DOTA: INTERVIEW WITH DOTA-LEAGUE ADMIN MATHIAS 'DOPESHOW.' SCHMEDESHAGEN
"We invest our own money"
Yesterday Dota-League-Admin Mathias 'dopeshow' Schmedeshagen wrote in a column about the missing professionalism in the scene. Today he talks in an interview about much more topics. Where does the prize money of the D-L events come from, how does a life of a DotA admin look like and what are the plans for future?
The 9th F4F features only 20 teams. Why have you decided to reduce the number of participants?
AngeL and dopeshow dopeshow: It all comes down to the teams not having the right attitude. By now, the community expects more than the games just being played. They have to get streamed, the times must be comfortable for the viewers, with a timetable released beforehand, in an optimal way. Most of the potential teams lack this kind of attitude, players don't know each other for too long and they don't have the experience to organise themselves properly. They're greenhorns so to speak.
There are defined criteria to be fulfilled to get accepted. This is how we try to separate the wheat from the chaff and even if it's not always evenhanded and fair, the record shows us that we were right.
Often it's required to give us information regarding your first- and surname, date of birth and a picture of yourself. Rather unknown teams I often ask for a portfolio of replays to lighten the decision. It's astonishing how many of the teams are not able to even fulfill these requirements. When I'm asked by the teams to add them to the tournament and I explain the requirements thereupon, "lol" is sometimes the only answer I get. This is neither satisfying nor really convincing.
What about the Asian teams which were excluded from this tournament as well. Why do they have difficulties playing in Europe? Lag can't be an excuse for missing communication.
dopeshow: Asian teams have a dominant offline scene and a strong national one. They don't have the need to be successful online like American or European teams do. Asian teams know they're good when playing offline and possible lag online makes them feel uncomfortable, they lose motivation to pay attention to the timetable. A vicious circle. Although they have shown to be a serious contender at good days, are these few and far between, which isn't adequate to participate in Farm4Fame.
Currently the F4F tournament is run by only three admins. Why do you operate with such a small crew?
dopeshow: To have a small but compact crew was part of the concept behind F4F. Few guys with obvious responsibility assignment, instead of a big staff which shoves the task to one another, is the right choice for a project like F4F, in my opinion. Fortunately, we immediately found two reliable and hardworking folks with zhs and HolyMaster. At former projects for SK-Gaming or inDotA there have always been people who started out great, but turned out to be burned out just after two weeks. Every admin for F4F knows his tasks and more importantly also the participating teams do. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the teams, who tell us that it's great to exactly know whom to talk to. Other tournaments have a huge staff and you easily lose the general idea who is responible for your certain request, or moreover you don't know who is in charge of the tournament at all.
You have already announced not to continue F4F. Are there alternative plans, what can be expected?
There won't be a second F4F dopeshow: We don't look back in anger. Farm4Fame has definitely brought DotA and Dota-League one step forward, but it's time for a new format. The scene has undergone changes ever since the announcement of F4F. We're currently consulting the teams and already have a scheme in our minds. But as a precondition the teams will have to accept fixed matchdates. This has to be done carefully because it's no use to invite 100 teams if you're left with only 30 teams after only a week because you had to disqualify them. We're still not sure whether the new system will be a tournament or a league. But what is certain is the fact that we want to provide the event with a lot of media. An IPTV-stream and shoutcasts for every match. But it's neccessary to have fixed matchdates. This is what makes it difficult to integrate American teams into the new tournament.
Comparable to your recent cooperation with GameTV, which set up a videostream for Pick-League games on Sunday?
dopeshow: Yes, exactly. Eugen 'Daarkside' Müller came up to us. This was perfect, because every stream you can provide is better than no stream, every shoutcast is better than no cast. You have to remember that GGTV is a client, which isn't even known by every single DotA player, let alone the handling of GGTV. WTV has a similar problem. The main aim is to have a problem-free streaming device and it isn't getting much easier than just pushing a button on a website. We have to follow this path further.
What exactly is the problem providing regular shoutcasts?
dopeshow: Apart from the match dates being totally unpredictable? It's unbelievably difficult to find dedicated shoutcasters. There are many people who have all hat and no cattle. It took us ages to find someone who could cast appealingly in English. With sushi and cola we found two excellent shoutcasters and I'm curious what comes next.
