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Liking the Game: How Can Spectating Motivations Influence Social Media Usage at Live Esports Events?

There is no doubt that various social media services shape the ways in which we approach our daily lives. The ubiquitous nature of these services, afforded by mobile devices, means that we can take them with us wherever we go --- including when we attend live events. Uncovering why individuals use social media during live events can help improve event organization, marketing, and the experiences of attendees. Our understanding of the motivations for using social media during live events is, however, still lacking in depth, especially in regard to emerging live events such as esports. This study aims to answer the question: what motivates the use of social media during live esports events? Data was gathered via a survey (N=255) at the 'Assembly 2016' LAN-event, a major live esports event. We examine the relationships between using various social media services and the motivations for esports spectating, through the Motivation Scale for Sports Consumption. While the results indicate that using social media services while attending Assembly 2016 was quite popular, it seemed that in many cases social media usage was a distraction from esports spectating, a core activity of the event. The results provide implications as to how marketers of live esports events should encourage or control usage of social media by attendees.