Higher Animal
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2012
- Messages
- 1,854
lol what the fuck, goddamn in what other sport do the dickhead fans demand their manfus stick together or else lose all of their cash? I say we go a step further, we should confiscate 100% of the cash from the asian teams, tear up their passports, and break their hands: GO TEAM NAVI WOOOOOH.
In nearly all other sports the players sign multi-year deals that have specific bonuses and penalties related to their continued presence on that particular team. The result is that people feel loyalty to specific teams in part due to the continued presence of their favorite players. These teams also tend to develop specific strategies related to the personnel on their team, which further particularizes these teams from others. It allows the creation of an "image" which is distinct from other teams in the pool of competitors.
DOTA 2's problem is that very few people outside of the playerbase can identify with teams or playstyles. In order for a sport to work on a spectator level, it needs certain optics which allow for casual and newbie player fans to feel connected to the different teams. As of right now, each individual player leaves whenever he feels like it for whatever reason, and drops team loyalty when it suits his purpose. This does not allow for the development of consistent team play or identifiable signifiers which casual fans can understand. I think the best storyline of TI was Burning's last in 2014 with TDK. Here we had a specific person on a specific team with the specific purpose of wanting to win the title, and that created interesting drama for casual viewers. The more rapid-fire changes in team lineups that occur the less such stories are possible.