At their core, esports are brain games. While there is a physical element to videogames, almost all of the competition comes from strategy and mental sharpness, quick reactions and the ability to handle pressure.
Edge, a new wearable device that aims to enhance brain performance, was designed with esports in mind. Made by HUMM Technologies, Edge is a headband that tracks eye movement and heart rate. HUMM believes knowledge of those metrics can help athletes gain an advantage, increasing cognitive performance and reducing mental burnout in esports.
Iain Mcintyre, co-founder and CEO of HUMM, ultimately wants the technology to expand to a variety of industries, but feels esports are a great place to start.
“[Esports] are where people are the most cognitively athletic,” Mcintyre said. “People are basically playing brain training games in a competitive arena. We are helping push forward how the brain contributes to performance in an activity that will define the 21st century.”
Last April, Logitech held a cognitive performer summit where esports professionals showcased how League of Legends could be used as a proving ground for cognitive training in a variety of other areas. Attendees ranged from LoL developer Riot Games to members of the U.S. military. HUMM was also in attendance.
“What is the difference between a flight simulator and a computer game? They are very similar,” Mcintyre said. “Instead of installing data tracking software in a fighter pilot [training system], esports already has the data tracking built in. We take that data and combine with biometric data [from Edge], and a machine learning model can effectively tell you how mental performance had an affect on the success of the activity. We can take those results and translate them to other high-cognition professions like doctors, lawyers, or fighter pilots.”
For now, HUMM is working with multiple esports organizations to help them get the most from their athletes. One issue in particular that is a priority for those teams: reducing burnout.
The average age of esports pros is much lower than traditional sports. Part of that is because teenagers can compete at the highest level without a physical component, and thus do not need to wait until their bodies mature. Another part is that few players continue playing professionally into their late 20s—they burnout from their sport long before traditional athletes reach their peaks.
“Athletes in traditional sports aren’t playing their game 10 to 12 hours a day,” said Ahmud Auleer, another co-founder of HUMM and head of product. “The current culture in esports is ‘you play more games, you get better.’ Science has told us that isn’t true and I don’t think that has fully translated to the teams yet.”
Often esports pros are surrounded by their games, living in houses with their teammates and playing scrimmages or ranked play almost all day. If they also stream on Twitch that means more time spent in-game. Most start their professional careers at a young age and never develop the training-life balance necessary to have long successful careers.
“The pressure put on young people can be overwhelming,” Auleer said. “A lot of players don’t have the ability to deal with that stress and continue to perform at an optimal level. This data can help players when they are tilting—playing poorly or frustrated—and find solutions to prevent or reduce that tilt.
By analyzing focus and stress, teams hope Edge will allow their players to train smarter. Seeing that a professional’s play falls off after a certain time could be the necessary warning to put the game down and take a break.
“Edge can detect when a player is tilting in real time based on their physiological responses to game events. During play, Edge monitors live biometrics such as heart rate and eye tracking to quantify a player’s stress, focus and fatigue,” Auleer explained in an email. “In stressful and demanding situations, the software can determine when a player is beginning to tilt through this understanding of their mental and physiological state. In these situations, Edge can provide well timed alerts and suggestions to improve a player’s mental fortitude through biofeedback. The player can then review their physiological reactions to game events as well as track trends in their focus, fatigue and stress over time.”
For HUMM, the goal is to use esports to open doors to the rest of the world. For esports organizations, the goal is to optimize performance in the world’s most high stakes brain games.