The importance of ESL One Frankfurt

The following article is an opinion piece and the authors views and opinions are his own and not of GosuGamers.

Pan back to a late night in the Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt on June 29th 2014. In the aftermath of Invictus Gaming's monumental 22-0 victory over Evil Geniuses, the Chinese team left their booth an emphatic response from the crowd. A nervous Wong Hock 'Chuan' Chuan stepped up to the microphone for his post-match interview only for the crowd to erupt into a unified “Chuan! Chuan! Chuan!” From my spot in the middle of the crowd it was deafening, the entire crowd had gone from a majority supporting their American opponents to joining together to show their appreciation for an incredible final game result. Without a doubt the crowd had made the event something special and only 12 months later the crowd brought the hype again.

A single moment in Sunday's grand final saw Evil Geniuses lose a well executed team fight to allow Team Secret to shift a massive 19,700 experience swing in their favour and to force a third ESL grand final loss for captain Peter 'PPD' Dager and his team. Team Secret had won their fourth consecutive tournament but while the previous three had been in America and China, they had finally won on European soil. Team Secret left their booth to meet an incredible response from the crowd, the entire stadium echoing while casters Toby 'Tobiwan' Dawson and Austin 'DotaCapitalist' Walsh could only turn around in their booth and watch in awe. Fans of the defeated Americans around me had dramatically switched from loudly cheering for the visitors to joining in on the standing ovation in appreciation of what they had witnessed. Fans sporting their Cloud 9, Natus Vincere and Fnatic attire and colours joined together to chant for their new champions. The crowds response was confirmation that they were a major factor of the event for the second year running and that the stadium-based Dota 2 tournament was one of the most unique events both on the Dota 2 calendar and within esports as a whole.

An easy comparison of the difference between ESL One Frankfurt and other tournaments can be found in the American iteration ESL One New York. Recently announced for a second tournament later this year, the Madison Square Garden-based tournament had a prime location. The location is essentially the heart of the Boxing world with some of the greatest matches like Joe Louis battling Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali meeting Joe Frazier for the 'Fight of the Century'. Understandably for such an expensive location, the auditorium and crowd were smaller and the casters and talent confined to individual rooms but the difference has been massive compared to both Frankfurt events. Travelling fans from all over Europe gathered in Frankfurt to essentially become the sixth member of each team, to erupt whenever there was a massive moment which not only increased the enjoyment for everyone within the stadium but also reached the fans watching around the world. The crowds created the atmosphere, it hyped the casters and the players just had to look up to see incredible numbers of fans reacting to their every move. The crowd arguably more impressive than during the grand final of The International 3 as Alliance claimed the Aegis over Natus Vincere, how can you compete with over 15,000 people screaming in a stadium setting?

Outside of the normal stalls the Commerzbank Arena became home to cosplay, signing sessions and activities – though you had to find time outside of the busy tournament schedule to explore or take part. Though small in numbers, the cosplayers were a notable factor of the event with the most impressive cosplayers competing for a prize on the main stage which cosplayer Roman Pivec won after spending over 300 hours creating his costume. The extremely high standard of cosplay brought people like Alan 'Nahaz' Bester, inspired by the quality to call for The International 5 to feature the top cosplay talents from around the world. Professional players and talent were more than friendly to meet fans, sign posters or just wander around the event. With the cosplay and the different activities like archery, human foosball and a ride the Spirit Breaker (though notably and sadly just a bull), ESL One Frankfurt is starting to grow into a festival of Dota 2 and something that can expand over the years. With such a large space and the company already building on the grandeur of the occasion and the potential inclusion of Valve assisting if it becomes a Major tournament – ESL One could really grow into an incredibly special event.

The main question is if ESL did enough to harness the crowd from last year. The set up was considerably different with a simple rotation of the stage causing all the difference. Held in the stadium home to local football team Eintracht Frankfurt, the stage was originally placed on one of the ends of the stadium. This placed the attendees right in the middle of the stadium and became a sea of spectators which definitely created an electric atmosphere when the games got intense. It was great visually for the teams, the people attending, the cameras but of course there were problems. A problem with premium seats being on the right of the stage issues were fixed by rotating the screen towards the stadiums business area and allowing the spectators who spent up to€225,90 on tickets to be the closest to the stage and placed just above the player tunnels while standard ticket holders were placed in the higher tiers above them. Compared to the previous edition, the set up was great for the teams and the cameras, but at times were questionable for the spectators. Granted pulling off a stadium-based event in which an annually growing crowd needs to watch a screen is understandably difficult, unlike field based sports the organisers are confined to what they can do. Before the event a crane damaged the membrane roof which meant white tents had to be raised to protect equipment and the large areas for activities but there was also talk that the bizarrely placed screens on the floor were actually meant to be attached to the roof which would've made them slightly more relevant but the overall setup seemed overly favoured to the premium ticket holders.

From a sea of spectators last year this event felt very fractured. People watching from the standard seats could essentially only hear the cheers from their own section while down below the higher tiers sounded like a distant echo. In the regular seats with no lighting for the steep staircases when it got dark, facing cold temperatures and occasionally rain – it felt like a different world to the lower tier but of course there was a considerable difference in the amount of money involved. From last year where thunder sticks were everywhere – this year they seemed harder to get, with them barely being available on the first day which could have had a bigger impact on keeping crowd and hype levels up.

If anyone wanted to make their way to the stalls and activities behind the stage, spectators had to go down at least four flights of stairs exit the stadium and find the nearest entrance. If standard attendees wanted the chance to meet cosplayers, engage in activities or meet the occasional professional player or talent – it was an epic voyage and something you had to be careful about when considering the possibility of losing your seat. Yes, without a doubt these are minor complaints, especially when last year had similar problems. But hopefully with an event next year the seating area can expand around the corners of the stadium, move the stage back so there is less of a giant space behind it for little reason. Add the other screens around the sides so the regular seating people have an option to be placed in lower seats and add floor seats near the stage and on both sides of the player tunnel to give even more atmosphere and more noise. The more impressive ESL makes the crowd and encourages the spectators to hype up the tournament, the better it looks for them and it becomes a great spectacle for esports as a whole and sets a precedent for the other esports to step up their game. Hopefully after two incredible years of great Dota 2 action and fantastic crowd levels more people will travel to Frankfurt and force the organisers to expand the seating areas and continually increase the hype. Players will continue to want to pull off incredible plays for the reaction of the audience.

The International will always be the heart of the Dota 2 scene, but it seems like the standard for LAN tournaments is stepping up their game with the constant threat of in-game items outweighing the need for offline finals. Red Bull Battle Grounds set the bar for creative content and interviews in between games which was something other tournaments have yet to grasp, the Asia Championships bringing a tournament with the grandeur of The International and now ESL One Frankfurt finishing on time and with little technical issues halting games we are definitely making progress. The Majors will shake up the tournament structure completely but bring a heavily organised series of tournaments around the world, but ESL One Frankfurt can live on to be almost a festival of Dota 2 – where spectators travel from around the world to meet professional players and talent, make an electric atmosphere for the teams competing and celebrate cosplay? With the size of the stadium ESL have the opportunity for so much, hopefully the tournament will continue to progress over the next few years and continue such a high level of competitive play and atmosphere.

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