Around the rest of the world, gamers have woken up to the fact that a career playing video games professionally is not only viable but also lucrative. Prize pools can be as high as $2 million. The 24-year-old Ukrainian eSports star Danil ”Dendi” Ishutin made $156,010 last year across 17 tournaments. Across his short career, Ishutin has made almost half a million dollars just playing Dota 2. These types of winnings are characteristic only of the top earners but eSports at this level have had trouble making the leap across the sea by which we are girt.
The official Call of Duty tournament took place in late March in Los Angeles, with the top team (compLexity) taking home $400,000. I got the chance to ask T1 Dotters (formerly Trident T1 Dotters) about this surprise success and the realities of a budding professional gaming career. The team was pitted against some of the best players in the world. In much the same way as the football World Cup, teams start in groups of four and play for the top two positions. T1 were grouped with a team tipped to be the best in their group, Faze, but beat them in a surprise upset.
Speaking to Hayden ”Damage” Handakas, it’s hard not to get on board with the quietly confident underdogs. ”We are over the moon and we have put Australia on the map when it comes to CoD. Now we’re even hungrier to go to international events and compete. It wasn’t a surprise to us that much, we knew we had what it took to get Top Eight, but to get to the Top Five was even sweeter. We were quietly confident but we were aware, not having played any of these NA/EU teams and seen their playing styles, we didn’t know what to expect in regards to that.”
When they think of eSports, many people imagine what they’ve seen from either first-hand or second-hand experience playing the game at home or online with friends. The difference between how we might play Call of Duty and how a professional team does is as different as the World Cup is from a Sunday kick-around in the park. Watching a team of players who have a strategy and lightning-fast teamwork is bewildering. This is because the teams practice their tactics and prearranged manoeuvres for months beforehand.
Handakas knows that a large part of the public doesn’t understand his sport. ”Call of Duty doesn’t seem like much to people who don’t understand the game itself. I understand that it probably just looks like a bunch of people running around aimlessly shooting each other. It’s so much more than that; it’s about strategy for each of the game modes, it’s about how accurate your shots are and whether your reactions are quicker than your opponents.”
A recurring theme when reading interviews with professional gamers is that their family doesn’t understand the commitment required. While some might scoff, the support of your family is important to any professional sport player, from chess to rugby. Handakas is lucky to not have this problem. ”My mum hasn’t wanted me to play video games since I got my first console, but over the years she’s learned that it’s what I love. As long as I do my uni work she’s happy and extremely supportive. She actually knows the concept of the game and can understand what is happening most of the time. She also understands how much pressure and concentration is needed, so she respects that when I practice at home.”
The team practices together for four to five hours a day. Thie onus is on the team strategy more than individual skill. Matches such as Search and Destroy and Capture the Flag are usually more complex than a strictly death match-style game because teams are required to split up to complete multiple attack and defence objectives. This could easily be the main reason these sports are still criminally under-appreciated. Yet Handakas knows the work is worth the reward. ”The effort which goes into being a top tier team is ridiculous. It’s just constant grinding of the game, learning the lines in which your opponents run, it’s about knowing when to do something at the right time and learning that one specific grenade throw that could win you the match. To play against the best in the game is a thrilling experience.”
With the winnings split between the team and their success bringing them a new sponsor, T1 Dotters have the financial benefit of being in a position to practise and prepare for the next challenge. Yet this win is beneficial for the Australian eSports scene as well, bringing international attention to the budding pro gaming scene. ”I think particularly with our recent success, Australia is now definitely considered a country that can produce top quality teams. We’ve shown the world that we are up there, skill-wise, with the North American and European teams. So I definitely think Australia is an up and comer. ESports is massive around the world, and growing in Australia, though the fan base is much smaller. We’ve also now partnered with Curse, a North American organisation well known in the competitive eSports scene, to represent Oceania. It’s a huge step for us, and also creates more exposure for eSports in Australia.”
As gaming continues to insert itself into all aspects of modern culture, it’s hard not to see a world where competitive eSports garner the same amount of passion in Australia as NSW v whomever it is they play against.
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