It’s been a couple
weeks since my last post, but you’re remotely interested in the E-sports /
competitive gaming scene you’ll probably understand why by the title. The last two weeks have predominately been a
work, watch Dota, sleep, work, etc. so most other activities have been pushed
to one side. For those of you unsure
what I’m on about let me explain.
The International is a
tournament for the Game Defence of the Ancients (Dota) in which 16 teams from
around the world compete to see who will be crowned world champion. The event goes over two weeks (first week
group stages, second week playoffs) with the playoffs being held at Key Arena,
Seattle to a public crowd in the thousands alongside a vast online
audience. This game, as well as the
genre it sits in (with games such as League of Legends, Smite, Heroes of
Newerth, etc.) have greatly grown in popularity over the past 10 years from
humble beginnings to the point where it packs physical stadiums and potentially
rivals some traditional sports in viewership as more people are introduced to
the concept.
This year the
International is in its fifth year (Ti5) and the figures are crazy. In its first year the prize pool was
$1.6million whereas it tops around $18.3 million today. The production quality has also greatly
improved; with fully established game analysis pre and post-game, commentators
being assisted with standalone camera and statistics staff so that they can
focus on the game itself, and stage itself that feels like it has a lot more prestige
and competitiveness about it through its design and direction.
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| The growing prize pool largely funded by community support is one of the indicators of the increased awareness for E-sports. Image from esports.inquirer.net published by Wykrhm Reddy. Accessed 10/8/2015 |
The stage sits in the
middle of the arena giving spectators a good view whatever angle they may be
sitting in, with large screens positioned above the players’ pods. The stage itself is the Dota 2 logo (A red
square with 3 slashes through it) with each team’s pod being situated on the
outer slashes looking at each other. This
is important because whereas in most tournaments, the players are positioned
towards the crowd and not in sight of each other allowing for the potential of
a team to see how the opposition is reacting to the situation adding a psychological
element to the competition. The stage
itself also was dynamic in its lighting arrangement as it changed the image
being projected on to the floor in relation to what was going on. For example, during the game it projected the
map onto the stage with each team’s respective side (Radiant and Dire) being
shown to give an added visual representation of the battle. It would then change in team fights when
certain skills were used that have high impact like Enigma’s Black Hole (a skill
that pulls enemies into a small circular spot over a period of 3 seconds while immobilising
them). Lastly, the Aegis of Champions
(the trophy for the event) sat at the tip of the middle stripe throughout the
event so that players were always aware of what was on offer. Even if it didn’t consciously give a
response, one could imagine that sub-consciously it played on their
thoughts.
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| The stage projecting the map with the corresponding side for each team. Image from Twitter @TobiWanDota https://twitter.com/TobiWanDOTA/status/628340868911464448 viewed 10/8/2015 |
As I have commented on
in the past, events like this feel on par with traditional sports and I feel E-sports
(or competitive gaming depending on your definition) will continue to grow to
the point where we can see it more commonly in the public eye. I may have a vested interest to see this as I
have been playing / watching these games for a decent amount of time, but I
think the testament to its potential success is through those who watch from
non-gaming backgrounds. Watching competitive
Dota when living with others and seeing how they become more and more interested
in it over time shows that it can be entertaining without the vast amount of
knowledge it requires to play properly. Seeing
a big team engagement happen with a commentator getting enthusiastic about it
while the crowd roars to an impressive play is somewhat easy to understand
whether its Dota, League, Football, Rugby, etc.
Now it’s all over I’ve
got many days of YouTube content to catch up on, but we should be back to
normal service next week. I shall leave
you with the final moments of the grand final brought to you via DotaCinema…
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