ESPN will broadcast Dota 2 tournament this weekend

[Dietrichw]

Source

Valve's announcement 

 

 

Valve is partnering with ESPN to air the championship rounds of this year's Dota 2 e-sports tournament. Dubbed The International, the tournament kicked off on July 8th and features a record-breaking prize pool of more than $10 million — most of which came from the game's dedicated fanbase. The final rounds of the tournament start tomorrow, and will be featured on the sports network's digital channel, ESPN3, in addition to Valve's own streams.

 

The coverage also includes an ESPN-exclusive preview of Monday's final, which will air on ESPN2 at 8:30 PM PST on Sunday

[BonBon Scott]

I still don't know how Dota works.

[Askew]

I still don't know how Dota works.

 

There's a lot of clicking involved.

[RelentlessAF]

I still don't know how Dota works.

Step One: Try to learn how to play.

 

Step Two: Stop playing because everyone is an asshole to new players.

[Nineshadow]

Step One: Try to learn how to play.

 

Step Two: Stop playing because everyone is an asshole to new players.

Just farm 20-30 minutes

[BonBon Scott]

There's a lot of clicking involved.

 

Oh. That's a deal breaker right there.

[TopWargamer]

I never thought I would see this day come. Nice job Valve.

 

[Me1z]

This is a pretty big jump. We still have people part of this forum who think games shouldn't be sports and yet this is going to be the first televised competitive gaming event. Not a fan of Dota, but I still feel like this is huge. Not sure what kind of viewership we're looking at, definitely nowhere near football or baseball, but it's got to be at least as popular as golf, right?

[CtW]

Well I don't watch ESPN or e-sports anyway so...

[Boxrocket]

DOTA blows, even for being free.  Just goes to show the average ignorance and complacency level of gamers and game makers these days... sad. Participating as a nobleman/noblewoman in society > DOTA... trust me.. you cannot do both simultaneously.

[shujin]

Well this is a pretty big jump as Me1z said, this is a jump for the esport thingy but also in the morality of the average person. If that pass on ESPN that means people at ESPN (average person) see a interest and a gain in esport. At a certain point in the future, game will no longer be seen as a drug or addiction, but more of a hobby like people playing soccer or golf for fun. This is fantastic to see morality advance in such a way. This news don't seems like that big of a deal but in fact it really is a big step forward.

[Buckley]

ESPN is for sports, not video games Jesus Christ. Gaming is not a sport. I'd rather watch the WNBA

[shujin]

exactly the average person I was talking about. 

 

 

ESPN is for sports, not video games Jesus Christ. Gaming is not a sport. I'd rather watch the WNBA 

Buckley how do you define a sport ?

[Heisenbleurgh]

ESPN is for sports, not video games Jesus Christ. Gaming is not a sport. I'd rather watch the WNBA

 

exactly the average person I was talking about. Buckley how do you define a sport ?

Personally I too tend to associate sports with a competition of physical performance but ever since chess and other games based on intellect and strategy are considered sports too I don't see how pro competitive gaming couldn't fall into that category. Having said that, I personally have never seen chess on ESPN either. If I was a casual viewer going through channels with nothing to see and found this I could potentially leave it on, depending on the game mechanics (I don't know how easy to understand or enjoyable to watch Dota is).

I'm sure it does more good than bad for the image of gamers but I'm just not that excited personally.

[Luc401]

i have 600 hours in dota and i want to say that playing it is fucking terrible watching it isnt too bad

[deathjester]

ESPN is for sports, not video games Jesus Christ. Gaming is not a sport. I'd rather watch the WNBA

 

ESPN is now owned by Disney who owns ABC as well. Better than watching Sportscenter and hearing about Lebron James for 25 minutes, Manning for 15, Cindy Crosby/Johnny Manziel for 15 and the remaining time being spent on the Dallas Cowboys, Yankees, and then 5 minutes for all other sports/teams combined.

 

Hell. Running some time on DOTA might give them some credibility...

 

[Buckley]

exactly the average person I was talking about. 

Buckley how do you define a sport ?

a team based physical game/ competition, probably worded it terribly but whatever. chess, gaming ect... i do not consider sports. 

[theroflcopta]

a team based physical game/ competition, probably worded it terribly but whatever. chess, gaming ect... i do not consider sports. 

A game where people compete against each other either in groups or by themselves to reach a goal is by definition a sport. The difference is between passive sports or physical/contact sports. 

[deathjester]

a team based physical game/ competition, probably worded it terribly but whatever. chess, gaming ect... i do not consider sports. 

