???????
I haven’t been following Dota 2 for a little while, so I’d appreciate it if the community could help me answer a few questions about this year’s TI.
Why is the TI 11 Broadcast hosted in Oslo, Norway, when the event itself takes place in Singapore?
Not only will you not have players available for the panel, but the talent will be working from ~2AM to ~10AM local. I can understand wanting a remote hub, but couldn’t it have been on the same continent as the event itself?
If the TI 11 Hub is in Oslo, why has the Russian Language Hub been moved to Kazakhstan? Is it because Norway suspended its Visa agreement with Russia seven days ago?
It’s my understanding that Russia is the aggressor in the current War in Ukraine. I believe they’ve also been documented committing numerous War crimes throughout the conflict, assuming we accept the United Nations as an unbiased party. It seems odd to change the location to specifically accommodate for citizens of the aggressing nation.
Last year the TI 10 talent list had:
13 Ukrainians, 14 Russians and 1 Belarusian.
This year, the TI 11 talent list has:
7 Ukrainians, 37 Russians, 3 Belarusians, and 1 Kazakhstani.
Sources have reported that the Russian Gambling company BetBoom directly purchased the rights to the broadcast for a seven figure sum.
Why would Valve sell the broadcast rights to The International to a betting company, let alone a Russian one?
Why are talent who are invited to work the official TI broadcast pushing pro-war symbols on their personal streams?
Translation of the comms:
”Remove everything except Full support and Safe lane and see what happens.”
”Ooooh”
“It is for good luck, you know”
Why would making a “Z” out of their role selection bring them good luck?
This is the only talent stupid enough (so far) to make his feelings public. The views of the other 36 Russian talent remain unknown.
Under the current circumstances, shouldn’t we optimize logistics and safety considerations for Ukrainians?
Currently, these are the options for invited Ukrainian Dota 2 talent:
Boycott TI 11 and miss the world championship of the game you’ve dedicated your passion and career to.
Or
Fly to Kazakhstan to participate in a broadcast operated by a subsidiary of a Russian betting company, directly working alongside pro-war Russian colleagues.
The entirety of the official Russian Language coverage of the TI 11 Regional Qualifiers was broadcast on twitch.tv/betboom_ru.
Why are talent voicelines sold in a capsule, instead of individually?
Only Gold and Holo stickers grant voicelines (3.85% chance/46 talent).
So, if you love a specific person’s line, your odds of getting theirs are .08246%. A 1 in 1196 chance.
This also means that all money spent on Russian Caster Sticker Capsules will be distributed to all casters, including those that are pro war. There’s no way for me to support an individual Ukrainian caster directly.
My choices are:
Support my favorite UA caster, whilst also supporting all of the Russian casters (the money is split evenly across all talent, so the Russian talent collectively receive $37 for every $1 our favorite Ukrainian earns).
Or
I don’t support them at all, and buy their sticker/voiceline via the Steam Marketplace, where only Valve takes a cut.
I also wonder — were all of the talent made aware that their IP would not be directly purchasable, but instead would be locked behind lootboxes?
This is a significant change from last year.
What are other publishers doing? Perhaps this is the industry practice?
At the beginning of the invasion, RIOT closed the LCL (EEU LOL league). There is also no Russian broadcast at Worlds 2022.
I’d love to get some answers.
Cheers,
Kyle
