Free to Play movie by Valve

[Darkpriest]

I'm not sure if this is in the Off-top or Computer and Console, nevertheless I strongly recommend watching this Valve's production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UjZYMI1zB9s

It's about the e-sports and various aspects of being a professional gamer and evolution of this term. The movie shows very personal stories nicely merged with some history of one of the foundation games of the current e-sports scene - DotA -> DotA2

It is an inspirational movie that involves personal histories. If you are into documentaries, just watch it. If you ever were even remotely in touch with the e-sports and thought for a moment about pursing that direction, this is a MUST watch position for you.

[Bryy]

Is it like Indie Game? If so, I'm out. I wanted to watch a documentary about making games, not hear a bunch of people whine about being social outcasts for two hours.

[Endrosz]

It's more like a sports documentary, showcasing some of the iconic players, complete with family backgrounds, mixed with footage from the 2011 Dota 1 million dollar championshin. It's quite good, I watched it yesterday. The editing is perfect.

[Keyrock]

Does it feature any gratuitous GabeN shots? 

[Darkpriest]

I've seen a glimpse of him once there

[Keyrock]

I've seen a glimpse of him once there

[Nonek]

For the longest time when I saw pictures of Mr Gabe Newell I thought it was a photograph of Robin Williams, and that the gentleman had let himself go a trifle, the similarity is quite striking.

[Hurlshort]

For the longest time when I saw pictures of Mr Gabe Newell I thought it was a photograph of Robin Williams, and that the gentleman had let himself go a trifle, the similarity is quite striking.

 

A trifle?  That's a bit of an understatement.

[Keyrock]

Pfft, you guys can make all the weight jokes you want.  Check out how rugged that beard is:

 

 

Sex appeal level = OVER 9000!

Edited March 22, 2014 by Keyrock

[Darkpriest]

The bearded man is THE MAN, amrite?

[AGX-17]

I saw some promo or something about it on Steam but if it's about DotA2 and not about TF2 I give negative ****s. Literally sucking turds up like time is running in reverse.

[Darkpriest]

I could probably write an essay in response to AGX’s post, but I’ll try to keep it short and simple

 

To give credit where it’s due, it’s Blizzard and Valve that made possible for something like e-sports to emerge. 3 brilliant cases of competitive gameplay were created.

1. A well balanced fast paced RTS with a lot of micro and macro intensiveness. – Starcraft
2. Half-lifes mod – Counterstrike, which introduced team play and co-ordination to FPS genre, taking competing in shooters to a different level
3. Warcraft 3 mod – DotA (it had various names at the start, but I’ll skip that) – introducing teamplay and various roles for the teams in a quasi RTS mode, with huge amounts of hero and skill combinations allowing for different strategies
4. DotA 2 - taking the size and scope of competitions beyond what was known before with the huge event that was the first International

I feel that the only other company that would have a moral right to create a documentary on the e-sports, would be Blizzard, but they did not. Valve has taken the competitions to a next level with their premiere of DotA 2 and the 1mln USD 1^st place prize at The International.

 

Some people might dislike certain games same like we dislike various food or sports type, but it does not mean we should belittle them just because we personally do not like them (and probably suck at them as a result)

 

Just because the movie is based on DotA 2 (made by Vlave, duh) it does not make it a pure promo of this game. Similar things could be told in movies based on other e-sport games. Some games are not e-sports material though, and Valve recognized that by for example not putting TF2 there. They also chose it over CS:GO for the documentary, because it was not the CS:GO that they made The International about.

 

Watch the movie for what it is, an e-sports documentary. If you won’t like it, then it’s ok, but at least watch it first before writing anything about it. It’s free you know, just 1h of your life.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Darkpriest

[pmp10]

To give credit where it’s due, it’s Blizzard and Valve that made possible for something like e-sports to emerge. 3 brilliant cases of competitive gameplay were created.

1. A well balanced fast paced RTS with a lot of micro and macro intensiveness. – Starcraft
2. Half-lifes mod – Counterstrike, which introduced team play and co-ordination to FPS genre, taking competing in shooters to a different level
3. Warcraft 3 mod – DotA (it had various names at the start, but I’ll skip that) – introducing teamplay and various roles for the teams in a quasi RTS mode, with huge amounts of hero and skill combinations allowing for different strategies
4. DotA 2 - taking the size and scope of competitions beyond what was known before with the huge event that was the first International

The problem is that it's not entirely true.

 

Starcraft 1 became a 'e-sport' by accident. 

The game was never meant to be played the way it would be by the competitive community.

