audience. Previously, early-adopting brands such as Coca-Cola and Geico have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience who typically shun traditional ads. Therefore, now is the time for brands to include video game streaming and eSports as part of the media strategy via relevant sponsorships.
Overwatch pros: Hero banning won’t work— yet
By: Nicole Carpenter
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Overwatch

Overwatch pros: Hero banning won’t work— yet

We asked a few professional Overwatch players what they think of the format.

Image via Blizzard

Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan isn’t a fan of the hero pick and ban system used in games like League of Legends, at least, not for Overwatch’s competitive modes. He’s not writing it off completely, though.

Writing on the Blizzard forum on Nov. 15, Kaplan’s statement addressed, in particular, a potential competitive three-on-three mode — and not Overwatch’s general competitive play. However, his comments appear to apply to competitive Overwacth across the board.

“If the meta settles down into static picks always, we have other solutions,” Kaplan said. “But picks and bans cause a lot of issues that we’d like to avoid.” Issues like adding a ton of extra time to each round, he said. “I’m not saying we’ll never do picks and bans, but what I am saying is that we would rather explore other options first.”

Professional Overwatch players agree. If we’re discussing ways to keep Overwatch’s meta from going stale — which simply isn’t an issue right now, given the competitive scene’s newness — hero picking and banning would just limit the game more. “In this kind of dynamic game where maps change compared to League of Legends and Dota 2, where the map is always the same, hero picks and bans wouldn’t be great,” Team Dignitas’ Jiri “LiNkzr” Masalin told Dot Espots. “It limits the game strategy wise.”

“Strict picks is something I feel takes away from the game and strategy itself,” Rogue Esports’ Jonathan “Reinforce” Larsson added. Banning, however, might be something interesting to add to the game in the future, once there are more heroes. “Banning would otherwise just hurt variety in team compositions and play styles, which if more heroes were introduced, you would still be able to forcefully play a certain way.”

So how many heroes would it take? Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch from REUNITED’s professional Overwatch team figured 40–50 heroes would allow the system to work well. With the addition of Sombra, Overwatch has 23 heroes. That’s a long way off from the numbers Morte suggested. “You wouldn’t even need to go as far as a complete system but could give teams one ban each,” he added. “That would make sure everyone needs to stay versatile [and] would add a lot of depth to the strategy before the game even started.”

That strategy is part of the reason hero picks and bans work so well in a game like League of Legends. It’s part of the game itself, arguably just as important as when the match “officially” begins. But the thing is, League of Legends has 100+ heroes — variety that Overwatch doesn’t have, yet.

Overwatch is built upon the idea of adapting to enemy composition mid-game, switching heroes and shaking the in-game meta up; hero picks and bans have the potential, generally, to screw that balance up as the game stands.
Coca-Cola eSports Is On A Tear
By: Manny Anekal
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Marketing, Advertising, College

Coca-Cola eSports Is On A Tear

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 044: Coca-Cola

TNL eSports Brand Tracker 044: Coca-Cola (Photo: Battlefy)

The Next Level 092

To get THE NEXT LEVEL every Weekday Morning, Subscribe for Free → http://eepurl.com/b6qZLT or visit tnl.media

TNL Take: As 2016 starts to wind down thank you — Prince. Bowie. Brexit… — I was going to add Coca-Cola to my “Where Are These Brands?” List.

Just like life and timing, after I spoke at at Pepsi’s eSports and Gaming Summit — the company goes on a tear.

Over the past two months, Coca-Cola has now activated across 4 different eSports/Gaming programs:

Coca-Cola and ESWC in Paris Games Week

Coca-Cola and League of Legends Movie Viewing Parties

and now the #eCopa FIFA 17 Tournament on Battlefy.

But the Battlefy partnership is the most interesting because it focuses on a what I believe will be a key piece that will be needed to build the eSports infrastructure in the future:

Colleges.

The #eCopa tournament not only provides a $10,000 prize pool but more importantly, a Wildcard slot in the EA FIFA 17 Ultimate Regional Final.

This is very smart and Ill show you why.

Here’s how the qualifications work:

Coca-Cola Battlefy College Qualifications (Photo: Battlefy)

Once a student wins his/her own bracket — he or she gets to represent their school at the Regionals. Now you can start to tie it all together: eSports, Colleges and Brands.

If you need a quick primer, here’s what I wrote about it in May.

The biggest question of any Ad spend across any Medium boils down basically to: 1) How many people saw it, 2) How did they engage with it and 3) Do they feel better about the brand/want to buy the product.

I’d like to see the results post campaign but a few of the schools I checked didn’t have a very high participation rate after the opening rounds closed.

Coca-Cola Battlefy College Participation (Photo: Battlefy)

To be clear, I’m not saying this is a failure by any means — I’m saying the exact opposite.

I would guess that limited marketing was done at schools to educate the students about this opportunity. A minimal spend would have had a huge increase in ROI.

So going back to the success metrics, I hope it’s not a one-and-done but it’s a big open space.

It’s still very early and I’m happy to see Coca-Cola continue its investment into eSports especially in the Collegiate space.

PS Although technically not eSports, Coca-Cola has also partnered with 7–11 with another FIFA 17 promotion for the usual “Buy Something, Get Something” programs that work extremely well.

Coca-Cola, EA FIFA 17 and 711 (Photo: 711)

Thanks for sharing your time! Hit the ❤️ if you liked this.

To get THE NEXT LEVEL every Weekday Morning, Subscribe for Free →http://eepurl.com/b6qZLT or visit tnl.media
Austin Film Festival 2016: Are You a PROGAMER?
By: Rod Machen
Tags: Esports, Gaming, In Theaters

by Rod Machen

It’s one thing to become obsessed with some aspect of nerd culture; it’s another to make a living from it. Such is the world of professional video game players as captured in ProGamer, a new film by Justin Agnew that explores this growing phenomenon.

Like all good documentaries, ProGamer goes beyond its subject matter and finds subjects. In this case, two European gamers become the vehicle through which the story unfolds.

NaNiwa (Johan Lucchesi–all of these players have professional nicknames) is a young player from Sweden, as off-putting as he is talented. His mannerisms are pure geek, born from a lifetime of sitting in front of a computer instead of talking to other humans. But he’s also the asshole jock, competitive in a way that makes him put down his opponents and refuse to find happiness in anything short of first place.

On the other end of the spectrum is White-Ra (Alexey Krupnyk), a veteran of eSports from the Ukraine. He’s old. Really old. Like 30. And yes, in this world (as in much of professional sports) he might as well be a senior citizen. What sets him apart is his enthusiasm, grace, and genuine kindness. As he loses his quick reflexes and deals with eSports-related injuries (leg blood clots!) we see one of the most-respected players in the game move into the next phase of his life.

There’s a broader cultural dimension here as well, and it involves international relations. By leaps and bounds, the world of eSports is dominated by Koreans, so much so that non-Koreans are referred to as foreigners. Seoul is the center of this particular universe. In the tournaments depicted in the film, NaNiwa is the only foreigner that even makes the cut. Still, ultimately, he falls at the hands of these superior players.

eSports is a heavily male-dominated culture; one look at the players and crowds make that evident. The events depicted in ProGamer came before the Gamergate controversy, but it would have been interesting to see how players and participants reacted to that particular blowup.

For something that most people would not be able to imagine as a multi-million dollar industry, the world of eSports is not only huge but continues to grow. ProGamer does a great job of revealing the humanity behind the games and might even convert a few new fans.

To find out more, visit progamerthemovie.com