‘Gamers are gods’: Thousands of fans head to Birmingham to watch professional video gamers

The production is careful, the experts are sharp and the players are gods.

This is not a traditional tournament, however. This is professional gaming. Fans watch the world’s best players play their favorite game, in an arena, to win a cash prize.

Around 15,000 fans from around the world are in Birmingham to watch the pros compete (virtually) throughout the week, with several thousand more watching the competition online.

The tournament, ESL One Birmingham, takes place at Resorts World Arena, near the city’s airport.

While many people have heard of some of the games played at major esports events like this, such as Fifa, the game played this week in Birmingham will be less well known.

One video game analyst described Dota 2 to me as being “a bit like chess,” but with flashing lights and new characters.

There are two teams of five players and, before the game can begin, the professionals spend considerable time choosing their own characters and trying to prevent the other team from choosing characters that might be too advantageous during the game .

Then, frankly, the rules of the game escape me, but I’m told it involves a king, queens, and an attempt to destroy the enemy’s (other team’s) base.

Fans tell me that part of Dota’s appeal is the difficulty of the game, but ultimately the thrill of being a spectator is the same as that of sports fans.

“It’s about the professional aspect, like in football. You can go and play football, but it’s nice to see people playing at a level that you could never play at,” said fan Ryan Freeman.

I’m here to watch the semi-final competition between the British team, Tundra, and a Saudi team, the Falcons. There are actually no British players in Tundra and the Falcons are an equally international group.

Just like in professional esports, esports teams buy and sell the best players in the world. Tundra and Falcons pros are among the highest paid in the industry.

One expert tells me that at this level, players can earn $10,000 (£8,000) a month, plus tournament winnings and sponsorship deals. The prize money for this competition is $1 million (£800,000), although this is shared between the teams, with the winning team taking home $300,000 (£240,000).

“I think a lot of people think of the esports team as five guys who like to play at home,” says Alvaro Sanchez Velasco, product manager at ESL One Birmingham.

“But the [team] organizations have training camps, they have schedules that include training programs, psychological visits. They usually have a team manager and a team psychologist, that’s very common these days, as well as a coach and an assistant coach.”

Jonas Volek is a Czech professional player and although he is not participating in this tournament in Birmingham, he is here to commentate and analyze the matches. As I interview him, I see a line of fans forming, clearly waiting for him to finish speaking.

When he does, they all ask for selfies.

Mr. Volek, 23, played chess as a child, then moved to video games and at 12 he became hooked on Dota 2, becoming a professional player in his late teens. He now competes in tournaments around the world.

“It’s not really a job, it’s more of a lifestyle because it takes a lot of time,” Mr. Volek says.

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“When I really train, it takes 12 hours a day and I’m always traveling. I don’t have time for anything else.”

I haven’t seen any female players on stage in Birmingham and the audience is dominated by men.

“I hope one day I see more women playing in the top teams,” says fan Charlotte Keane.

But there isn’t the charged and often volatile atmosphere that can be found at many sporting events, particularly in men’s soccer.

There is comical “chatter” between players from opposing teams, encouraged by the hosts to the delight of the audience. But after one player criticizes the other player’s hair in a faux-serious way, one of the hosts decides enough is enough playing fighting.

Of course, for fans there isn’t the same territorial spirit that comes with supporting a particular football team. It’s mostly about respect for the individual players, who don’t hear any of the crowd’s cheers or chants during the match because they wear noise-canceling headphones so they can focus on winning.

After about an hour of play, the Falcons were victorious and fans filed out of the auditorium to buy hot dogs and fish and chips.

This event seems decidedly less watery than any sporting event I have ever attended. But, even for an enthusiast, Dota 2 doesn’t seem like the kind of game that would be easy to follow after a few pints.