Gaming: All Grown Up

The International just concluded with the winning team taking home 6.6 million dollars. Although the money itself is a marker of success for the team, the industry and competitive gaming itself there are many followers that will note other particular important themes in this championship series. For one the American team, Evil Geniuses, won the tournament. Not only did they win but they won the biggest prize pot in professional gaming to date.

This is a contradictory juxtaposition to typical American competition levels and deep finishes. Second the ages of the winning team range from 16 to 27 which brings hope to many considering that these age ranges competed simultaneously. This fact brings to light the idea that gaming itself is for all ages and it can be performed at a high level at all ages. Another observation is that the finals was America vs China. Far East vs Far West. The American team included a player of Pakistani nationality making the global feel and ironic nature of these finals almost strange to write about. With out reading too much into the opposing truths its pretty clear that much like its players, gaming is a young adult.

Separate from the game itself was the production of the tournament. It was very highlevel but also very unique. The tournament had qualifiers and regionals but when it came to final 8 the games were spread out throughout a week long process. As a viewer this was a nice experience to not be constrained for too long a following of 1 day bracket madness (which Im sure is exhausting for players too). This drawn out bracket also made the anticipation for the finals bigger. The amount of focus and production that could be honed to a couple of games every day made watching each one an enjoyable rich experience even if it wasnt the biggest teams. You knew that this was the only good DOTA game being played at the moment and that even if these teams were not good one of them would play a good team later. That was reason enough to tune in and see how your favorite players would adapt especially because you also knew they had the time to view the matches as well.

The game itself. Nothing new particularly in DOTA but the trend of gaming features built for competitive gaming and will grow and get better. For now I feel they are not items that keep people in the community but I think these decorations are items that are familiar to many. Seeing the EG banner in game is a very interesting visual queue to tell the viewer "this is team A's side and that is team B's side." Especially for MOBA's because you get to see your player's avatars charge out to the field. Its very similar to football players coming out of the tunnel before a game (where da cheerleaders at????). The visuals of the DOTA map and observer capabilities also add an ease to displaying some of the more intricate parts of what the casters try to explain. Its nice to see that instead of dumming down the complexity of the games to make them more "mainstream" developers are adding tools to assist in bringing people up to speed on the environment. The games are also maturing with their environment.


Yes, computer gaming is a young adult. If gaming started when Mario Bros. launched (1984) then that would make gaming 31 years old. Just a little older than the oldest member of EG's DOTA 2 team. From my perspective this community is much older more closer to the age of Chess or Go or Poker. Computer gaming is an offspring of the more turn based mind games. All the complexity , challenge, diversity that these games embodied we kept but we added a little flash and speed where there wasnt. I dont think that we are above Mama Chess and Papa Go yet but their kids seem to be getting around the world nicely on their own. It also seems like they are making enough money to buy their own pants too. So what challenges await these new young adults.