Esports Team Houses: Good Idea?

I find the idea of having all of the players on an esports team living together in a team house very interesting. Almost every big esports team have team houses. It is really what separates the run of the mill esports team and the elite pro teams. Not just any team can afford a team house for their players to live in. Having all the players, coaches, and General Managers living and training together everyday is what takes a team to the next level. The comradery, team building, and communication that is afforded to these players and teams is invaluable. The ability to have a strict schedule full of practice scrims, VOD review, and strategizing is huge! These players and coaches eat together, train together, eat and sleep together allow for a professional environment that is conducive to winning together.

The newly announced Los Angeles Immortals recently moved into their team house in Santa Monica. It is a rather large house, 2 player per bedroom where the players are fully immersed in the Championship lifestyle Team Immortals expects.

This concept of a team house environment brings up a few questions to consider.

Where did the team house concept come from?
I would guess it came from the origins of pro esports in Korea. The way esports has evolved in its very short history is the often times very young age of the players. As opposed to traditional sports the average age of a high level esports player is 16-20 years old. It behooves the organization and team management to foster an environment that would allow for the most amount of control over the players. This is for a couple different reasons I would imagine. First is player safety in their youth. These players are looked at as professionals who are expected to have a very high level of dedication and professionalism. Being so young and possibly not yet fully mature they would need a higher level of supervision and structure that is more easily controlled in a closed environment of a team house. Not allowing very much outside interference while still being able to coach and mentor these still very young players is important. Safety of the young players is also the responsibility of the organization as well. I think having the more control over the players environment helps with these factors.

Full immersion?
Giving these young players the ability to do nothing but focus on the game allows for them to become the best they can possibly be. Due to their young age and maturity level some players might not be able to handle the realisation of their fame and level of influence in the esports world. Helping the players cope with this can also be done more effectively in a team house environment. Some of these players are earning more money than they have ever experienced and having the mentorship of the coaches and leaders of the organization is a big plus.

Transition from just playing a video game to a career?
I feel that the inclusion of a team house turns this idea of esports from just playing video games into something more real. Especially here in the states where esports is still looked at by many as people just playing video games, the idea of a team house adds some validity to it. It makes it a viable professional sport once outsiders start to see the amount of money and dedication that is invested into it.

Does a team house lend itself to burn out?
Too much of a good thing isn't always a good thing. The only thing I worry about is while in a team house environment is player burn out a bigger possibility? Being surrounded by the game 24/7 does allow for players to become elite in what they do but I can also see that it can become tiresome and no longer fun. We have already seen it with players like Seagull leaving the competitive scene and Taimeu from Envy making it known that he is burning out. Is this possibility of great players getting burnt out worth it? Does the benefit of a team house outweigh the possibilities of players calling it quits before their time is up?

These are all things we will find out as we progress with professional esports here in America. For now I am fascinated by the growth of esports and being able to be a part of it from the beginning is really cool to see.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading. See you next time.

@dwelling