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So this thread is sparked by a documentary I watched yesterday on Netflix centered around the previous LoL season and it's finals in Poland (it was an all right documentary if any of you wanna check it out.) It feels like very recently esports has been getting a lot more attention from a group of people that don't follow esports at all: traditional sports casters and media outlets, documentaries that AREN'T made by the company that publishes the game (glances sidelong at Valve) and therefore all of the more traditional audience that watches such things.
Through it all there is a running theme of incredulity from the folks that aren't already invested in esports: they always ask "How is this a thing? How is this a sport?" and most importantly for the purposes of this thread "How can people enjoy watching this?"
Which brings me to my purpose! In a purely hypothetical sense, let's say you had a friend and you just HAD to convince them that watching Dota was fun. They doubt you, so you search the bowels of the internet to find that one perfect Dota game that will change their mind forever...
Which game would it be?
For me, I haven't been watching Dota for that long, and haven't even thought of games in these terms before (accessibility or enjoyment by an outsider), so I'd probably choose either game 3 or 4 of TI5 grand finals. I remember game 3 being very tense and exciting, and the craziness of "dissAAAAAster" from game 4 I feel showcases those moments in watching Dota that as a viewer I live for.
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First and foremost, as for the "is this a sport?" debate, I need to reply with "Who the fuck cares?". It isn't really a meaningful definition.
As for the -real- question of "What's the most enjoyable game of dota you've watched?" Honestly? Probably some t3-t4 ridiculous awful game that has more comical failures than it does brilliant successes. Top-tier dota is fun to watch for both the competitive drama and to appreciate the high-level decisionmaking, teamwork, and mechanics involved. It isn't strictly fun to watch without first having a solid understanding of both the competition and the game. Lower level scrappy as hell games, on the other hand, are fun to watch because they're a lot less calculated and predictable.
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A shame that "pro gaming" or "competitive gaming" never really took off, and instead it will always be known as "e-sports".
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Yeah I also don't like the "esport" term, except that it is funny. Also DotA or any other esport for that matter is not a sport. A sport is mainly a physical activity. Doing a sport moderately will improve your health. Competitive gaming is not even close to that area. The only thing they share is the competitive nature but that's about it. Nobody calls Chess, Go, Poker, Warhammer sports, or haha, t-sports.
To show somebody that dota is fun is really hard if they don't play it. DotA and LoL have their viewerships almost exclusively from people who also play the game, unlike sc2, quake, fighting games, cs:go, which are games you can watch and get what happens and why one side is stronger. I watched CS:GO before I played it and I watched fighting games and quake without playing them at all. But I would never watch a Dota-like when I don't play it because there is so much noise and little weird things happening that don't make sense. In terms of game design and especially watchability, DotA and LoL are frankensteins monsters.
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
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EPT
