E-sports players can only be very few people. Like regular athletes, they spend countless hours in training. A new documentary in the ARD Mediathek shows the backgrounds of 2 German professionals in DOTA 2 and their path to the championship.
Who is the documentary about? Since 21.08.2024, the documentary Game for Millions – The Biggest E-Sports Tournament in the World
can be watched in the ARD Mediathek. It is about The International 2023.
- It is the world championship of DOTA 2
- One of the most difficult games ever
- It is the biggest e-sports tournament in the world, with a total prize pool of almost 40 million dollars, about 36 million euros (via Dota 2 Prize Pool Checker)
- The focus of the documentary is on 2 German professionals who qualified in 2023 with their respective teams
- Daniel Schoetzau, known as Stormstormer, played at that time for Team Entity
- Leon Kirilin, known as Nine, played at that time for Team Tundra Esports
Daniel Schoetzau has made it to the tournament for the first time, while Leon Kirilin even won it in 2022 and is the defending champion with his team at the time of the documentary. The documentary not only highlights the matches themselves but also the backgrounds. They show not only the beautiful sides but also the shady sides of the scene.
For one player in Tundra Esports, this year did not go well: He earned a fortune with DOTA 2, but was kicked out by his team in the middle of the tournament
The documentary provides a personal insight. At the beginning of the documentary, we see Daniel’s mother. She explains how alien she found her son’s passion at first. Compared to his brothers, he played a lot.
At some point, Daniel realized that he wanted to become a professional. He communicated this to his family, who then supported him from that point on.
Leon tells a more tragic story in the documentary. He escaped into gaming, sharing experiences of depression. He explains how gaming brought him back to life, although it also keeps him away from it at the same time. His mother supported him. He played so well that he became a professional.
Generally, the documentary shows how much time DOTA 2 demands from professionals. Daniel’s girlfriend speaks several times, explaining that it is sometimes difficult. Although they got to know each other through DOTA, according to her, it was also hard for her to approach him.
At the end of the documentary, the contrast between Daniel and Leon is evident. Daniel is clearly more positive. He talks about how he has met new places and people through DOTA. Leon explains during the documentary that being a DOTA professional has rather complicated his social life.
The Winning Mentality
For most, winning comes first. The documentary mainly revolves around winning. All players want to win. In scenes from the group phase, which still take place in a hotel room, one can see the different emotions.
With a victory, the joy is immense, but with a defeat, anger and sadness predominate. In one moment of the documentary, the players argue with each other because Daniel made a mistake that led to the defeat.
Victory is important because being at the Internationals is an opportunity that may never come again. You never know what happens to your team or your career. The sports psychologist from Team Tundra also speaks. He previously worked for golfers.
He shares how impressed he is with the discipline and work of the e-sports players. In golf, the athletes are also said to train too long, but the DOTA scene is even more extreme
. The dark rooms and the few social contacts he sees as a problem. Leon underlines this with an example from his life: In the 12 months prior to the tournament, he was only home for 2.
He also talks about the health issues, especially for the back and eyes, as the sport is a strain.
It is shown with Leon that pure victory does not bring the fulfillment that one hopes for after all the hard work. He worked towards the victory of the Internationals 2022 and thought that everything would be beautiful after that. But it is just like a defeat. For him, nothing has changed.
After his defeat at the Internationals 2023, he realizes that after a loss, one feels like the biggest piece of shit.
With each defeat comes the fear of what comes next.
In the end, the psychologist sums it up nicely: DOTA players and professional athletes work for a goal. Even if the goal is reached, there is no redeeming moment. One needs luck in different areas. All or nothing
is a bad mentality.
In reality, there are only a few people who ever win, and those who win find their happiness only very rarely in winning.
Is the documentary worth watching? Definitely. It is beautifully shot and shows, using the example of two contrasts, what the world of professional players looks like before and during a tournament. Although the real risks are never fully illuminated, the focus on mentality and emotions is very exciting, even for people who do not follow e-sports at all. A silly idea led to the elimination of 10 DOTA professionals: DOTA 2: Silly Idea Ruins 10 Professionals’ Careers at Once
