Review: Free to Play

Recently, game company Valve released a documentary called "Free to Play" which covered the events of the 2011 Dota 2 tournament at Gamescom as seen through the eyes of 3 Dota players: Dendi, hyhy, and Fear. Being an avid Dota fan myself, it was only a matter of time before I sat down to watch it. I quite enjoyed it; I found it not only entertaining but educational as well. The documentary was a glimpse not only into the lives of these players and their teams, but also into Dota itself and the future of competitive and professional gaming.
After watching it, I thought a lot about what competitive gaming is and could be. I'm realizing that being a professional gamer, especially in an arena as complex and dedicated as that of Dota 2, is becoming increasingly popular and lucrative. It would seem that in the near future, someone could make not only a stable but prosperous living off of playing competitive games; the team that left the tournament with $200,000 each will certainly agree.
One line that stuck with me is (roughly) "Competitive Dota is everything except an Olympic sport at this point." There are striking resemblances between competitive Dota 2 and other professional sports. For example, as Jeremy Lin said in the documentary, Dota 2 is very similar to basketball in that both are comprised of two 5-man teams that utilize skill and teamwork in a variety of roles to conquer their opponents. The simple difference is that one prioritizes the body over the mind and the other prioritizes the mind over the body.
Finally, I want to touch on the subject of whether people who don't know anything about Dota 2 will be able to enjoy or understand the documentary. As a Dota player, I think I enjoyed it more than someone else might; I know what "team fights" are, where the "jungle" is, and how to "last hit". However, I think that while someone who doesn't play Dota may not enjoy the documentary as much as I did, they will still find it more insightful. Its more than just a story about Dota, its a story about the life of a competitive gamer and the future of gaming as a whole.
For those who are interested in watching the documentary, you can watch it on youtube for free. A word of warning, it does contain a bit of language.