EVE Alliance Tournament Discussion

TL;DR Positioning is important in PvP. Current coverage does not capture this well. Showing more of the tactical view would be an improvement.

I've very much enjoyed the coverage of the last Alliance Tournament (ATX) and the New Eden Open. I think there have been big improvements in both the tournament rules and in the quality of the coverage (the new UI/Overlay in particular is great idea IMO).

Something I do think could still be improved upon is the camerawork itself. If you watch professional sports on television you'll find that most of the coverage gives you an overview of the entire pitch/court/arena. People enjoy watching a good football team like Barcelona because of the way the players work and move together. You need to view the game at a distance to see this.

EVE is the same. Positioning is very important in PvP. If I'm watching a Machriel team vs a Kronos team I know that the outcome of the fight will probably depend on whether or not the Machs can keep out of web range. I want to be able to follow this and see how the pilots are adjusting as the match goes on, not just wait to see a little blue icon appear next to one of the Mach pilot's names.

Of course people want to showcase the ship models (these tournaments are partly advertisements for the game) but I think focusing on shiny visuals alone detracts from the similarities that EVE as an esport has with more traditional sports.

I'd like to see more of the tactical view that we currently have in the bottom right corner. Of course you may need to fine-tune the positioning and zoom, add better labels or give commentators the ability to highlight particular ships as they talk, but for now just cutting to the tactical view might be a good start.

What does everyone else think?