Crowdfunding a Team: How Fans Came Through For XCTN
In the world of professional eSports, where speed of thought, reaction time and experience reign supreme, it is often the little edges — the tiniest percentage points — that dictates who wins and who loses.
For the popular eSports sub-genre of Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA), the time in between pressing a button and seeing its effect on screen can be so important that even a short delay can turn the tide of battle.
It is for this reason that the top teams, or those aspiring to reach those heights, invest in high-tech gaming paraphernalia to ensure that their equipment is up to par with their skills. When teams of equal skill level duke it out, something as trivial as an overused key on a keyboard cost teams victory, time and money.
For Filipino Dota 2 team IAP.Execration (XCTN), however, such luxuries were beyond their reach.
Arvin Risos, who manages the team, spoke with us here at Esports Inquirer to shed some light into the daily activities of the team.
Risos said that XCTN is currently renting a house containing five personal computers and a TV.
“The team lives and plays here together. They go home two days a week, although when there are a lot of tournaments, sometimes they stay here for the entire week,” Risos told Esports Inquirer.
“They receive a weekly allowance and everything here in our bootcamp is free. The groceries, internet connection, utility bills are all paid for by me. What’s important is that we all play and watch the replays together.”
XCTN’s bootcamp is located in Cavite. Although Risos and the team have found a way to practice and elevate their game to a high standard, he says that the gaming peripherals used by the team are all basic.
“Ever since we started, we had no gaming gears of our own,” he shared. “The players have been using just the basic keyboard and mouse you can buy at any store.”
According to Risos, no other Philippine based company has approached their team to offer a sponsorship despite their recent burst of success in Dota 2.
In the recently concluded StarLadder X South East Asian Qualifiers, IAP.XCTN bagged the win and the right to represent the region in the LAN grand finals on October 23-26 in Kiev, Ukraine.
With funds tight, even securing airfare and allowance for the team was a challenge. Risos explained that the team will have to fly to Vietnam to secure their Visas as there is no Ukrainian embassy in the Philippines.
“All in all, we would probably need more than P300,000 for the tournament,” Risos said. “The visa to Ukraine costs at least $200 per person plus we have to cover our hotel expenses. The ticket alone is over P300,000.”
Although eclubmalaysia and Roccat have offered to give a combined $7500 to cover the airfare for the entire team, Risos can only hope that they can pull the resources they need in time.
“The bright side is that we are 95% sure to secure our Visas,” he added.
Crowdfunding a Team
In a Reddit post made by Teng Dawei (username: Xero), a Dota 2 commentator from Malaysia, Xero called on the community to help fund IAP.XCTN’s gaming gears.
Xero shared with the Dota 2 community that although XCTN is in a traning house provided for by their manager in partnership with their sponsor Interactive Philippines, the team has been playing with cheap keyboards and mice — some of which the players themselves brought from their own homes.
With this, Xero called on the Dota 2 community in the region to crowdsource funds to help the fledgling Dota 2 squad with their equipment and resource woes.
A Kickstarter campaign was waiting on the wings when the thread caught the attention of SteelSeries’ social media manager, Philip Rassmussen.
In a direct message to Risos, Rassmussen offered to send the team five sets of headset, keyboard, mouse and mouse pads from SteelSeries as part of their social media project.
Although Rassmussen was not able to provide a full sponsorship to the team, the outpouring of support was no less appreciated by XCTN.
On their official Facebook page, the team thanked SteelSeries for their support stating that they are now ready for battle.
At present, the team is awaiting the approval of their VISAs for the Ukraine. On Monday, the team is scheduled to return to Vietnam to finalize their application.
“To the Filipino community: maraming salamat sa support! We will do our best to uplift the Philippine eSports scene,” said Risos.
Pictures from SteelSeries Fanpage, Reddit.com
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