[Flame Break] The West’s Love Story With Dota

Have you ever wondered what the Western DotA 1 scene looked like in the early days? Have you wondered what the professional players thought about the old days? Did you know that some of the players that we know today are nothing but people who upload replays of them besting former professional players as a sort of ego-booster?

In the “Dota — An eSports Phenomenon” documentary, players and personalities talked about the game they love, the game they crave and the game that saw growth from being a a custom map of the Warcraft 3 engine to one of the most recognizable game titles in the world today.

The 16-minute documentary shows players like Per Olsson “Pajkatt” Lille and Clement “Puppey“ Ivanov as well as personalities like Ben “Merlini” Wu, a caster for Beyond The Summit (BTS) and a former professional player renowned for his Zeus gameplay, and Ulrich Schulze, managing director at the Electronic Sports League (ESL).

One of the things they mentioned in the documentary was that during the old days, everyone just wanted to feel good while playing the game. For some, that feeling may stem from beating their longtime rivals (as Lille repeatedly mentions in many different ways); for others, it may just be something about winning with their fun picks. They also talked about how hard it was for them to find sponsors in the past. On one occasion, Schulze mentions that The International basically changed everything with regards to sponsors. Once it was proved that the game was worth watching, the sponsors followed suit.

As for the future of electronic sports and Dota in particular, Schulze said that unlike other fields such as cinema and television, the eSports culture will remain a “respectful culture” no matter how much the fans love their idols. This is because the “culture of respect” has been inculcated in the people who follow the scene and the players since the early days in such a way that makes it very hard to wipe out. He said that despite the fact that players just freely give their personal info especially in the early days, no one harassed or disturbed them because the fans realize that the players also need personal space. He further elaborated by saying that “no one will look for the juicy details of their personal lives and that’s not gonna happen now… not even five years later.”

In another interview, Wu takes the floor and said that in five years’ time, it’s going to be different because people are going to focus on their personality development more than on winning the game. He gives himself and some other guys as an example: He is not the best player, but he, as well as some other players and personalities in the game, are really loved thanks to the way they talk, the way that they project their aura and the way that they show their image to the general public. In particular, he touches on Natus Vincere — former The International champions — who has not won an International title for the past three years (and to note that they have placed only in the top eight this year) and yet still enjoys a devoted fan-base that loves and adores them. In contrast, Wu points out that Invictus Gaming — despite winning an International title — is not loved that much by fans in the West.

Finally, the show closes with Ivanov talking about one big reality: Players are part of a big business right now and passion is not enough; business acumen is now required as well, whether they like it or not.

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As we can see above, everyone has faced a lot of hardships in the past, from the players to the organizers themselves and they mostly got through these obstacles with their passion for the game. The money and the fame came later on and even then, players tried to make sure that they still connect with their fans in one way or the other, despite the fact that the scene has become huge — much bigger than anyone has ever imagined.

If people ask me what will happen to Dota and eSports in the future, I’ll give them this answer:

Dota 2 will be around for a long time and electronic sports, as an industry, will grow.

The road is open and it is up to everyone: the fans, the players, the commentators, organizers, gear sponsors and the large corporate sponsor; it is up to all of these stakeholders to see that the road gets paved because from what I’ve just seen in the documentary, we are at the verge of something grand.

Time will reveal what has been destined. For now, it’s time to sit back and watch this love story grow.

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If you haven’t watched the documentary yet, I strongly recommend you watch it here.

*Note: The columnist’s views do not represent eSports Inquirer’s position on the topic or issue being discussed in this article.

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