"Free to Play", Free To Watch
Connor Strange
Staff Writer
Nobody can argue that sporting events aren’t a cornerstone of American popular culture, and somehow relate to just about everyone, no matter their degree of interest.
However, not everyone agrees that competitive video games are actually a sport.
In “Free to Play”, Valve Corporation set out to prove them wrong. Not only did Valve show just how intensely competitive games can get, but they kept it riveting throughout a 75 minute runtime.
The film focuses around the game company’s current flagship title, Defense of the Ancients 2, and its competitive scene. It seems a droll affair on the surface, but the interest is quickly turned up when money is involved. “Free to Play” shows the process of the International, a worldwide DotA competition that awarded one million dollars to the first place team.
Aside from the prize pool, the movie displayed three popular players: Team Na’Vi’s Danil “Dendi” Ishutin (Ukraine); Team Nirvana’s Clinton “Fear” Loomis (U.S.); Team Scythe’s Benedict Lim “Hyhy” Han Yong (Singapore). Their home lives, their aspirations and their varying results from the International were all shown on screen.
All three players came from different walks of life, yet they all overcame huge odds to play DotA for a living. Dendi’s father died when he was only a child, leaving his mother to support three children alone. When Fear was two, his father left. Later in life, he was kicked out of the house for his dedication to gaming. Hyhy’s long-time girlfriend broke up with him, and his parents were entirely unsupportive of his role in eSports. The International gave them a chance to prove not only their skill to the enemy teams, but also to win their share of one million dollars and show their families that gaming was a permanent part of their lives.
Though video games are generally a quite juvenile topic, “Free to Play” wasn’t afraid to pull some heartstrings. The players in the documentary weren’t all laughs and smiles; they had gone through heaps of personal tragedy in their lives and needed to win to keep playing. They don’t get salaries like traditional sports players, but instead they must be the best at what they do to keep making money.
Documentaries aren’t normally the most exhilarating type of entertainment, but Valve didn’t let that hold them back from jamming as much entertainment value into the film as possible. It was an emotional rollercoaster, more than many feature-length dramas. At times, heated and hectic moments in the International were shown on screen. In other scenes, the documentary shed light upon the melancholic and often tear-jerking moments of the players’ home lives.
True pain showed on the face of Dendi as he talked about his father’s lost battle to cancer during his childhood, and regret upon Hyhy after his breakup. Additionally, the utter elation of the winning teams was easy to see in moments of triumph. For a narrative on eSports, no holds were barred in terms of emotional content.
The movie is obviously highly recommended to any gamer at all interested in the competitive scene. And even though the audience seems like it’s rather niche, the film was made so masterfully that even someone completely detached from video games would find it entertaining.
Some may say eSports don’t deserve the part after the “E”- that they’re not actually sports at all. True or not, there is certainly no denying that professional gaming is quickly becoming a not-so-unusual lifestyle, and people like Fear, Dendi and Hyhy have already found their calling in it.
