incomplete

i started out writing this post because my mind was boiling with all the information, post-scythe interviews.
i'm not sure what exactly i wanted to achieve out of writing, other than it helps me put my thoughts in order, and is somewhat therapeutic to me.
so, since i expended the effort to write a whole wall of text, i figured i might as well post it, even if there is no aim to it other than self fulfilment.

***

USD$150,000. Granted, the exchange rate now isn't that great, but it still amounts to roughly SGD$180,000.
That's the amount of money that a Singapore DOTA 2 team won at the recent Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.
Anyone would be overjoyed with that amount, but not Scythe.SG.
Walking into the interviews today, they didn't look like gamers who just bagged the 3rd prize in high profile, international tournament. They look like a solemn, even downcast, group of 5 who were jet lagged.
When pressed for their feelings on taking 3rd place, they morosely replied that they were upset at not being able to advance any further in the competition.
Said Daryl Koh,"Na'vi deserved to win, it was obvious that they outclassed the rest of the teams at the competition, but we drafted wrong against EHOME, and after the first loss against them, we simply lost the momentum." [the semi-finals were conducted in best of 3, with the winner proceeding to the finals]
"Na'vi bootcamped for a month or so before the competition, they were the most familiar with all the heroes and hero combinations. We knew we couldn't beat them, but we shouldn't have lost the games against EHOME,"continued Lim Hanyong, shaking his head.
DOTA 2 is a game which is played in teams of 5. Each team has to destroy the opponent strong hold first to win the game. In all, there are about 30 heroes - many DotA Allstars heroes have not been added in as of yet - and each match starts off with the captains banning and picking heroes. Often, the hero combination determines the outcome of the game.
As Toh Wai Hong elaborates,"the skill level of the players, and the teamwork are all about the same, so many times, the hero combination is the remaining factor which play a great part in determing success or failure."
Daryl chips in,"for example, if one team picks 5 heroes which can take lots of damage, and the opponent picks 5 heroes which have very low hit points, the team with the 5 tougher heroes will win."
Its a highly strategic game, and the hero picking and banning process takes up to 10minutes to complete. Teams often have heated discussions while they try to guess what the opponent has in store.
So obviously, each competition, and indeed, each game, sorely tests a team's ability to withstand pressure and disagreements.

Asked if they faced any roadblocks on their journey to 3rd place, most of the team cited taking official leave from school and national service as big problems.
As Daryl laments,"I had a hard time taking leave from my national service - I work in shifts, so I had to find replacements for all the shifts that I couldn't be there for. Also, I have more or less used up all my leave for this competition, so even though I most definitely will win the WCG nationals (for StarCraft II), I won't be able to represent Singapore in the WCG Grand Finals in Korea anyway."

And this is a problem echoed by competitive gamers who are stigmatised in a society where the media mostly portrays gamers as addicted and needing help, and gaming as a vice.

As Dawn Yang from PMS Asterisk (an all female competitive team) says,"Gamers are an easy target, because every mother knows one, and she doesn't understand them."

I liken gaming to being on the phone. Almost everyone nowadays can immediately understand that "I'm in a call right now" means that they're communicating with another person, who isn't exactly tangible, and that they should be accorded with privacy.
"I'm in a game right now" just doesn't have the same ring (no pun intended) to it, and few non-gamers understand that being in a game, doesn't mean you can just pause it as and when you like when you're in a 25-man raid in World of Warcraft, or a 5v5 Counterstrike 1.6 training. They see it as entertainment, sort of like watching a dvd on television, where missing a few minutes of the show won't really disrupt the story line for you.