eFUTbol

Abstract

eFUTbol.com website is a website dedicated to professional tournaments for Spanish FIFA 21 players. The website is in charge of covering all the tournaments that Spanish players play, both of European and national competitions. Traditional media do not promote the video game industry to society. Moreover, most of the information, videos and news that circulate through these media and that are related to video games are always of the same nature. They are informative pieces where this sector always goes wrong. Therefore, eFUTbol was born, to try to provide information about this industry from the most objective and possible perspective. The name of eFUTbol is divided into two parts. In the first (e) it already indicates that it is something electronic, while the second (FUTbol) specifies that it will be about FIFA, because ‘FUT’ is the main game mode of this video game. So, it is an easy name to remember and a clear one. Currently, there are many FIFA competitions throughout the year. However, there is no media dedicated to reporting on this type of event. The video game sector is constantly expanding and, looking at the audience numbers, it deserves that people are informed of the results of Spanish players. There are many objectives to achieve. One of the most important was to develop a website with the appropriate content for all those who want to know the results of the Spanish professional FIFA players. However, there wan another big objective, that was to demonstrate, from a professional point of view, that video games can be beneficial for people and that they contribute many things to those who play them. Website layout The presence of professional websites linked to the competitive world of FIFA is nil. There is no website dedicated to dealing with this type of information. The only one that offers some information about this is the official website of EA Sports (ea.com), the company that has developed the video game, and the information that can be found there is scarce, because it is not focused on the competitive, it tries to offer general information about the game. Related to the 17 competitive, they only inform about tournaments that themselves produce. They do not inform about anything else. Then, there are Twitter profiles that, although their main content is not based on competitive content, offer some information about it. Although they have quite a few followers, they are fans of FIFA but without an established professional criterion due to their lack of training. Therefore, eFUTbol has a great advantage in terms of journalistic knowledge to deal with the information. As for social networks, there is a very different use of each one. While, on Twitter, communication was very good, there was great feedback and people entered to read the posts that were posted, on Instagram it was the opposite. Because you cannot link to posts, people had to do a lot of things to get to the news. That is why, on Instagram, only the posts were published, without much more interaction. Finally, the reports made have been posted on YouTube, so that people could see them on a specialized site for it. Without a doubt, the most important, unsurprisingly, has been Twitter. The platform selected to create the web was Wordpress, which offers many more possibilities and offers many advantages over its competitors. It is very versatile, it is very easy to customize with plugins and it is prepared for SEO, because being able to position yourself in the first places of Google, especially at the beginning, is a good promoter of the medium. In addition, achieving a web model that adapts to the characteristics of the web is essential to achieve a symbiosis between corporate identity and the image of the web. Regarding expenses, the two trips to Madrid have been a good expense of money. In total, almost 280€ has been spent, due to the difficulty of creating photographic galleries outside of Madrid. Web content There are different types of publications within the web. The most common are the news, chronicles and previous. Summaries of the sessions, previews of the most important tournaments and chronicles of the competition events. In addition, there are also current news that are coming out during the day and analysis of performances that take place during the tournaments. 18 There are also interviews, which is the part that reports the most visits to the web. Knowing how to choose the person to whom you interview and ask what is useful makes very interesting interviews for the reader. Here, we can Interviews with Javi Villar, DUX coach, to learn more about this profession. Another interview was with Sergio Alloza, a psychologist specializing in video games to learn more about the effects that video games produce on players, with the aim of dismantling the myths that people believe about them. Finally, an interview with Nacho Abella ‘Pepeelbotellu’, eLaLiga Santander runner-up, to review his good performance in the tournament. As for the reports, a podcast has been made talking about the relationship between video games and journalism, dealing with the historical evolution that has existed between these two sectors. A podcast was chosen because it is closer to what web users enjoyed, because they are young people who are moving away from more traditional journalism and looking for something newer. In this section, an audiovisual report has been made dealing with the problem of spending money on game coins in exchange for a chest with random content. This can turn into gambling and become a much more serious problem. This has been made with the statements of a FIFA streamer and a specialized psychologist. Photographic galleries have been the most expensive section. The Covid-19 has caused that practically all the tournaments are online. Playing FIFA is something that can be done from home and, therefore, it is not an urgent need to do faceto-face tournaments. Therefore, it was necessary to look for an issue related more indirectly to FIFA. eFUTbol went to Madrid to cover the playoff phase of promotion to professional football for DUX, a team owned by DUX Gaming, a FIFA team. If they had risen, it would have been a historic milestone for the video game industry. Final assessment The eFUTbol website has been able to find the gap and the need for information within a sector that is constantly expanding and will increasingly require more platforms to ensure that the reader is informed. eFUTbol has managed to place 19 itself among the first on the starting ramp and, little by little, visits to the web and followers on Twitter have grown. What began as a TFG project with many doubts, has been finding itself until it reaches a website, with multimedia content, which people from within the sector have already heard about. In addition, it has managed to defend, in a certain way, the video game industry, offering specialized content in this sector that has shown that not everything that is said about them is true. Certainly, this was a more personal challenge than a professional one, because there are times when people can be ashamed to say that they like to play video games because of what the other person may prejudge them. As a strong point, highlight the fact of having known how to apply all this previous knowledge in a practical way, obtaining as a result a professional journalistic product. Highlight, among other things, the use of social networks, especially Twitter, dealing with sources and having managed to achieve a place in the industry from journalistic rigor. On the other hand, there are always things that can be improved for the future and ideas to continue growing. Create a weekly podcast, where you have interviewees or organize informal talks between people in the community. In this way you can make yourself known and establish relationships with more people. Looking ahead, create a Twitch channel to get much more direct feedback with people and to be able to have direct conversations with them. Another objective is to obtain accreditations for future face-to-face events. Getting a position on these sites offers you many possibilities to create content. Live interviews, full reports and make more contacts. Little by little it can be achieved. To sum up, eFUTbol has established itself from the bases of journalism to expand the video game sector and create content without prejudice and based on journalistic professionalism. The conclusions are positive, the objectives initially set have been achieved and it has been reflected in the content published on the web. What started as a TFG project may become a project beyond the university and continue to be reported. Personally, I have enjoyed much more than I had in mind and I am satisfied with the final product.