Tried watchng Call of Duty League

My biggest concern when watching an eSport is how followable the action is. I watched the Atlanta Faze vs New York Subliners match VOD (Video On Demand) from this past weekend.

The first game was Hardpoint (a moving King of the Hill like Halo has had at times). Since this was my first game period it took me a little while to figure out the sports graphics. In the bottom right, a colored rectangle with a player photo told whose point of view we were watching. But when watching the action in the middle of the screen, this rectangle is very much in my peripheral vision. It would be nice if the player character had something denoting their team color like some trim on their gloves or gun. That way as the point of view changes I can easily tell if it’s a “red team player” or a “yellow team player”.. When the match starts, a colored highlight is around the entire visible portion of the player but it disappears once the action starts. It would be great if that stayed for the whole match. The same highlight is around the friendly players and opponents. This is for the benefit of the viewer; the players cannot see their opponents through obstacles like we can.

The score at the top of the screen was very clear and helpful. However, the objectives in-game were not as clear. When the point of view was aimed at the Hill, for example, I couldn’t tell exactly where the hill was, what size it was, or if anyone was in it - just the location of its center. I’d like to actually see the outline of the hill, especially when they switch to a floating camera view, so that I can tell who is in it and who is trying to take them out.

The second match was Search and Destroy (arming a bomb, other team tries to stop the arming or disarm it, or eliminate the opponent). I was a bit distracted during that one. I think they did have alerts at the top of the screen showing whether a team was arming or disarming. It’ll take another game of this to see if I can tell what is being done at the objectives. Watching the minimap (bottom left corner) may be key for that.

Domination was the third match. In this one there are three flagged areas to capture and each contributes points on a timer. Watching the score area it was easy to tell which team had which flags and who was in the process of capturing one. I think I found myself watching that graphic more than the action.

I imagine that there were ads during the breaks between games on the livesteam. But there were none for me watching the VOD in the YouTube app on my Xbox.

The fourth game was another Hardpoint. I focused more on the minimap and was better able to tell who was near the objective trying to capture the hill or clear out the opponents. I’d still like to see the outline of the hill in-game though.

Overall, the presentation was really good and the above ideas I think could make it even better. I’m certainly willing to watch some more!