Dota 2 is something people of competitive games like this need to keep their eye on, for very important reasons, this post by reddit user Kinths sums up why.
"I'd like to say thanks to Valve for just how much effort they have put into Dota 2. Especially on the E-sport side of things. Valve have done pretty much everything possible to not only support Dota 2 as an e-sport but also to support the players.
TL;DR Just me explaining some problems with current e-sports then me gushing over and thanking valve for just how much Valve is doing to fix those problems with Dota 2.
Full essay version: So firstly before getting to it, I would like to point out some things that not everyone may know. Being a professional gamer isn't as glamorous as it sounds, nor does it pay well. Many of the players you love, watch and support don't get a steady wage. Their income mainly comes from streaming views and tournament prizes, if they lose they will often get nothing or next to it. Now you may see some of these tournament prizes and be thinking wow that's a lot of money to win. But it often isn't, with the exception of the International most prize funds are pretty low. Remember that the pot gets split between at least 5 people and that money has to last them till they next win money. Not a lot of teams pay for travel costs or living expenses either and sponsors often just give players free gear instead of money. Until they win these players are often working (yes it is a job to them despite how fun you may think it would be) for free.
With that out of the way let me get to the point. Any one who has watched or played competitive LoL (I know it's a dirty word around these parts) will likely know that there is a bit of a problem within the scene. Some teams are refusing to play games unless they can also stream the games on their own channel. This is because streaming provides a more stable and guaranteed income than tournament prizes.But it takes away viewers from the tournaments official stream meaning they likely can't offer a bigger prize pool next tournament. This becomes a viscous cycle to the point where prize funds will likely get to small for smaller tournaments to attract teams. The players are right for wanting to make money while they play and not just if they win, but the tournament hosts also need to make money to keep the tournaments going. The prize fund has to be worth the teams time to participate but they also need a fall back plan if they lose.
So how does this relate to DotA 2. Well with Dota 2 valve is doing everything in their power to not only make it an e-sport, but also making it a stable e-sport that can easily grow exponentially, that supports Players, tournaments, teams and viewers.
We have the utterly brilliant in game spectator client, which lets thousands of people watch the game from within game (no more stream lag or terrible quality) with full commentary. Because this is taking viewers away from streams Valve charges for fairly cheap tickets to watch the tournament with a good percentage of the money going to the tournament hosters, which likely gives them a better overall profit than the adverts on streams do.
We have modifiable team banners that allow teams to show off their sponsors from within the game, they don't detract from the game at all and keeps the team's sponsors happy.
We also have the ingenious new pennant system that gives money to teams regardless of if they win and lets normal players support their team while having a chance at rewards just for watching, giving people even more incentive to watch. It also gives players more incentive to enter online tournaments that don't allow streaming in the future (Individual player streaming will become much much bigger once the game is properly released)
Valve has created an e-sport where everybody profits and it's something that can exponentially grow. The more viewers they get the more the teams earn which means they can make it to more tournaments meaning we get more chances to support our favourite teams while getting loot. Tournaments will make more money as the more viewers there are the more tickets will likely sell. Offering bigger prize pools to players and making it more worth their time. Bigger prize pools will then attract more viewers. It's a repeating cycle that promotes growth for everyone and takes some of the risk out of being an e-sports team, player or tournament hoster.
I really don't think people have realised just how big and innovative the features in DotA 2 are for e-sports. E-sports games are starting to get more views than "real" sports games and Valve has taken that to heart and created Dota 2 a game that fully embraces the e-sport side of the game. While making it much easier for those who haven't discovered how great e-sport can be to discover just how great it is.
So from Me to Valve: THANK YOU for making something that will hopefully set the standard for e-sports in the future. I always knew Dota 2 would be good but I never expected it to be quite so fully featured. Keep up the awesome work.
With this love letter over I'm off to watch Col vs E-home! coL is going to win ;)"
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