Dota, arguably the world’s most complex video game, takes thousands of hours to learn. Most people give up before they achieve even basic understanding. But for the players who stick around, millions of dollars in prize money await them.At the global finals tournament for Dota 2, known as “The International,” on Saturday, Team Liquid took home a win — and $10.8 million.“This isn’t a game, bro,” said Shannon “SUNSfan” Scotten, a player with a huge following who founded his own professional Dota team. “This is life.”While the game is immensely popular — this year more than five million people tuned in to watch the tournament’s online broadcast — a separate “newcomer stream” helps explain the game to non-fanatics. Even that stream, however, is pretty hard to follow.VICE News went to Seattle, Washington to watch The International with 17,000 Dota fans and try to understand the game.
This segment originally aired August 15, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.