Point 2 and 3 are mods not sponsored by developers.

'E-sports' today is more of a result of accidents than conscious decision by any developer.

That is has gotten a little more popular is purely due to internet finally allowing video streaming.

[Darkpriest]

 

To give credit where it’s due, it’s Blizzard and Valve that made possible for something like e-sports to emerge. 3 brilliant cases of competitive gameplay were created.

1. A well balanced fast paced RTS with a lot of micro and macro intensiveness. – Starcraft
2. Half-lifes mod – Counterstrike, which introduced team play and co-ordination to FPS genre, taking competing in shooters to a different level
3. Warcraft 3 mod – DotA (it had various names at the start, but I’ll skip that) – introducing teamplay and various roles for the teams in a quasi RTS mode, with huge amounts of hero and skill combinations allowing for different strategies
4. DotA 2 - taking the size and scope of competitions beyond what was known before with the huge event that was the first International

The problem is that it's not entirely true.

 

Starcraft 1 became a 'e-sport' by accident. 

The game was never meant to be played the way it would be by the competitive community.

Point 2 and 3 are mods not sponsored by developers.

'E-sports' today is more of a result of accidents than conscious decision by any developer.

That is has gotten a little more popular is purely due to internet finally allowing video streaming.

 

 

everything competitive does so by accident. football started from being a recreation among higher class on british islands

 

SC became competitive because of the blizzards willingness to support it and improve balancing and gameplay features

 

the mods appeared only because the modability of the games was first introduced and then supported by the companies. But once these games received recognition by these companies, they went big into e-sports. Do you think that without support from those companies they would still thrive and be improved upon?

[pmp10]

Do you think that without support from those companies they would still thrive and be improved upon?

Well yes.

Some of those games listed have been actively hampered by their very own developers.

Blizzard lawsuits over rights to Starcraft/Brood War TV transmissions in Korea or fighting tooth-and-nail for ownership of DotA are best examples.

[Sarex]

I could probably write an essay in response to AGX’s post, but I’ll try to keep it short and simple

 

To give credit where it’s due, it’s Blizzard and Valve that made possible for something like e-sports to emerge. 3 brilliant cases of competitive gameplay were created.

1. A well balanced fast paced RTS with a lot of micro and macro intensiveness. – Starcraft
2. Half-lifes mod – Counterstrike, which introduced team play and co-ordination to FPS genre, taking competing in shooters to a different level
3. Warcraft 3 mod – DotA (it had various names at the start, but I’ll skip that) – introducing teamplay and various roles for the teams in a quasi RTS mode, with huge amounts of hero and skill combinations allowing for different strategies
4. DotA 2 - taking the size and scope of competitions beyond what was known before with the huge event that was the first International

I feel that the only other company that would have a moral right to create a documentary on the e-sports, would be Blizzard, but they did not. Valve has taken the competitions to a next level with their premiere of DotA 2 and the 1mln USD 1^st place prize at The International.

 

Some people might dislike certain games same like we dislike various food or sports type, but it does not mean we should belittle them just because we personally do not like them (and probably suck at them as a result)

 

Just because the movie is based on DotA 2 (made by Vlave, duh) it does not make it a pure promo of this game. Similar things could be told in movies based on other e-sport games. Some games are not e-sports material though, and Valve recognized that by for example not putting TF2 there. They also chose it over CS:GO for the documentary, because it was not the CS:GO that they made The International about.

 

Watch the movie for what it is, an e-sports documentary. If you won’t like it, then it’s ok, but at least watch it first before writing anything about it. It’s free you know, just 1h of your life.

 

I think it's unfair to say that DotA 2 added to the scope of esport as far as moba is concerned. Riot started with LoL before Dota2 and is still on a much bigger scale, esport and player wise.

[Darkpriest]

 

I could probably write an essay in response to AGX’s post, but I’ll try to keep it short and simple

 

To give credit where it’s due, it’s Blizzard and Valve that made possible for something like e-sports to emerge. 3 brilliant cases of competitive gameplay were created.

1. A well balanced fast paced RTS with a lot of micro and macro intensiveness. – Starcraft
2. Half-lifes mod – Counterstrike, which introduced team play and co-ordination to FPS genre, taking competing in shooters to a different level
3. Warcraft 3 mod – DotA (it had various names at the start, but I’ll skip that) – introducing teamplay and various roles for the teams in a quasi RTS mode, with huge amounts of hero and skill combinations allowing for different strategies
4. DotA 2 - taking the size and scope of competitions beyond what was known before with the huge event that was the first International

I feel that the only other company that would have a moral right to create a documentary on the e-sports, would be Blizzard, but they did not. Valve has taken the competitions to a next level with their premiere of DotA 2 and the 1mln USD 1^st place prize at The International.

