Real-Time Dashboards To Support Esports Spectating

eSports matches offer fast-paced entertainment for millions of viewers worldwide, but little is known about how to support a positive viewer experience. One of the key challenges related to popular real-time eSports games (e.g., multiplayer online battle arena games or first-person shooters) is empowering viewers to effectively follow rapid gameplay. In our paper, we address this challenge through the design of dashboards to improve spectator insight and experience in League of Legends, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Based on surveys that received a total of 788 responses, we designed information dashboards that we evaluated with 18 experienced eSports viewers. Our results indicate that dashboards contribute to spectator insight and experience, but that careful consideration is necessary to adequately manage in-game complexity and cognitive load of viewers, and establish spectator trust in information dashboards through transparent design. Based on these findings, our paper formulates design goals for spectator dashboards, and outlines key opportunities for future work.