Free To Play Dota 2 TI1 Documentary

[nryn99]

Just like in the title, it's a documentary made by Valve highlighting 3 dota 2 players Fear, HyHy and Dendi.

It's nothing really big, just something about esport players, their lives and how this esport fits in it.
I think the video is really well made, but I don't really watch a lot of documentaries and this is the only one about esports that I did. While it is Dota 2, it's still about gaming and esports so I wanted to share it with you guys.

The Steam version is 5.2GB but it also contains a few deleted scenes and commentaries from Fear and Dendi. Plus Achievements.

Btw, i was thinking of putting this here or the books, movies section.

 

[AceWarhead]

An excellent documentary.
Watched the live streamed premiere, and some of the stores were pretty tear-jerking.
This is great exposure for the esports scene.

 

[Taleweaver]

I watched it last night, but to be honest, didn't like it very much.

It focusses a bit too much on the individual players and less on the team, the event or even the game. And while I know that e.g. football documentaries don't go into detail on explaining the rules of football, it would have been nice if there was a bit more exposure of how a match progresses. I'm not a DOTA player, and I had no idea what was going on most of the time.
The fact that they're portraying a handful guys from totally different environments is interesting, but it's not tied together. The cultural difference between pro-gaming in Oregon and in China is hardly touched upon. All in all, it was as if they just gave three or four teams a camera and set out to do some interviews as they see fit, and that everything is created later on the editing table.

And there are some glaring questions.
Why is the title "free to play"? That is literally NEVER mentioned, hinted upon or anything anywhere in the entire documentary.
Is it me, or does everyone in the movie just call it "DOTA" (not DOTA 2)? You would think it would at least give some credit to the original, which was a warcraft 3 clone. But no...that isn't mentioned.
Isn't mentioned either: eSports as a whole. References to any other game are limited to just one measily sentence ("DOTA is to china what starcraft is to Korea"). I'm certainly willing to believe that the price pool is pretty big in terms of eSports, but would it hurt to give some references to OTHER GAMES??? All it was, was a 5-second graph comparing it to earlier DOTA tournaments.


I get it...with valve being the producer and distributor, it's natural they want to put themselves in the spotlight. And by all means, they have the right to. Oh, and I'm willing to admit that milking the emotions portraying the cyberathletes is done professionally. But really...call it what it is: an hour-long commercial for DOTA-tournaments. It's not a documentary. If you want to know more of the game, you REALLY shouldn't be watching this (honestly...you would think the full name "Defence Of The Ancients" would be said at least ONCE...but no).



(oh, and what's with the achievements? It's a freaking MOVIE! I watched it and still haven't achieved any of the 5 locked achievements)