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The aim of this chapter is to provide a broad overview of the processes and stakeholders involved when organizing and managing a stand-alone (offline) esports event, tournament, or LAN. Through analyzing existing documents and having discussions with industry practitioners, this chapter presents a practical guide where the requirements and expectations of key stakeholders and the necessary considerations involved are discussed. The chapter covers a diverse range of factors when organizing esports tournaments and offers practical recommendations for those involved in planning and executing esports events. Key highlights include: (1) a practical how-to guide is presented, identifying the various aspects of organizing an esports event along with relevant stakeholder considerations; (2) a summary table is included that identifies opportunities and challenges when organizing esports events along with related stakeholders to engage; and (3) practical aspects of managing in-person esports events are presented.

Esports represent an increasingly influential and innovative component of the global media business landscape. The ever-evolving ecosystem of dynamic new media is driven by a heterogeneous array of stakeholders that co-create value in online and offline spaces, often described as servicescapes, where innovations are increasingly influential in diverse areas including entrepreneurial business models, media, sports, entertainment, culture, and consumer engagement. In this research, a semi-systematic literature review was undertaken focused on the intersection of the esports ecosystem, servicescapes and innovations. Four clear directions for future research, with questions specific to esports, servicescapes and media were identified. Scholars can utilise these findings to enhance understanding of innovation from the servicescape perspective, with relevance for scholars engaged in business, marketing, and media.

Purpose: This paper studies early stages of actor mobilization for institutional change within Swedish esports. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: The authors’ findings explain how actors become motivated to act in critical reflections linked to conflicting legitimacy judgments and emotionally charged personal struggles. Moreover, the findings show how, as actors get activated in collective action, they identify efficacy lines around valid domains and experience emotionally charged collective endeavors. Furthermore, the findings explain how particularities in early experiences project legitimacy aspirations that orient collective action toward validity ends and particular values and ideals shaping actors' grassroots movements. Originality/value: This study adds to legitimacy and institutional change theory through individual actors' perspectives, providing key insights into how they are motivated, activated, and oriented. This study is the first to investigate grassroots activists' personal stories in esports.

The rise and connectivity of digital subcultures are increasingly influencing destination tourism. This study provides an understanding of a multi genre festival within the wider context of popular ‘geek’ culture and its increasing role in events and destination tourism. Through profiling the characteristics and experiences of visitors attending Nordsken, an annual festival in Northern Sweden, we profile segments and provide insights on attendees. Based on a survey of festival visitors, this study revealed five distinct clusters (Digital Gamer, Enthusiastic Nerd, Analogue Fan, Spectator & Follower and Creative Player) based on interests and activities. Experiences of the event were relatively similar for all clusters indicating that multi genre festivals can create memorable experiences for a broad audience with a variety of interests rooted in digital cultures. Through understanding and developing target audiences, regions can leverage multi genre festivals as platforms to enhance regional digitalization.

This paper presents the initial findings of a longitudinal study examining the role and experiences of LAN organizers in managing player communities pre, during and post the Covid 19 pandemic. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyze interviews with organizers of the Birdie LAN, Sweden’s longest running LAN event. Five key themes were identified reflecting the roles of organizers and their experiences pre pandemic. (1) building and maintaining the culture, (2) encouraging inclusivity and community building, (3) negotiating professionalism, (4) learning, adapting and evolving,(5) creating sustainability through a future orientation. This paper presents the results of the first data collection to examine the impacts of the pandemic on grassroots gaming communities. The findings here represent a foundation in understanding the role of community leaders in maintaining a culture around gaming. These initial findings add value to our understanding of grassroots esports and player communities and the social practices of gaming in the modern era.

Esports games can be seen as platform based prosumption experiences as players co-produce their media experiences through play. This can be viewed as peer-to-peer prosumption where users create value between themselves for emotional and social outcomes. Smurfing represents a form of play where higher skilled users compete with lower skilled players through an alternative account that ensures a mismatch in skill abilities. Through an auto-netnographic approach augmented with interviews on the CS:GO matchmaking platform, this paper provides new insights on a common practice that has received little attention to date. Three key themes were identified that illustrate that this complex phenomenon should not always be framed in a negative fashion. Smurfing should be understood as embedded within peer-to-peer prosumer platforms, driven by complex motivations and framed as cheating according to perspective. The concept has value for further study in gaming and esports with wider implications for the digital society.

Aims: The aim of the paper is to explore emerging themes, which support the development of a sustainable esports industry. Methods and results: This study is based on a workshop methodology, which aims to identify and explore topics perceived as most pertinent by individuals with an intimate understanding of the dynamics of the esports context. Two workshops were held with a total of 64 participants, representing both academia and industry stakeholders. Interpretations of the sustainability of esports were thus recorded, developed, critiqued, and refined through social interaction with experts. The results indicate three critical themes to address regarding the development of sustainability of esports, namely a) health and inclusiveness, b) the incomplete industry structure, and c) the immature business logic. Conclusions: Sustainability refers to the ability of esports to survive or persist. We argue that sustainability is dependent on how well industry stakeholders can address the identified themes. Currently, social sustainability is the primary concern of both practitioners and researchers of esports. Economic sustainability mostly deals with securing business growth, while environmental sustainability is not yet perceived as a relevant topic (e.g., using sustainable technologies and energy-saving related to gaming and competitive events). Structures and processes within esports presently constitute the focus of sustainability in esports.

Increasingly popular esports events can be used to brand a destination. Esports events involve diverse stakeholders (e.g., local authorities and media), and understanding their role in esports events is necessary. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to uncover the role of these stakeholders in esports events, based on interviews conducted with these stakeholders. DreamHack, a hallmark esports event held in the city of Jönköping, Sweden, serves as the focus of this study. The importance of DreamHack to Jönköping is acknowledged due to its city connection, highlighting the need to leverage the event further both physically and digitally.

This chapter analyses the episode »Playtest«, one self-evidently concerned with video games; aside from the overt use of games to drive the narrative arc of the story, the episode contains numerous references to games, both subtle and explicit. Central to our interpretation of this episode is the gamification of society and the wider cultural logic of Liquid Modernity. We first provide a brief summary of Playtest before demonstrating that the episode functions as an allegory of liquid modernity, one which can be further contextualised through the consideration of life in an increasingly gamified world. Furthermore, given the obvious significance of games in Playtest, this work will examine the evolving role of video games in facilitating and promoting contemporary practices related to the economic, social, and cultural value systems of liquid modernity. Playtest is not simply a body horror tale, it is a means of understanding contemporary socio-economic realities and a possible future which awaits a compliant and unquestioning population. More significantly, however, the episode highlights the socio-cultural and economic importance of digital games in the condition of liquid modernity. As a consequence, we can see that contemporary practices surrounding the consumption of digital games offer an avenue through which we can confront, and overcome, manufactured narratives.