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Understanding Facility Use and Users’ Needs in Designing Esports Spaces

This is an excerpt from Esports Business Management 2nd Edition With HKPropel Access by David P Hedlund,Seth E Jenny,Gil B Fried.

By Gil Fried

Instructional Space

Equipped for academic use, an esports lab must accommodate target class sizes in alignment with the optimal number of gaming stations and related room functions. Academic gaming spaces should also be designed to focus on the professors’ instructional preference, whether from a designated area with a writable wall surface or from a mobile podium with various writable surfaces around the perimeter of the room. How students will engage with the professor should also be predetermined. Will they interact from their gaming stations or from a designated gathering spot in the room?

Club Versus Varsity Usage

For club team use, esports environments often integrate casual areas for students to observe and socialize. This soft seating area can also be used by a coach to review game strategy with players. Will the esports lab also feature a Nintendo gaming area? If so, can the varsity coach use this space to review previously recorded content with the players? For varsity team use, designers must consider the competitive nature of the sport and find ways to create visual separations between rows of competing teams.

Technology Needs

Architectural solutions must consider technological capacity, adaptability, and requirements for the specific gameplay at hand. Working with academic leaders, the university IT department, and expert consultants, the planning team designed the UNH facility to meet the needs of the university, students, and athletes. Each station is equipped with ample power, data, and bandwidth. Large LCD screens are located above each row of gameplay monitors for instructors and coaches to view play. To accommodate this configuration, ceilings may be higher than those in traditional academic settings. Other technology-related features include ceiling-mounted speakers, audiovisual (AV) equipment for broadcast ability, and wall-mounted cameras for both security and broadcasting. A broadcast station is required in the room to edit and disseminate content. The location of server racks for the AV equipment needs to be determined, potentially in a nearby closet dedicated to information technology.

Aesthetics and Room Features

Successful esports venues use space efficiently and are equipped for comfort, a design imperative that directly benefits the athletes’ playing styles. Specialized technology and esports manufacturers produce furnishings uniquely suited to specific gaming needs. Unlike standard office and academic furniture, the ergonomics of these unique solutions reflect how tournament players often sit for extended periods.

Work surface sizes are typically 30 inches (76 cm) deep by 48 inches (122 cm) wide. Players need as much accessible and unobstructed work surface as possible for maximum flexibility to accommodate their play preferences. CPU towers, and any other gaming consoles, can be stored either below or above the workstations; if located on the workstations, they need to be outside the area of play. Ergonomic solutions include customized gameplay surfaces as well as adjustable chairs with lumbar and neck support, height-adjustable seat ranges, and height-adjustable arms. Cleanable surfaces such as polyurethane, vinyl, or simulated leather materials help ease maintenance needs and allow administrators to keep the facility fresh and ready for high-level competition.

To keep the work surfaces clear of personal belongings, custom solutions such as millwork can be integrated into the room layout to accommodate backpacks, jackets, and extra equipment. Coaches’ belongings can be stored in an office or designated coaches’ station.

Overall aesthetics and lighting affect both athlete mindset and performance. Dimmable LED fixtures can offer functionality as well as mood-setting capabilities. Design consideration should be given to window shades and the arrangement of the light fixtures to prevent glare on the monitors.

End-user interviews and surveys can help determine the overall look and feel of rooms for esports gaming and instruction. As in many university settings, using integrated artwork, sculptural lighting, and university-branded elements can enliven walls and furniture systems. For the esports lab, users value aesthetics and overall feel. Is the room a magnetic, inviting, and comfortable place to work, study, and game? Time will tell.

After several years, the verdict was still not in on whether the venue was the success UNH had hoped for. For example, through a collaboration with HyperX, UNH received state-of-the-art gaming peripherals, and students had the opportunity to interact with company executives and participate in HyperX product focus groups and testing of the company’s newest offerings. There was no indication whether that partnership was as successful as anticipated by each party. The esports program at UNH followed a circuitous path, similar to many other programs. What started out in the College of Business moved over to the athletic department, and then several years later moved back to the College of Business and the Office of Enrollment.

Facility Design Retrospective

Clean slate designs are often exhilarating and highly challenging at the same time. On the one hand, the design is bound only by imagination and generally budgetary, space, and logistical limitations. On the other hand, the target can be moving constantly when a program is being constructed. Esports are considerably different from traditional sports. For example, basketball requires the same space and basic equipment requirements at any level, whereas esports requirements vary drastically between titles, publishers, and even technology, which emerges, fades, and becomes obsolete rapidly.

The Stable at UNH (dubbed for the university’s Charger Horse mascot) was conceived in the program’s infancy, and because the first cycle of students graduated in 2023, student needs determined much of the process, use, and want for the space. In a synopsis, the lab-style academic space has been wonderful, allowing students to play games throughout the day and evening or test products, but has legitimate drawbacks because integrity screens (to prevent cheating in LANs or distractions during multiple title matches) block the view of the instructor if not on the outskirts of the room. Students can also jump into and out of games during class.

Competition-wise, the space has held up because it was designed from the very beginning to facilitate six people sitting together. A block of six represents the smallest common denominators for titles featuring three, four, or five players (six with a sub, coach, spectator), and the choice to keep the CPUs under the desk offers the most options for gaming ergonomics. Technology has aged as planned with a multiple-year life cycle and still provides an advantage years after initial purchase.

Surprisingly, the biggest improvement has come from turning the large LCD screens to face the main interior corridor of the building, which has led to the university community sitting and watching streams and practices. The console area has provided a soft space for recruiting trips, academics, and student relaxation and has not been used for Nintendo Switch or Wii. In hindsight, the coaching area (two stations + broadcast equipment) has been used less and less in favor of hybrid or virtual coaches. A soundproof shoutcaster and recording area would have made better use of this limited space, while moving the coaching rigs to the end caps of the rows.

Facility Management Issues

Facilities will always face physical plant and equipment issues and user experience issues, and esports facilities are unique because they add technology issues to this equation. The Stable has seen every type of issue a normal facility would, including chair bolts snapping, networking security (from possible hackers), cable connections wearing out, keycaps snapping, HVAC systems misfiring, memory space being exceeded, COVID space limitations, and food spillage.

As a solution, designating correct processes through IT and facilities departments helps establish a succession plan (meaning the items can be resolved regardless of who starts and who finishes the process). Having a committee or relationships across departments can be lifesaving, as well as a proper notification system. Players report to one singular place, and staff can triage and move to correct departments. In most locations, professional or collegiate, the need for a screwdriver, disinfectant wipes, and USB-C cables often comes from three entirely different departments, budgets, and skill sets.

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