Starladder season 5 just ended today with victory going to No Tidehunter. I watched all four games today and must say that all the games were very exciting and certainly had it's fair share of surprises and turn arounds.
This particular game, the second matchup, just made me respect s4 so so much more. This is absolutely insane puck gameplay. I must say the world of mid solos is a very interesting place, so many mid solos are the guys that can really turn the tide of a battle around.
The other games were pretty insane too. Game 1 with a very interesting use of the spirit bear and also the reason why batrider is almost always banned in games. It was a really close fight. Game 3 had a couple of interestings moments, the most notable of which probably was with akke and the rosh pit, and ended in a frenzied mass slaughter. Game 4 wasn't as epic but was still a good display of skills and had its interesting moments.
I need to find more people with a common interest in such things, feels stupid talking to myself heh.
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I shall make this post more relevant to the everyday reader heh.
Just happened to recall a remark a friend of mine made a few days ago when I started to load dota tournament videos on youtube. The standard 'wait, you watch dota?'. I suppose to many it sounds like a complete waste of time. I don't blame them though, it's the impression people have of gaming.
I'd like to say though that gaming in general is a large bubble, and within that bubble exists something that is new in this 21st century, and that is esports.
Yes I fully agree that streaming hours of video on candy crush or maplestory is going to be silly. Not the same for competitive games though. Competitive games are games which actually demand a great amount of skill from players.
A simple illustration is the classic esport game counter strike. Five on five people shooting each other, sounds simple. If you go to a random lan shop, you probably will see 15 on 15 running all around the shop doing whatever they want, trying to get some kills. Not in the competitive scene though. You see these 5 people who form a team work with one another. The way they move, covering one another, scouting all angles. The way they pick which weapon each person carries. They way they position themselves. All these things you will never see in a casual game, but in a competition, it's all about that. And of course their insanely fast reflexes and accurate shooting.
That's what makes the games worth watching. These are not random every day people just playing computer games for fun. These people train.
And that's exactly why competitive gaming is known as esports. Just like any other sport, it requires dedication, skill, practice, teamwork, strategy, all that stuff. It just doesn't involve working out physically. Then again, I don't think sports like bowling and golf really require all that much working out either anyway.
I like to compare dota to basketball. Five on five. Each member plays a position. Each has his own strengths and weaknesses, and they complement each other. The dota players even practice certain drills (multiple creep camp pulling drills for example) to improve their skill.
If anything, dota requires far more skill, strategy and teamwork than basketball ever requires.
So don't look down on esports. Yes it's not very popular and there are a few reasons. The lingering perception of gaming being negative, the fact that unfortunately most of these players don't look like models but honestly do look rather nerdy (see the chinese teams heh they are so badass in games but not very much in real life), the fact that the rules of the games in esports are often much harder to grasp than regular sports (especially dota heh). But I do believe it will continue to rise in prominence. The international hit the headlines when it first came out, being the first esports competition to offer a grand prize of a million dollars (no competition probably even offered six digit grand prizes at that point in time). Now this year it is going on its third run, it is bringing a rise in the popularity and recognition of esports.
So hey. Don't look at me funny when I say I watch dota. If people can show me how wicked it was for that time when manchester united passed that ball and scored a goal, I can talk about how insanely sick s4 is playing his puck in this Starladder tournament.
Just don't tell me to watch someone play candy crush live. That I will groan and say 'you watch candy crush?'
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