Are there further offline events planned after DotA-Masters? Any specific plans for the future?
dopeshow: As far as I know, there have been talks held. However, a DotA event has to be connected to a bigger event like CeBit or GamesCon, in my opinion. It was a pleasure to see die-hard WC3 or CS supporters suddenly becoming interested in DotA. We were able to get a positive feedback of random visitors in Hannover. This makes us want more and if the conditions are fitting the whole Dota-League crew will get some days off to arrange such an event again!
Not too long ago, we published an article about the efforts each team has to make to get some prize money. It turned out that Farm4Fame was more exhausting than comparable tournaments like IDEC.
dopeshow: I don't want to deny this fact. But you have to keep in mind that the idea behind the tournament has been build, when DotA was in an whole other state of affairs. Similar tournaments at that time like MYM PriDe had a prize money of 400 €. Ever since DotA has gone a long way, also due to the Farm4Fame tournament. Today we certainly wouldn't launch the same tournament, it's an antiquated system and probably wouldn't work under the current terms and conditions. But remember: To run a successful tournament it needs more than just an amount of money. Zhs for example has launched a phenomenal coverage.
Looking at the huge number of members who already registered at your page, why haven't you signed a deal with a big sponsor yet?
dopeshow: It all comes down to DotA not having a publisher and therefore not having a big sponsor acceptance, that's the main problem. When Blizzard releases a new game, literally everyone knows and expects the game to be a complete success. DotA itself has no big sponsors at all, which makes potential sponsors sceptical: "Why should I invest money, if no one else does?" Nowadays, the marketing budgets are getting cut and people think twice before investing in apparently risky businesses. Additionally, we don't exactly feel the pressure to sign a sponsor at all costs.
We have gone a long way without it and it's not all about the money. Besides: A potential sponsor would need to invest a huge sum of money to really bring us a step foward. Since our next step isn't some new servers or more tournaments, but to hold more LAN-events. To really make a progress in this field, it needs some bigger investment to use all the capabilities sleeping there. Nobody in Europe dared to take the risk yet.
If the prize money isn't provided by a sponsor, where does it come from?
dopeshow: Roughly speaking: From advertisements on our website. We're also investing our own money. Before announcing an event like Farm4Fame, we make sure to have the costs covered 100%. Pick-League for example is already sponsored by SteelSeries. We host the event and SteelSeries provides the prize money. This leads to us putting all of the money, which we could keep for ourselves, back into the community.
The ESL couldn't become accepted within the DotA-community, although they're the market leader for renowned games like Warcraft or Counter-Strike. Why is that?
dopeshow: ESL tries too hard to squeeze all games into prototyped schemes. A 1vs1 or 2vs2 competition might be interesting for other games, but it certainly isn't the right concept for DotA. Furthermore, the community has the memory of an elephant. In the past the ESL made some mistakes and it's going to be a tough exercise to abandon this image.
Do you rather see the ESL as a competitor or as useful assistance?
Always critizised: ESL and DotA dopeshow: I don't have a particular opinion concerning the ESL. But one thing is for sure: Dota-League is doing the best job in the DotA territory right now. Of course it's desirable to have the ESL to support DotA big time. But I'm not going crazy just because the ESL started to notice DotA as an eSports title. According to their motto, the ESL is "The League That Matters" - in my opinion Dota-League is "The League That Cares". Maybe the main difference between us and the ESL is the money being invested. While the ESL operates with budgets and financial calculations, we are using our own money. Spending our own hard-earned money is probably the reason why we are more focused and impassionate. I did know from a reliable source that there was a team who was using a ringer even in the semi-final of EMS, for instance. When contacting the responsible ESL admin, he just told me that he doesn't care. Another difference is the huge spectrum of games the ESL tries to cover and thus is not able to treat every game individually.
Have there ever been any attempts to headhunt you or the whole Dota-League by the ESL?
dopeshow: There have been attempts every now and then by different organisations, indeed. None of those offers was really acceptable, though. All these takeovers implied that we would have to abandon all our authorities and being reduced to a co-worker status. I had some offers myself, as well, but I always demand the same support as I get from Dota-League and this is a huge demand.
Even to get more money couldn't lure you?
