The prevalence of e-sports has been growing larger and larger as video games have become more adopted into the mainstream. Teams of dedicated players that train for months upon months are no longer things only seen with traditional sports of athleticism. The e-sports scene is quite large and spans multiple game genres, whether that be events like EVO - where fighting games have a focus, Starcraft tournaments, or competition between teams in MOBAs such as League of Legends or Dota 2.
Valve's internally developed documentary on the e-sports scene, “Free To Play” hopes to capture the real drama behind e-sports competitors. Following the lives of three professional Dota players with their own ambitions, goals, and risks, the documentary will be centered around the first Dota 2 International Tournament that took place at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, 2011. The prize for winning the competition: one million dollars.
The three that the documentary will follow come from around the world. Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, Benedict "HyHy" Lim, and Clinton "Fear" Loomis each entered the tournament hoping to not only prove that e-sports is something legitimate and professional to their families, but also to prove to themselves that they can accomplish something significant.
The events of the documentary are several years old now, but the trailer is pretty intense, so I might just watch it and avoid spoilers in the meantime!
The “Free To Play” documentary will be premiered on March 18 at The Castro Theater in San Francisco at 8:00pm PDT. Those who can not attend the premier can go to Steam and pre-load the movie right now for free access on March 19.
