Title of Study: Esports tournaments as a data collection and research methodology
Principal Investigator(s): Arjun Madhusudan, amadhus2@ncsu.edu, (919) 527-3022
Funding Source: none
NC State Faculty Point of Contact: Benjamin Watson, bwatson@ncsu.edu, (919) 513 0325

You are being asked to participate in a research study of how system configuration affects performance in esports. At the same time, we will learn about how to perform experiments during an esports tournament. Participation is strictly voluntary. You must be 18 years of age or older, reside in the United States, and have played Rocket League competitively to participate in this study.

If you participate in this study, you will answer a short survey asking for some of your demographics and your Rocket League general gaming levels of play, and then you will participate in a small Rocket League tournament. Afterward, we will again ask you to answer a short survey on your impressions of the tournament and your play, and if you do well, you may receive a modest tournament award. This will be an in-person tournament-experiment. Unless you request otherwise, we may record video of your gameplay (but not you).

You can choose to not participate in the study or stop participating at any time by raising your hand. This will also withdraw you from the tournament.

Participants may have their gameplay video recorded (not the participants themselves). If you do not want this information collected, you can still participate in this research. We would like to use these recordings to understand how system configuration affects your performance, and perhaps to illustrate that effect in publication with stills and short video sequences. We may also publish the recordings online for future research use, keeping them available indefinitely.

There are minimal risks associated with your participation in this research. There are no direct benefits to you from participating in this research.

You will not receive compensation simply for participating in this research. However, if you do well in the tournament, you may receive a modest prize.  

If you have any questions about the research or how it is implemented, please contact the student researcher, Arjun Madhusudan, at amadhus2@ncsu.edu and (919) 527-3022. You can also contact the faculty advisor for this research, Benjamin Watson, at bwatson@ncsu.edu and (919) 513 0325.