A little note about the Scheduling drama + Random rambling discussing low salarys in dota 2
Skrivet av Loda, 2013-11-07 23:13

Good evening everyone.

I had to start this blog by saying I did something wrong. It was wrong of me to speak about this issue at the time I did, and it was in a combination with my dear Bulldog (tbh if bulldog rages it usually means something) speaking out his mind. what I tweeted was:
"I think its bs that a PRO team can say that they can only play between 18-22. Then you are semi-pro. I call this my job for a reason -_-"

Ok so I did tweet this at the same time as I was a bit pissed at the fac that Sigma.int refused to play their game vs us without their captain, after we had been trying to reschedule our game for 1.5 weeks. YES 1.5 weeks, not 1 day... I'm not sure why anyone would lie about that, but thats the fact and we've been in discussion with our manager on how to re-schedule our game all that time. I do get why they dont want to play without their captain etc etc. So:

We don't think its wrong of Sigma.int not to re-schedule our game vs them. It was us that wanted to reschedule, and if they cannot find a working date with their 5 man lineup its understandable that they will take the w/o.

To me personally its weird though and I cannot remember the last time we won a game on w/o. because walkovers are pretty much non-existant in dota 2. They were pretty much non-existant back in the day of dota 1 aswell, and at that point we all played for nickels
We all played pretty much 24/7 back then, just as a lot of us still do. But then it was a lot due to the fact that most pro players were teenagers and lived at home etc etc, we didnt have those serious obligations in our lives yet. But we still had to stay up late and get some lack of sleep even if we had a test the day after. Teams always managed to get games re-scheduled, even if it was in the middle of the night. Dota has always been my first priority, even before I was able to make a living out of it.

I guess the reason I just rambled a bit is to make you understand that I do think its weird that a PRO team can have the "luxury" to only schedule games between 18-22, when I as a player has to be ready and available at pretty much any time possible. And for example we are starting our bo3 vs EG at midnight today, because that was EGs only option . The reason why im saying this is that the only reason its possible to have as many tournaments as we do atm in dota 2, is because teams agree to crazy dates and times ALL THE TIME, just because of re-scheduling. When you've been trying to get someone to agree on a date and time, and they give u a span of 4 hours to schedule with it kinda makes you annoyed I have to say. We are overbooked on games, that is our fault, we want to participate in pretty much everything, and our korea trip got in the way of this game.

But I know I am the bad guy, and thats fine, I mean the normal guy have to be able to play aswell and I am ungrateful + self-entitled for speaking my mind yada yada yada. To me Dota is my job, I spend more than a full time job on this game, and thats the problem.

Some teams just dont have the option to play full time. They will always have to juggle different responsibilities with Dota, not because they want, but because they have to make some money to survive pretty much. E-sport is growing rapidly, and DotA is growing rapidly. But still most pro players dont even make enough to live off, far from it even.

I read this article http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/07/...timize-esports on how we can work on legitimizing esports (Ya thats what the link says pretty much... ). And a lot of the points in the article are very interesting, for example most esport contracts are NDA (in most real sports its pretty much public info), so we are not allowed to share the information regarding our salaries etc with eachother.

I spoke with some fans about it, and one of the suggested that there should be some player union to protect all players, but as it is right now most teams dont really dare to ask for "too much" so to speak. Then there is the chance that you wont get sponsored at all, and then you cant fly to all the tournaments around the world etc etc. So its a difficult situation for teams looking to be sponsored.

If you look at League Of Legends, teams that qualify for the LCS are secured a salary for the season. Just so they can focus on the game full time. So there being PRO pretty much means that you have the ability to focus on the game 100%. Now im not sure on how we are going to solve this in dota 2. Some options could be that every player gets secured a low salary from every tournament they play in. Perhaps as in 1% of the ticket sales or something like that. So that teams that doesnt win, but still has qualified gets something back for all the time they put into the game. I know thats not a perfect idea but... Its something... :P We need some way to make sure that dota players can treat playing as a job. And guys, im not talking about huge sums here. Most dota 2 pro players in the west dont even make 1k usd a month.

E-sports is growing rapidly, and dota 2 is growing with it. Tournaments can actually make a lot of money, just because of dota ticket and streaming revenue, but we are still at a point where its fucking hard to make a living out of dota 2, if you dont place top 3 in most tours. Or if you are able to win every now and then. This doesnt really apply to the top 3 teams perhaps, but there are a lot of teams that are not top 3. I make enough to treat this as my job, and I wish that we soon can have a scene where every team can atleast make a living out of playing. Passion can only take you so far. Thats a big reason to why teams gets so so affected after losing tournaments, and often have some shuffle. Because they need those wins to prove to themselves that its worth playing this game.

As usual Im mostly rambling, and im not even sure how I ended up here with this post.... But all in all I hope and wish that every pro player out there can be proud of being a dota 2 player, and not just sad when they look in their wallet. Because im damn proud of being a dota 2 player, but its easy for me to say ^^ Caus I was lucky enough to win ti3.

So how do we solve this problem? Because I dont know... What do you guys think? What should the players do in their situation? I remember how it was when you had to sign a deal for 1 year, where you were paid 300 dollars each month. And that was everything you got, if you didnt win any big tournaments. I had to rely on my gf for more than 6 months, just to be able to keep playing dota 2. Thats only 2 years ago ^^.
I know that most of you will say that we need a year long league like LoL, and I kinda agree... But Im not sure who will the one to organize such a league, since Valve has their hands full with TI.

I know that there are tournaments that are considering paying teams a certain % for every game they play. Maybe not a lot, but its a way in the right direction I think. I know that valve has a lot of ideas on how to make this game more sustainable for players, but if you have a good idea, just share it!

And to clear out any problems... This is not a text where I try to get everyone to get ME more money... Its to point out the issue that a lot of teams cant treat this as their job.Gurih gurih ga tuhh