VIDEAU GAMES FEATURE: GETTING TO KNOW THE DOTA 2 INTERNATIONAL 4
On the 21st of July this year, five people will become instant millionaires. The five-man team that wins this year’sDota 2 International will claim the lion’s share of what is by far the largest prizepool in e-sports history: totalling over ten million dollars. In three years Valve Software have grown Dota 2 = their flagship game - to epic proportions. Back when Dota 2 was still in beta Valve hosted the first International, spending a million dollars out of their own pocket to spark interest in the game. This year will be the fourth iteration of the tournament, and the year that Valve’s crowdfunding strategy found the kind of success that makes history. Over eight million of the ten million dollar prize pool has been contributed by fans of the game, eager to watch the best of the best compete for the highest possible stakes. But what is Dota 2, and why does it generate so much enthusiasm?
As the name suggests, Dota 2 is the sequel to DotA: Defense of the Ancients, a hugely popular Warcraft IIImod. While the style of the mod originated much earlier (in a Starcraft mod called Aeon of Strife) DotA came into its own as a Warcraft III map under the aegis of enigmatic developer ‘Icefrog’. Two opposing computer-controlled factions - the Radiant and the Dire - engage in endless war, with their bases at opposite ends of the map. A game of DotA requires ten players, five helping the Radiant and five helping the Dire, who control powerful heroes that level up and affect the tide of battle. The game ends when either side’s central structure - their ‘Ancient’ - is destroyed.
Due to the limitations of the Warcraft III engine and the insular nature of the community, DotA was fiendishly complicated and unfriendly to new players. When Valve offered to remake DotA in their Source engine, Icefrog jumped at the chance. That was the genesis of Dota 2. DotA’s thriving competitive scene followed the money to Dota 2, and the casual players - more engaged with the competitive scene than perhaps any other game - followed them.
Like in any niche sport, those dedicated enough to earn a living from Dota 2 are players and teams with strong character. The depth of the game allows for many different successful playstyles as well, so fans tend to choose their favourite team based on a combination of personality and strategy. There’s the hyper-aggressive Ukrainian team Na’Vi, who won the first International; the careful, fight-dodging Swedish team Alliance, who won the third; and the versatile but unreliable multi-national team Cloud9. All three of those teams will be at this year’s International, along with many others. The talent pool this year is stronger than ever, and it’s impossible to predict the winner with any certainty.
Preliminary matches for the tournament will run from the 8th to the 14th of this month, and the main event - held at KeyArena in Seattle - will span four days from the 18th to the 21st. The games for each day will begin at 9am Seattle time, which is 2am in Melbourne and Sydney. The International is free to watch, both on a twitch.tv stream and in-client. There will be multiple streams with commentary in different languages, and this year there will be a second commentary stream aimed at those who are new to the game. It’ll be tricky to explain a game as complicated as Dota 2 while simultaneously hyping up the matches, but if there’s any company that do it, Valve can. They’ve proven their ability to organise an magnificent tournament three years running now - here’s hoping for a fourth that’s even better.
For more on Dota 2, head to the official website HERE
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