3 ms·

Its a chicken-egg situation. You need talent to attract attention, and you need attention to attract talent. You have to bootstrap prize pools etc IMO to hit cr

Its a chicken-egg situation. You need talent to attract attention, and you need attention to attract talent. You have to bootstrap prize pools etc IMO to hit critical mass until it becomes a "self fulfilling prophecy" and keeps the players invested. Otherwise, the next thing that offers a more legit prize pools and sponsorships is the "correct" choice if they are trying to make this their living.

p1necone 4y ago
I don't think it really is a chicken and egg problem though - hardly any of the competitive scenes for the biggest games historically got bootrapped like this: Counterstrike: Organic community, Valve only started putting effort/money into it after it had already proved itself. Starcraft: ditto DoTA: ditto AoE2: ditto Smash: Nintendo is practically actively hostile to the competitive community, it persists regardless. DoTA 2 and LoL arguably weren't bootstrapped either - they relied on players jumping ship from the already existing and proven OG DoTA scene.
- JamesSwift 4y ago
  It seems you are arguing that the _competitive scene_ exists, which I dont dispute. I was under the impression we were discussing the _ability for a player to play the game as their career_. i.e. The equivalent of a pro sports athlete but for a video game. The players are for the most part going to move to where the money is (and esports are unique in that way, where skillsets are more transferable between games). That said, DOTA 2 is a large part of the current "esports" wave of payout-driven hype trains. The International was an unabashed marketing play to drive interest ("It drew attention due to its staggering $1.6 million USD prize pool, the highest prize pool of any single esports tournament at that time." [1]). [1] - https://liquipedia.net/dota2/The_International https://liquipedia.net/dota2/The_International

p1necone 4y ago

I don't think it really is a chicken and egg problem though - hardly any of the competitive scenes for the biggest games historically got bootrapped like this: Counterstrike: Organic community, Valve only started putting effort/money into it after it had already proved itself. Starcraft: ditto DoTA: ditto AoE2: ditto Smash: Nintendo is practically actively hostile to the competitive community, it persists regardless. DoTA 2 and LoL arguably weren't bootstrapped either - they relied on players jumping ship from the already existing and proven OG DoTA scene.

JamesSwift 4y ago
It seems you are arguing that the _competitive scene_ exists, which I dont dispute. I was under the impression we were discussing the _ability for a player to play the game as their career_. i.e. The equivalent of a pro sports athlete but for a video game. The players are for the most part going to move to where the money is (and esports are unique in that way, where skillsets are more transferable between games). That said, DOTA 2 is a large part of the current "esports" wave of payout-driven hype trains. The International was an unabashed marketing play to drive interest ("It drew attention due to its staggering $1.6 million USD prize pool, the highest prize pool of any single esports tournament at that time." [1]). [1] - https://liquipedia.net/dota2/The_International https://liquipedia.net/dota2/The_International