Team Liquid and Alienware recently partnered to create an 8,000 square foot esports training facility in Los Angeles. A custom media center and Tobii eye-tracking for training are just two of the things that set the facility apart from other North American esports facilities. The facility is filled with advanced tech to address the specific training needs of a gamer, but also to address another issue of increased concern in the esports industry — rapid athlete burnout.
The facility, which was officially launched earlier this year, is the first dedicated training center that is not also a team house, which Team Liquid CEO and former esports athlete Steve Arhancet says is aimed at striking a balance between work and home to improve a player’s mental health.
“I have lived in a gaming house environment and worked in one for years so I feel confident in my opinion on this,” Arhancet said. “The mental strain of living and working in the same house with your teammates is not an optimal environment to get the best performance out of players.”
People who work from home can tell you it is nice to avoid the commute, but it can be tough to determine when work ends and home begins. That is the same issue faced by esports athletes — long practice hours and streaming into the night make for a stretched workday.
“From a psychological perspective, mindset, burnout, mental fatigue, depression, social pressure, and team dynamics [are all big issues]. If you live together in a house, that will all implode,” Arhancet said. “I have seen it first hand. They don’t get to have a reset button or a life outside of work and I don’t think that is healthy.”
Numerous executives and owners of traditional sports teams who have spoken on the SportTechie Podcast noted the distinctions between esports and traditional sports and specifically the challenge of athlete burnout:
Dallas Mavericks Owner, Mark Cuban, expressed his concerns via this anecdote:
I was talking to one of the [esport athletes]. He was just telling me he just retired, showed me a picture of his fiancé, and he was getting ready to get married. I’m like, ‘So why did you retire?’ I’m thinking the guy is 28, 29, 30 years old. I’m like, ‘Why did you retire?’ He’s like, ‘Well, it’s a grind. They changed the rules all of the time in League of Legends, they refresh all of the champions, and they change it up every 90 days or so, which means teams have practices in season 10, 12, 15 hours a day and you’ve got these kids just stuffed into a house practicing all day, every day.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, but how old are you that you’re retiring?’ He was 20 years old.
By addressing burnout and improving the athletes’ mental health, Arhancet sees a competitive edge. The Alienware Training Facility will have sports psychologists, nutritionists, coaches and a chef — all standard personnel for traditional sports teams and part of a natural progression for esports.
“As esports continue to grow, you are seeing some of the best people in sports begin to think about esports in the same way,” Arhancet said.
Get The Latest Sports Tech News In Your Inbox!
In addition to addressing the home/life balance and burnout issues, the team has implemented Tobii eye-tracking technology to help coaches analyze game film and work with players. Eye-tracking provides valuable data about how players at the top of the leaderboards can continue improving.
“Initial research we did showed that players who fixated on single points were lower rank than pro players who constantly scanned the screen,” Arhancet explained. “Do you have a feel for when abilities are on cool down or do you actually have to check? It’s not just a cool thing, its great for capturing info and is instrumental in development. How you capture info, how quickly you capture it and how you move onto the next thing is paramount.”
SportTechie Takeaway:
Esports venues have been opening up around the country, most notably with the recent Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Sandbox Training Facility and the Esports Facility in the Sacramento Kings Golden One Center add to California’s esports infrastructure. Still, none of those facilities are tied directly to a gaming organization and created with the unique needs of esports athletes in mind. That may be what sets Team Liquid apart from its competition.