Free to Play

Movie Title--  Free to Play

Release Year--  2014

Running Time--  1 Hour and 15 Minutes

Film Type--  Documentary

Cast--  Benedict Lim, Clinton Loomis, Danil Ishutin

This documentary follows 3 professional gamers from around the world as they compete for a $1,000,000 prize.

This documentary focuses on three young men that come to Cologne, Germany to compete for a $1,000,000 prize for playing the online game DotA 2.  The documentary was produced by The Valve Corporation, best known for producing the video games "Half-Life", "Team Fortress", "Portal" and of course "DotA 2".  

Instead of giving a run down of the film, I am going to break it into sections, for anyone that does not often play online games of this type.  Let's start with the game and it's objectives.

DotA stands for Defense of the Ancients; it is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game.  The game is 5 players versus 5 players with a common objective to make it to the opposing team's stronghold and destroy the building they call "the Ancient".  Each team has a stronghold, only in the opposite corner of the map from each other.  Each player controls a "Hero" and then focuses on leveling up, earning gold and fighting the enemy team to achieve total victory.

On August 1, 2011 "The International" was announced.  It was the first ever DotA 2 competition to be held at Gamescon in Cologne, Germany and it was the first ever video game to give out a $1,000,000 prize to first place.  The total amount of money that was to be given out at "The International" was 1.6 million U.S. dollars.

Before this tournament, gamers would get scammed when it came to their winnings and in some cases, players were not paid.  No prize had ever been so large in a video game competition before.

The prize totals for the tournament are as follows:

1st Place--$1,000,000

2nd Place--$250,000

3rd Place--$180,000

4th Place--$80,000

5th-6th Place--$35.000

7th-8th Place--$25,000

9th-16th Place-$0

The tournament area is set up like a DotA map with two sound proof glass boxes in the center of the room that houses the players and the computers.  The teams can see each other but they cannot hear each other.

In tournament play, 4 Heroes are banned by each team and the captain chooses who he wants everyone to be.  Drafting is a very important, the wrong bans can make or break a team.

Now for the players---

Name--  Clinton Loomis

Gamer Tag--  Fear

Country of Origin--  USA

Team Name--  Online Kingdom

"Fear"'s father left when he was two, leaving his mother to  raise him and his older brother while she was still going through law school.  She found a job in Oregon and moved the family there.  He started playing video games when he didn't make the cut for basketball because he was too short and he knew that gaming was something he wanted to do for a living.  

"Fear" plays on an international team, which causes him to keep crazy hours.  His mother couldn't handle his crazy sleeping schedule and kicked him out of the house.  He found his own place and hopes to win to be able to continue to do what he loves but still be able to provide for himself.  He is known as one of the biggest and best known players in North America.

Name--  Benedict Lim

Gamer Tag--  "HyHy"

Country of Origin--  Singapore

Team Name--  Scythe

He has always been a straight A student but since he has started gaming, his grades have been slipping.  His parents blame the video games for his bad grades.  His father's hope is that he will study and get a good job so that his son doesn't have to work as hard as he does some day.

The International is going on at the same time as his exams.  He decides to sacrifice his exams for a chance in the competition.  His family is very disappointed in his choice to play.

Name--  Danil Ishutin

Gamer Tag--  "Dendi"

Country of Origin--  Ukraine

Team Name--  Na'Vi

"Dendi" is the youngest of three children.  His father died when he was young and the two of them had been like friends, so it affected him greatly.  He started playing on the computer more after his father's death and that is when he became interested in online gaming.  

When it comes to the game, "Dendi"'s downfall is his patients.  The work he does on a keyboard is mesmerizing and he has the hands to keep complete technical control but he wants to rely on pure skill, so sometimes his patients gets the better of him and he jumps into fights that he should be wary of.

Additional Information:

In Asia, gaming is taken very seriously.  DotA 2 is consider an E-Sport (Electronic Sport) and in China, E-Sports are considered as real of a sport as Soccer and Ping Pong are.  Asian gamers are treated like rockstars.  Fans will run up to them when games are over and ask for autographs and girls want their boyfriends to be gamers.  Being a gamer is treated like a full time job.  They live together in "gamer houses" and act as if they were going to work, where they train all day to become the best.  Chinese teams are feared as a team, not as individual players because they work so well together.

In 2010, the Chinese team "E-Home" finished the year as the best team in the history of "DotA", winning the most tournaments.  They are the favored team to win The International.

So, I have decided to leave you with that information and leave the actual 5 days of tournament up to you to watch on your own (Oh how we do hate spoilers!).  As for the Documentary, as far as they go, I seriously enjoyed this one.  I have to start by saying, there isn't anything that Valve does half-assed and this goes on that list.  Valve did an excellent job of putting this film together, especially the scenes during the tournament.  I was on the edge of my seat more than one time cheering for our three teams up there.

I will also say, I do not play DotA 2, so if any of the information about the game play and mechanics are wrong, I apologize.  I just know that it is similar to the game I play (League of Legends by Riot Games), I don't have any friends that play DotA and that is  really the only reason that I don't play it.  After watching this film though, I am seriously considering giving it a try.

I think that "Dendi", "Fear" and "HyHy" are awesome and I think they are great guys for letting Valve share their stories.  They are easy to sympathize with and very good at what they do.  They each had a common goal and three different reasons why they wanted it so badly.  It is hard to not hope that someone who has dedicated so much of their time to something, will succeed and this is the perfect story to show what hard work and determination can get you, even when others doubt you.

I will say that I found myself jeering at "E-Home" because in a way, they are presented slightly as the "bad guys" of this film, when actually they are just a very intimidating group of guys that are also working toward that common goal of winning the $1,000,000.

I would recommend this film to ANYONE but especially the people that play MOBA games.  This was a great watch and it was put together quite beautifully.  Please do not think that I am saying throw your life away and play video games professionally, just know that I think this is a great film about three guys that knew that they were the best, so they showed the world what they can do.  Have a LAN party and put this film on the big screen while you play and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

P.S.--By the way, this film is free to download on Steam.  If you are unfamiliar with Steam, it is a digital distribution/social networking platform produced by the Valve Corporation.  Go to www.steampowered.com to download the client and set yourself up with an account.  I guarantee that the film in the very least is worth downloading the client.