Dopeshow: It's a rumour that admins for DotA are being paid. As far as I know, this isn't the case. I know that Rinoa was paid by MYM and most likely Dotabunny has gotten some sort of allowance. But that's because they were in the right place at the right time and could convince the right people of themselves. Furthermore MeetYourMakers, which was their entrepreneur, was known to fork out money for something easily.
In the long term this hasn't been exactly the right choice. I have asked MYM myself at that time, but eventually was signed by SK-Gaming, because they appeared more likeable. A possible payment is more a bonus factor than a major reason to join an organisation. In the first place it's important to me to have a competent crew, which I like to work with and that all parties pull together.
Did you ever regret joining SK-Gaming for the rather short interlude?
dopeshow: We had a lot of fun together in Paris and also the work I did at home was worth every minute invested. My engagement was't planned to be an interlude in the first place, but it turned out SK-Gaming had other priorities than Dota-League and Farm4Fame. I wanted to be focused and thus joined the Dota-League again. I still cultivate contact with some of the guys of SK and I also get on with Carmac excellently.
Michal is an ingenious chieftain and I was able to learn a lot from him, even though he demanded a great deal of everybody. He often acts like the cool and easygoing type of guy, but he probably is the hardest boss you can imagine. In short: I never regret the decision to join SK-Gaming and I would make the same decision again.
Does your real life suffer due to your admin duties?
dopeshow: Yes, at bad days. I don't have to work every night.(laughs) But there is always a lot I have to organise, especially when famous players are aware of their status and try to exploit it. There are also many teams who try to be smart. For example Rush3D. They were supposed to play an official match and I was doing my general check-ups, when I noticed Max 'Gunz' Williams had a Norwegian IP. There were just a few players who came into consideration. So I contacted them, whereupon one Norwegian player told me that he and Gunz were boot camping at his house. Because Gunz was online, as well, I contacted him and oddly enough he told me he was still in England.
In short: There is more to be done than you might imagine. In general, there are always some complications between admins and players. They're like an old couple, they argue and clamour, but as long as the positive aspects prevail, it's a lot of fun. At this point, I want to compliment one team: Maelk and his team have always left a positive impression. They are experienced, have participated in many events and there is almost always a contact person available.
Would you take into consideration to work as a DotA admin full-time?
dopeshow: Difficult question. Basically, I'm really interested to work in the eSports sector and if there was a possibility, I'd take it. But at the moment such a job couldn't be justified for DotA. Maybe the future will bring something, it would certainly be worth an experience. I wouldn't want to miss certain unintentionally funny situations. There were two American players who were committed to eat with their family at Thanksgiving and thus couldn't play the match. They announced it only half an hour before the game was planned to start. Try to explain that to the other team. (*laughs*)
Let's talk about your April Fool's joke. This has provoked a lot of discussion and controversies within the community. Are you satisfied?
DL Masters: First Offline-Event of D-L dopeshow: Yes, the April Fool was more than worth it. Milo originally came up with this idea in the beginning of this year, but it was left unused. I picked it up in the end of March and since I'm having good contact to Heldarion, we decided to release it. We had quite a good laugh on April 1st. The controversies within the community were a side-effect we hadn't intended. But this just shows how the community is eager for something to happen. Hopefully we can pull something big and bring the community into amazement.
What's the future of myMYM as a community page?
dopeshow: It's difficult to pre-estimate something. But the current one-man-show by Heldarion, who is surrounded by people who rather run around wearing the myMYM tag than actually work, obviously isn't going to work out for them. At the moment, the website is mainly visited to get an overview about current news. I'm curious if other websites have the ability to use the momentum and fill the market gap. Although there are two brilliant websites for the German community with fragster.de and DotAsource and there is an international communitypage with DotA-Allstars.com. But we are missing an international website with its own content.
(Update: Heldarion has left myMYM.)
How do you see the latest changes regarding MYM and Ravens?
dopeshow: I think the time will tell if this was a good decision or not. In my opinion it was a pretty big take over of MYM. All that scramble about "Who, where, when and how" is a sign that nobody read my column (laughs). The players should also read scene pages and interviews, this would broaden their minds a lot. If they were professional, they would handle the thing with Misery, moods, KwoM and PlaymatE much better. This was obvsiously not the case. My final words: DotA is more drama than eSport at the moment.
The interview was held by Finn 'pille' Friedrichs and Andrea 'RuFFy' Lonz.
[INTERVIEW] Dopeshow by fragster.de
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