[Sitdown #1] Entrepreneurial spirit

Disclaimer: This article contains heavy use of Dota 2 related terminologies. Prior knowledge of the game is required to fully understand the entire article.

How well do you know Zuriel?

The charismatic enigma.

Other than being the smartly dressed, polite, charismatic enigma that Zuriel is, most of his friends have always wondered who he actually is.

Always known to create a barrier between his social and personal life, close friends of Zuriel know that there’s one thing that he adores, and that is – games.

I got to know Zuriel through playing with him regularly at the playground when we were kids, it wasn’t until years later that we found a similar interest in the form of Heroes of Newerth (HoN) [1] and months after that, in Dota 2.

I approached Zuriel a couple of days ago and asked if he wanted to be featured as the #1 guest and he agreed to it without hesitation.

Since there was a Singapore Food Fair going on yesterday, we decided to head on down to the Singapore Expo.

The World Food Fair which was held from 7-10 September.

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J (Me): It’s been awhile.

Z (Zuriel): Yeah man.

J: How’s your internship so far? I heard that you worked at the recent IT Fair. How did it go?

Z: Pretty well, working is totally different from what I learned back in school. Yeah, I worked at the recent IT Fair. I even got the best salesman award for my booth, kappa [2].

J: Ah, regarding the IT Fair; were you in charge of selling gaming computers like those laptops and desktops?

Z: Yeah..sort of? I was primarily in charge of HP and I sold a couple of their gaming computers from their Omen [3] series.

J: I see, in regards to gaming computers; what do you think of gaming peripherals?

Z: Hmm, let’s be honest. They don’t really affect your gameplay that much? That’s from my perspective because I just use the free mice and keyboard provided. They only look good, that’s about it.

Gaming peripherals which includes gaming mice and keyboards.

J: I used to play with a spoilt mice which double clicks when I clicked once and a $24 dollar keyboard, so I can attest to that. It really depends on what you’re playing.

Z: We are after all; humans. We’re all visual creatures.

We eventually reached the Singapore Expo and unfortunately most of the stalls at the World Food Fair were almost sold out.
Feeling disappointed, we left shortly to take a walk at the nearby mall to get some refreshments.

J: Oh right, how long have we been playing Dota 2?

Z: Good question, I think it was the first International [4] ? Probably 7 years. I remember you playing shortly after the second International. 

J: You spam picked Drow Ranger and Pudge every game. I recall you telling me how broken Batrider was.

Z: Good times man, good times.

J: It’s been a long time. What do you think is the biggest change to the game since the beginning?

Z: Hmmm, to me; it’s definitely the graphics. The different spell animations, hero model changes and of course, the cosmetics that change how the hero and spell animations look like. It is so hard to get used to which hero is which when there’s so many things flying around; especially in a teamfight. How about you?

How a teamfight looks like in Dota 2.

J: The biggest change or changes to me definitely are the hero skills changes. For example, Phantom Lancer; they totally revamped the whole hero. It used to be able to push two lanes; clear jungle camps and push the lane all at once. Doppel Walk and Juxtapose changes were game breaking. Another change was Doom having his Level Death changed to Infernal Blade, now it’s way harder to remove the Linken Sphere buff.

Z: Don’t ever forget Death Prophet’s Spirit Siphon and Bloodseeker’s Blood Rite.

Do you remember Cancer Lancer?

J: That too, recently there’s been an initiative that started in Singapore called the Singapore’s Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA) [5] ; they have an Esports academy that trains Singaporeans on how to be proper gamers. What do you think of Esports in Singapore? Is it viable?

Z:  I think esports is viable anywhere, the only problem is the sustainability of esports for the individual because they’re spending the best years of their lives playing the game.

“I think esports is viable anywhere, the only problem is the sustainability of esports for the individual because they’re spending the best years of their lives playing the game.”

J: Last question. It’s no secret that you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, would you ever get yourself involved in it?

Z: We’ll see about that. I would though, never say never.

The International 2017 held at KeyArena, Seattle, Washington, United States.

J: Thank you for your time, any shoutouts?

Z: None, it’s been a pleasure to be your inaugural Sitdown, cheers.

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If there’s one thing that we do know, it’s that things are always changing. Nothing stays the same forever.

You either adapt or perish.

In the world of fashion; one day you’re in and the next day, you’re out.

The same can be said about games, with each patch and new update, something is different.

For a casual gamer, it just means that their favourite character isn’t as imba [6] as it was hours ago.

For a tryhard gamer, it just means that he or she has to have a new pocket strategy to climb the ranked ladder.

And for the competitive gamer – it’s their rice bowl at stake.

And with that, I have come to the end of this article. I do hope you enjoy Sitdown #1. Do let me know in the comments section or contact me at johannlsn@outlook.com for any feedback regarding my article.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day.

Johann Loke

Notes

[1] Heroes of Newerth is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game.
[2] Kappa is a twitch meme commonly used on Twitch.tv.
[3] Omen is HP’s line of gaming computers.
[4] The International is the annual Dota 2 World Championship, this year’s prizepool was over $24 million USD.
[5] Singapore’s Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA) is an initiative started from Singaporean gamers who wants to promote the local gaming scene.
[6] “Imba is used mostly in online games or games that have patches or different versions. Imba means that something is imbalanced and should be “nerfed” or made worse. When something is imba it means that is is too good and it makes the game unfair.”- Urban Dictionary.