 

ESPN covers a hot dog eating contest every year...they also cover World Series of Poker. Basically DOTA prizes are getting so big they have to cover it. You have advertisers like the hardware vendors who will happily pay for advertising, as well as the console vendors who will probably spam it with advertising. You have a prize pool. Expect it to get covered.

 

I would rather watch World Series of Poker than Lebron James coverage on ESPN and I love and played a lot of basketball when I was younger.

 

Anything that can you can compete for, for money is a sport. E-sports isn't going away because most people aren't born world class NFL/NBA players. Same reason soccer is big in the world. I mean imagine Calvin Johnson playing soccer, or if Hakeem Olajuwon  played goalie and having someone like Lebron James sitting in front of a goal for headers on set pieces. 

 

Many of the soccer athletes look pedestrian as athletes compared to the big sport leagues we have in the U.S. Soccer is still far and away the worlds biggest sport though, and no I am not a big fan of the game.

[theroflcopta]

Glad eSports are becoming more popular and widely accepted. And surprising a major sports network is picking up on it considering TV networks tend to lag behind when it comes to relevant content. Now idk how successful it will be considering most people watch tournaments online anyways but still cool to see. 

[StingBull]

I love the International and all but the servers are fucked because of it. So many new players are coming, Valve should increase their infrastructure. Just now I had a match where 5 people got disconnected. And for some reason I can't even open up my compendium most of the time.

[RazeG3SG1]

For those people who are not a fan of Dota, Valve has already considering a TI like event for CSGO

[dalekphalm]

a team based physical game/ competition, probably worded it terribly but whatever. chess, gaming ect... i do not consider sports. 

Unfortunately, whether you consider it a sport or not, it does fit the de facto definition.

 

While the definition does vary depending on the particular sport, the accepted definition, coming from SportAccord, which is the association of all the largest international sports federations (Football, hockey, etc etc), is as follows:

 

• have an element of competition
• be in no way harmful to any living creature
• not rely on equipment provided by a single supplier (excluding proprietary games such as arena football)
• not rely on any "luck" element specifically designed into the sport

They also recognise that sport can be primarily physical (such as rugby or athletics), primarily mind (such as chess or go), predominantly motorised (such as Formula 1 or powerboating), primarily co-ordination (such as billiard sports), or primarily animal-supported (such as equestrian sport).[1]

 

So just because you disagree with the definition, which is industry accepted, doesn't change that definition. It's like me saying "I don't think sub-compacts should be considered cars because they're small". Doesn't change anything.

 

Anyway, this is potentially great news for eSports, which needs every bit of help it can get for mainstream acceptance. As noted, even here we have those who don't consider it a sport, despite it fitting the accepted official definition.

 

I do wish they would put a different eSport on ESPN though, like SC2 or CS:GO. The reason is that DOTA 2, like any MOBA, suffers from the problem that if you don't know how the game works, then seeing a game can be extremely confusing. At least in CS:GO, if someone dies, you know that's bad. And in SC2, if an army gets destroyed, you instantly can comprehend what's going on.

 

Whereas with any MOBA, lets say you die, well that happens and isn't always a horrible thing, or your minions die. But it's not clear to those who don't understand the game, exactly what is going on. Hell, there are a LOT of people, who even after playing the game, don't fully understand the way it works or why you do certain things. This isn't because those people are stupid, but rather because the game genre is just very complicated and not necessarily straight forward.

[pk-man]

Riot is so jelly right now....

[deathjester]

In other news: getting a highly contested job is now a sport. very loose definition you've got there.

 

The athletes in baseball and hockey are pathetic compared to the NFL and the NBA. Doesn't mean I don't love hockey. Not a huge fan of baseball but I still recognize them as a sport.

 

What is the NBA? Like .00001 percent of the worlds population that can even compete in that league. NFL has guys that run ridiculous 40 times.

 

Who is the best soccer player? Messi? Ronaldo? Compare that guys 40 time to Calvin Johnson. So is soccer not a sport anymore because some of the players who would be the best athletes are in other sports? Soccer has mediocre athletes that train exceedingly hard and so does baseball and hockey. Youth hockey is far from cheap, I know I played it. If a kid wants to be a goalie? You are talking MANY thousands of dollars to play.  What other professional sport would Tony Gwynn have played? He might be the best hitter that ever lived. What is the difference between that guy perfecting his craft at hitting, and a e-sport Dota player training 60 hours a week?

 

Wilt Chamberlain's don't grow on trees. The guy played volleyball, excelled in every sport he tried, competed in the high jump and probably would have been one hell of a soccer goalie.