Very few people can become e-athletes. Like normal athletes, they spend countless hours training. A new documentary in the ARD media library shows the backgrounds of two German professionals in DOTA 2 and their path to the championship.
Who is the documentary about? Since August 21, 2024, you can watch the documentary Game for Millions – The Biggest E-Sports Tournament in the World in the ARD media library. It’s about The International 2023.
Daniel Schoetzau made it into the tournament for the first time, Leon Kirilin even won it in 2022 and is the defending champion with his team at the time of the documentary. The documentary not only looks at the matches themselves, but also the backgrounds. They show not only the beautiful, but also the shady sides of the scene.
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The documentary provides a private insight. At the beginning of the documentary we see Daniel’s mother. She explains how strange her son’s passion was to her at first. Compared to his brothers, he gambled a lot.
At some point, Daniel realized that he wanted to become a professional. He then communicated this to his family, who supported him from that point on.
Leon tells a more tragic story in the documentary. He took refuge in gaming and talks about depression. He explains how gaming brought him back to life, even though it also kept him away from it. His mother supported him. He played so well that he became a professional.
In general, the documentary shows how much time DOTA 2 demands of the pros. Daniel’s girlfriend speaks several times and explains that it is sometimes difficult. They got to know each other through DOTA, but according to her, it was also difficult to get close to him.
At the end of the documentary, the contrast between Daniel and Leon becomes clear. Daniel is much more positive. He talks about how he got to know new places and people through DOTA. Leon explains in the course of the documentary that being a DOTA pro has made his social life more difficult.
The winning mentality
For most people, winning comes first. The documentary is all about winning. All the players want to win. You can see the different emotions in scenes from the group phase, which still take place in a hotel room.
When you win, you’re happy, but when you lose, you’re filled with anger and sadness. At one point in the documentary, the players argue among themselves because Daniel made a mistake that led to the loss.
The win is important because being at the Internationals is an opportunity that may never come again. You never know what will happen to your team or your career. Team Tundra’s sports psychologist also has his say. He has previously worked for golfers.
He tells us how impressed he is by the discipline and work of the e-athletes. In golf, athletes are said to train for too long, but the DOTA scene is even more extreme. He sees the dark rooms and the few social contacts as a problem. Leon supports this with an example from his own life: Before the tournament, he was only at home for 2 out of 12 months.
He also talks about the health problems, saying that sport is a strain, especially for the back and the eyes.
Leon shows that pure victory does not bring the fulfillment that one hopes for from all the hard work. He worked towards winning the 2022 Internationals and thought that everything would be great after that. But it was just like a defeat. Nothing has changed for him.
After his loss at the 2023 Internationals, he realizes that after losing, you feel like the biggest piece of shit. With every loss comes the fear of what will happen next.
Finally, the psychologist sums it up nicely: DOTA players and professional athletes work towards a goal. Even if the goal is achieved, there is no redeeming moment. You need luck in different areas. All or nothing is a bad mentality.
In reality, there are very few people who win at all, and those who do win very rarely find happiness in winning.
Is the documentation worth it? Definitely. It is beautifully shot and uses two contrasting examples to show what the world of professional players looks like before and during a tournament. The real risks are never fully illuminated, but the focus on the mentality and emotions is very exciting, even for people who don’t follow e-sports at all. A silly idea caused the end of 10 DOTA professionals: DOTA 2: Idiotic idea ruins 10 careers of professionals in one fell swoop