Liquipedia Fantasy Leagues
How can Liquipedias' player data become more engaging for esports viewers?
Within esports there is a wealth of information and statistics available, that has the power to enhance the viewing experience for fans. But how do we translate that data into something meaningful for the viewers?
Liquipedia is one of the biggest sources in regards to information within esports. Covering tournaments, following players and organizations across most esports titles for over 10 years. During this time a wealth of data has been collected in regards to esports. And with constant improvements for the future, even more data from matches is being added to the wiki.
Currently however, the match statistics revolving around players are simply presented as rather “dry data” on the wiki. This data currently isn’t interesting for most visitors because they’re not promoted when browsing Liquipedia. It’s something that exists, and that they can look at, but there is no interaction with the data. Or any particular highlights that make them easier to understand.
Research has shown that the esports viewer feel that having more knowledge enhances their viewing experience. With this in mind Liquipedia had to find a way to bring statistics in an engaging format that adds to the viewers experience. In order for them to see more traffic and engagement around their collected data.
The Solution
The concept of Fantasy Leagues is rather straightforward. Whenever there is a tournament, users can play in a Fantasy League with a group of people. Each user then creates their own roster by selecting players that are playing in the tournament. When building a roster they have to manage their budget, as well as filling out the roles that are needed within a team. Once a roster has been built, users will have to wait for the matches to start. Whenever a match concludes the players that played in that match will start earning points based on their performance.
This performance is captured by translating various statistics to points. Users are then ranked by the total amount of points they have earned throughout the competition. During the competition, players can also make strategic decisions to make roster swaps if they feel they could be earning more points by having a different player on the team.
Fantasy Leagues are already quite common in regular sports. However, in esports, there have only been a handful of attempts at Fantasy Leagues. The main issue that’s encountered is the fact that in esports there’s not just one big league that viewers are attached to. There are dozens of different tournament organizers and games, each only focusing, of course, on their own product.
Liquipedia, on the other hand, is an unbiased third party within esports. Liquipedia's coverage in multiple esports franchises covers a wide variety of Leagues and tournaments. Stretching from the big international LAN events to the lower online leagues. All with the same level of coverage. With all this data available we're able to create a Fantasy League for any tournament that is covered by Liquipedia.
This allows esports fans of any scene to participate in the tournaments they are watching. This not only gives them more information about each player's performance in the tournament but also gives them the added experience of playing in the Fantasy League with other people.
Through a unified application, users are now able to play Fantasy Leagues in multiple tournaments and games, all from a single place. This also ensures that when playing in the Fantasy Leagues, the experience is consistent for the user. Although the terminology may differ or vary en ranging from game to game. The Fantasy Leagues plays in the same way.
Users can actively compete with their friends and communities, and also compete in monthly leaderboards to challenge themselves.



"Through the Fantasy Leagues I get a better understanding of how players are performing, I can even use it as an analytical tool for our Apex Division." — Pontus Bengtsson, Apex Legends Manager of Alliance
"With Fantasy Leagues you not only gain more insights as a fan, but you also really get to see which player actually is performing the best." — Nicolas van Ysendyk, Esports Fan
"By playing the Fantasy Leagues, I had an easier time understanding the statistics from the competitions." — Daan Bossche, Esports Viewer

Through the usage of notifications, users will be informed of what’s happening in the leagues they are competing in. These notifications aim to not only inform but also give a positive push if there are things happening that are beneficial to the user. Likewise, if the user is falling in the leaderboard, the app tries to give hints in order to stimulate the player to return to the game.

"The Liquipedia Fantasy Leagues has the potential to bring audiences from different games to play together and broaden their knowledge about the esports scene and its players through data and competition." — Nikolay, Esports Viewer
"By playing these Fantasy Leagues I'm more invested in watching matches. Because now I'm not only rooting for my favorite team, but also for the players I drafted. I need them to perform well so I can beat my friends in the game. I essentially have my own stakes in the competition as well now." — Boris de Seriere du Bizournet, Esports Viewer
About the Designer
Jasper Jacobs is a solution focussed designer with a passion for esports and gaming. Through active contributions within the field, and extensive user testing he looks to create solutions that add towards the overall experience.
"Working with Jasper has been an easy process, his volunteer work on the wiki has not just given him a lot of knowledge of our product but wiki contributing is a very collaborative effort and he has shown that ability really well in how he takes feedback as opportunities for improvement, not as critiques of him, his thoughts, or his process." — Erik Saler, Head of Liquipedia