 

Some people might dislike certain games same like we dislike various food or sports type, but it does not mean we should belittle them just because we personally do not like them (and probably suck at them as a result)

 

Just because the movie is based on DotA 2 (made by Vlave, duh) it does not make it a pure promo of this game. Similar things could be told in movies based on other e-sport games. Some games are not e-sports material though, and Valve recognized that by for example not putting TF2 there. They also chose it over CS:GO for the documentary, because it was not the CS:GO that they made The International about.

 

Watch the movie for what it is, an e-sports documentary. If you won’t like it, then it’s ok, but at least watch it first before writing anything about it. It’s free you know, just 1h of your life.

 

I think it's unfair to say that DotA 2 added to the scope of esport as far as moba is concerned. Riot started with LoL before Dota2 and is still on a much bigger scale, esport and player wise.

 

 

ok I'll phrase this differently. I do agree that LoL popularized the MOBA once DotA aged, but the highest single pool prize money was bumped significantly with The International, and it still goes up with each year. I am not gonna argue about which did more because inevitably this will only achieve getting this topic derailed into which MOBA is better...

 

I am just seeing this growing. Renting a stadium for the tournament's LAN finals is rather big, and that event isn't even the main annual event.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Darkpriest

[Sarex]

ok I'll phrase this differently. I do agree that LoL popularized the MOBA once DotA aged, but the highest single pool prize money was bumped significantly with The International, and it still goes up with each year. I am not gonna argue about which did more because inevitably this will only achieve getting this topic derailed into which MOBA is better...

 

I am just seeing this growing. Renting a stadium for the tournament's LAN finals is rather big, and that event isn't even the main annual event.

 

Dota 2 doesn't have it beat on the venue or the prize pool. Not to mention the LCS, where the players have wages. I haven't played Dota2 so I can't say if it is better or not, but I do follow the esport scene and there Riot is the leader of the pack. Credit should be given where credit us due. Your phrasing, in the initial post, makes it seem that Dota 2 was the one which pushed moba in to the esport scene, when mostly it was doing follow up to Riot.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Sarex

[Darkpriest]

 

ok I'll phrase this differently. I do agree that LoL popularized the MOBA once DotA aged, but the highest single pool prize money was bumped significantly with The International, and it still goes up with each year. I am not gonna argue about which did more because inevitably this will only achieve getting this topic derailed into which MOBA is better...

 

I am just seeing this growing. Renting a stadium for the tournament's LAN finals is rather big, and that event isn't even the main annual event.

 

Dota 2 doesn't have it beat on the venue or the prize pool. Not to mention the LCS, where the players have wages. I haven't played Dota2 so I can't say if it is better or not, but I do follow the esport scene and there Riot is the leader of the pack. Credit should be given where credit us due. Your phrasing, in the initial post, makes it seem that Dota 2 was the one which pushed moba in to the esport scene, when mostly it was doing follow up to Riot.

 

 

http://www.esportsearnings.com/tournaments

 

if i am not mistaken - season 2 for LoL was in 2012 at the same time frame when The International 2 was making place, thus making it a follow up in big prize pools to DotA's International.

 

If anything it was CoD, that first broke the 1mln USD total prize pool barrier.

 

As for venues - well if you would tell me a couple of years ago, that some organization will rent a football stadium with nearly 40k seats available to host a LAN event, I would call you crazy, yet it's happening this year. If this will be a success when it comes to live audience, it might be another milestone. Just take a look at the details here: http://www.esl-one.com/dota2/frankfurt-2014/

 

I believe that so far the record was around 16k live audience viewers for LoL. Can't wait to see the results in the summer if the bar will be set higher.

 

But to return to the topic. E-sports is getting bigger, and whatever e-sports game you follow, it had a similar path for the game itself and the current pro-players, to the one shown in the movie.

[Sarex]

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Season_3_World_Championship

 

http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/19/5121688/league-of-legends-season-3-world-championship-finals-viewers

[Darkpriest]

http://lol.gamepedia.com/Season_3_World_Championship

 

http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/19/5121688/league-of-legends-season-3-world-championship-finals-viewers

 

I assume that the point here is about 32mln on-line viewers?

[Sarex]

I assume that the point here is about 32mln on-line viewers?

 

Yep, plus this year the "All-Star" (anything but(another story)) is being held in Paris and the next championship is being held in Korea.