The production is smart, the pundits are sharp, and the players are gods.
This is not a traditional tournament. This is a professional game. Fans watch the best players in the world play their favorite game, in an arena, for a cash prize.
Around 15,000 fans from around the world are in Birmingham watching the professional clashes (virtually) throughout the week, with many thousands more watching the competition online.
The tournament, ESL One Birmingham, will be held at the Resorts World Arena, close to the city’s airport.
While many people will have heard of some of the games played at major esports events such as FIFA, the game played this week in Birmingham will be less well-known.
Dota 2 is described to me by a game analyst as being “kind of like chess” but with flashing lights and innovative characters.
There are two teams of five players and, before the game starts, the professionals spend a lot of time choosing their own characters and trying to prevent the other team from choosing characters that could be excessively advantageous during the game.
So, frankly, the rules of the game are lost on me, but I’m told it involves a king, queens, and trying to destroy the enemy’s (the other team’s) base.
Fans tell me that part of Dota’s appeal lies in the game’s difficulty, but ultimately the pleasure of being a spectator is the same as it is for sports enthusiasts.
“It’s a question of a professional aspect, similar to football. You can play football, but it’s good to see people playing at a level you never could,” says fan Ryan Freeman.
Photo: ESL One Birmingham
I’m here to watch the semi-final of the competition between the UK team, Tundra, and a team from Saudi Arabia, the Falcons. In fact, there are no UK players at Tundra and the Falcons are an equally international group.
Just like in professional athletic sports, esports teams buy and sell the best players in the world. Tundra and Falcons professionals are some of the highest paid in the industry.
An expert told me that at this level players can earn $10,000 (£8,000) a month, in addition to tournament winnings and sponsorship deals. The prize in this competition is US$1 million (£800,000), although it is split between the teams, with the winning team taking US$300,000 (£240,000).
Photo: ESL One Birmingham
“I think a lot of people think of the esports team as just five guys who like to play at home,” says Alvaro Sanchez Velasco, product manager at ESL One Birmingham.
“But the [team] organizations have training camps, they have schedules that include training regimes, psychological visits. They usually have a manager and a team psychologist, which is very common nowadays, as well as a coach and an assistant coach.”
Jonas Volek is a Czech professional player and although he is not participating in this tournament in Birmingham, he is here to comment and analyze the games. As I interview him, I see a line of fans developing, they are clearly waiting for him to finish speaking.
Photo: ESL One Birmingham
When he does, everyone asks for selfies.
Volek, 23, played chess as a child, then switched to video games and at age 12 became hooked on Dota 2, becoming a professional player in his late teens. Now he competes in tournaments around the world.
“It’s not really a job, it’s more of a lifestyle because it takes up a lot of my time,” says Volek.
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“When I’m actually training, it takes me 12 hours a day and I’m always traveling. There’s no time for anything else.”
I didn’t see any women on stage in Birmingham and the audience is male dominated.
“I hope one day to see more women playing for the best teams,” says fan Charlotte Keane.
But there isn’t the charged and often volatile atmosphere that you can find at many sporting events, especially in men’s football.
There are some comical ‘conversations’ between players from opposing teams, instigated by the hosts for the audience’s amusement. But after one player criticizes the other player’s hair in a mock-serious manner, one of the hosts decides he’s had enough of the joke.
Of course, for fans, there is not the same territorial spirit that accompanies supporting a certain football team, for example. Mostly, it’s about respect for the individual players, who can’t hear any of the crowd’s cheers or screams during the game as they wear noise-cancelling headphones so they can focus on winning.
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After about an hour of play, the Falcons emerge victorious and fans leave the auditorium to buy hot dogs and fish and chips.
This event feels distinctly less inebriated than any sporting competition I’ve ever participated in. But even for an enthusiast, Dota 2 doesn’t seem like the kind of game that would be easy to follow after a few binges.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
