ESPN’s ‘Dota 2: The International’ Broadcast Baffles Some Viewers
Competitive gaming took a big step forward with the ESPN 2 broadcast of the Dota 2 championship The International on Sunday. The tournament with the prize pool worth nearly $11 million wasn’t well-received by everyone, as the channel that is known for repeats, poker, and pool during this time of the year tried something different with mixed results.
Despite the large prize pool and the competitive nature of eSports, it still struggles for respect outside of those that follow games. It was just this past December that HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel held a panel discussion that was really just seven people snickering at the idea of competitive gaming being taken seriously.
This attitude carried over to those on Twitter who were surprised to see ESPN 2 broadcasting Dota 2.
wtf i was watching some bo jackson documentary on espn2, then all of a sudden a dota2 feature starts playing.
— cristian (@Cris__Bernal) July 21, 2014
They have espn2 on. Some sort of video game competition. Its on tv. Not sure if I’m annoyed by it or just feel old
— kaysbar (@kaysbar) July 21, 2014
What in the hell is on ESPN2 right now? I don’t curse often on social media, but this situation absolutely begs that I do
— Jon Ruther (@JNRuth) July 21, 2014
What are they showing on ESPN2? That’s not a sport lol
— Bikalangelo (@Bik_Meister23) July 21, 2014
That is only a small sampling of the baffled comments posted by ESPN 2 viewers on Twitter. Reddit user niknarcotic managed to collect much more and put them all together in a single amusing image.
ESPN 2’s broadcast of The International contained all of the production values you would expect from the Disney-owned network and those that follow competitive gaming largely appeared to be happy to see it on. Some sites like Mashable called it a “giant leap” for the E-sports.
However, the Dota 2 broadcast lacked some of the trappings that have become expected of eSport broadcasts on Twitch and other services, but some reviewers noted that it was other production decisions that kept it from reaching a broader audience.
“The special did nothing to explain what ‘Dota 2’ is,” ShackNews’s Ozzie Meija pointed out. “Those seeing ‘Dota 2’ on-screen for the first time could see action unfolding, but with no rhyme or reason as to what’s going on. Not only was there no explanation about the game, but the term ‘MOBA’ was hardly mentioned at all. There was no overview given on ‘Dota 2’s’ rules or nuances for anyone discovering it for the time. Video packages for each team were filled with terms like ‘triple kill’ and scenes like environments falling apart, without explaining what any of it meant.”
Ironically, Valve introduced a “noob friendly” Twitch stream specifically for the purpose of making Dota 2 easier to understand to those experiencing the game for the first time. That may be a better choice for future eSport competitions if ESPN decides to broadcast them again.
Did you watch the The International on ESPN 2? Was it a good first step for the eSports genre?
[Image via ESPN]
