Committee Meeting, County Main Seminar Room 3, 21/1/20

18:39 – Meeting Start

Mahi began by stating that there is no representation for esports, stating that the Society could stream more content on their social media.

• Josh responded by asking how this would be possible if the esports players would be playing from their houses/flats.
  • Mahi suggested having dedicated casters to overcome this issue.
    • Josh stating that the only time that we were able to get casters for esports was during Roses and even then, Ed Hodgson, the previous Esports Coordinator, had to cast two of the games.

Mahi suggested having external casters such as LA1 TV to cast the esports events.

Katie added that we could try and get people to cast non-Roses events.

Ben asked what would be cast?

• Mahi answered suggesting Rocket League could be an option.

Ben stated that he could put out an announcement to ask when the Rocket League teams would be playing but stated that he would need a spectator that’s familiar with with the game to get good footage.

Josh stated that this would be a major inconvenience to the Committee.

• Ben stated that we could find someone outside of the Committee to do this.

Josh stated that if the idea of having someone stream esports matches were possible and something that esports players wanted, then it would have already been done.

Katie suggested trialling the idea of spectator recordings.

Mahi asked how many people that are on the esports team are members of the Society following up by stating that there’s no incentive to join the Society.

Ben stated that the Committee is working on adding value to a LUGES membership for Esports.

Mahi suggested that one way to add value to a LUGES membership for esports players would be to subsidise some of the esports teams’ costs.

Josh stated that NUEL and NSE subsidised but not for King of the North.

Ben stated that under Students’ Union guidelines for Society events, we would have to bring a certain amount of Committee members to the King of the North events.

Mahi asked if the jerseys were underway.

• Ben responded stating that the Committee is working on getting the jerseys and that he’s gotten a quote of £22 from Raven.

Mahi suggested having a person that is responsible for posting on the Society’s social media regarding esports updates. He also stated that this person might not necessarily have to be on the Committee.

• Ben responded by stating that would be possible but it may take away from esports.

Mahi added that the esports Discord server should also be advertised so people are aware of how the Society’s esports teams are performing.

Ben stated that the Committee tried having a “point-person” before to handle social media but that it didn’t work.

• Mahi responded by stating that the point-person idea could work but would need to be consistently pushed to the rest of the Society.
  • Ben stated that he would be happy to try this idea again.

Ben and Mahi agreed that esports are being spread too thin throughout the Society.

• Karen and Ryan both agreed.

Ben stated that these sentiments would be passed down to the next LUGES Committee.

Mahi asked what rewards the esports teams get from the Committee for performing well such as jerseys, etc.

• Mo responded that the esports team members would have to be members of the Society before the Committee can agree to give the members anything for their performance.

Katie added that the Committee doesn’t get their hoodies/jerseys for free, stating that “we put in money to get money”.

• Katie also added that she likes the idea of having incentives for doing well but isn’t sure if it is doable.

Mahi stated that the Committee could offer discounts back to the esports team members for jerseys provided they have LUGES memberships.

• Katie expressed concerns regarding the finances of this idea.

Mahi stated that Manchester’s esports teams have a celebratory bar crawl and run mini-tournaments. Along with added “conveniencies”.

Ben stated that equipment is expensive.

Mahi suggested having an equipment bag that esports players could take with them in case a player forgets their gaming peripherals.

• Mo agreed with the idea but stated that we would need a Committee member at these tournaments to monitor the equipment bag.

Josh stated that he didn’t believe that it would be reasonable to get equipment that the Society, for the most part, would never use.

Katie stated that we could run tournaments.

• Josh responded by stating that Society tried to have a tournament before but no one showed up.
  • Katie responded by stating that this may have been because these tournaments were free and that there was no prize incentive to participate.

• Josh stated that the Society doesn’t have enough people to have team-based tournaments.

Mahi stated that the entry fee for these tournaments would pay for the prizes.

Josh stated that in-house tournaments do not work.

• Mahi responded that the Society could re-do the League tandem/1v1 matches but make them member exclusive, adding that they should work out as a profit.

Mahi offered to provide Ben with a list of all of the suggestions and possible incentive ideas that he (Mahi) can gather.

It was suggested that the Society could stream on the main Discord server.

• It was also suggested that the Committee could make an Esports role on the main Discord and ping those members about weekly announcements.

Ryan suggested splitting the Society’s Twitter account into an Esports dedicated Twitter account and a more causal account.

Katie suggested that the Committee meet up with the rest of the esports teams to get their opinions on the Society.

James stated that he had emailed Promotional Gods regarding a quote for the hoodies.

Mo and James agreed to set up for Refreshers’ Fair for 17:45 on Thursday.

19:10 – Meeting End