Recreational esports is the same structured competition that you find in rec league or intramural sports leagues, but simply for multiplayer video games. Spelled “Esports” in titles or “esports” in sentences, esports has traditionally been limited to ultra-competitive, high-stakes tournaments and leagues, but Mission Control is bringing esports to the casual, recreational level.

Mission Control is the platform that you use to gather and grow your community with recreational esports. Organizations access Mission Control through their web browser to create their esports programming, as well as invite, manage and engage with their community. Players download the mobile Mission Control app (on their Android or iOS phone) to join an organization, register for leagues, access their league info (schedule, standings, etc), and communicate with fellow players and administrators.

All games are played on whatever video game platform (PC, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, etc) the game is available on, not through the Mission Control platform itself. To participate, players will need the game, its gaming system, any necessary gaming subscriptions (i.e. Playstation Plus, Xbox Live, or Nintendo Online), and internet access.

If you choose to offer online leagues, gamers can play from the comfort of their homes. If you choose to offer in-person leagues, you will need space within your facility along with the appropriate consoles, controllers and games (either supplied by yourself or your players).

You will select days and times that all games are scheduled for. Online leagues give players the ability to reschedule games directly in the application and without any administrative assistance required. If the league is in-person, you have the ability to restrict rescheduling.

Mission Control currently supports nearly 40 games for competition that range from Fortnite to Rocket League, League of Legends to Mario Kart, FIFA to Street Fighter, and more in between. A comprehensive list—as well as important information like description, consoles, ESRB rating, popularity, and more—can be found on Mission Control. Mission Control will continually be adding more titles to the platform, so please let the Support team know what other games your community is asking for.

While Mission Control offers best practices and suggestions for choosing between its 30+ games, the most important factor in deciding which games to offer should always be your community itself. If your gamers simply do not want to play the games that are offered, then you will struggle to find adoption. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to seek suggestions, requests and feedback from your gamers to inform your program offerings.

Creating a fun and healthy environment, especially one that is counter to existing toxic gaming culture, is core to Mission Control’s mission. We hold all gamers to community standards (located within the platform) to ensure that sportsmanship is encouraged, cheating prevented, and hate eliminated.

If there are issues that need reported, players have the ability to contact support immediately from the application, and further actions will then be taken.

Today’s perception of the gaming world carries a wide range of negative stereotypes and concerns. This is why Mission Control equips all organizations with the best research and resources to make informed decisions about the games and structures that best serve their communities. The Mission Control Support team is also there to help with any specific questions or concerns that you or your community may have.

Organizations can choose to offer small or large prizes for their leagues, but are not required to. Similar to traditional sports leagues, league prizes are a great way to incentivize participation, reward good sportsmanship, and create a premier experience.

Just as the winners of your basketball leagues might be offered t-shirts, trophies, gift cards, social media shout outs, or something else,  you can also offer incentives like these for the winners of your NBA 2K esports leagues.

Mission Control suggests leveraging all of your current marketing channels (i.e. Facebook, email, website, etc) and gamer-specific channels (i.e. Discord, Reddit, etc) to get the word out about your leagues. Additional information on best practices and templates can be found throughout the Mission Control Launch process and in the Mission Control admin platform.

Players use the Mission Control app with their Android or iOS phone to join your organization and sign up for leagues. Here’s a quick 3 step process explaining how they get started:

1. Download the free app and join an organization by going to missioncontrol.gg/play
2. Register for leagues in your favorite games, suggest new ones, and invite your friends
3. ‍Chat and compete with league mates, view your schedule, and check standings each season!

Mission Control does not currently integrate with any other software platforms. However, we are working towards many tech integrations to provide the most complete and seamless experience for all of our partners.