ESL One Birmingham: Thousands of fans head to West Midlands to watch professional gaming | Science and technology news

The production is slick, the experts are sharp and the players are gods.

However, this is not a traditional tournament. This is a professional game. Fans watch the best players in the world play their favorite game, in an arena, for a cash prize.

Around 15,000 fans from around the world are in Birmingham watching the professionals battle it out (virtually) throughout the week, with many thousands more following the competition online.

The tournament, ESL One Birmingham, will take place at the Resorts World Arena near the city’s airport.

While many people will have heard of some of the games played at big esports events like this, such as FIFA, the game being played this week in Birmingham will be less well known.

One game analyst described Dota 2 to me as “kind of like chess,” but with flashing lights and new characters.

There are two teams of five players and before the game can begin, the pros spend a considerable amount of time choosing their own characters and trying to prevent the other team from choosing characters that may prove too advantageous during the game.

So, frankly, I don’t understand the rules of the game, but I’m told it involves a king, queens, and trying to destroy the enemy’s (the other team’s) base.

Fans tell me that part of the appeal of Dota is how difficult the game is, but ultimately the enjoyment of being a spectator is the same as that of sports enthusiasts.

“It’s about the professional aspect, similar to football. You can go play football, but it’s nice to see people play it at a level you could never play,” says fan Ryan Freeman.

I’m here to watch the semi-final of the competition between the British team, Tundra, and a Saudi Arabian team, Falcons. There are actually no UK players in Tundra and the Falcons are an equally international group.

Just like in professional athletic sports, esports teams buy and sell the best players in the world. Tundra and Falcons professionals are some of the highest paid in the industry.

One expert tells me that at this level players can earn $10,000 (£8,000) a month, plus tournament earnings and sponsorship deals. The prize pool in this competition is $1 million (£800,000), although it is shared between teams, with the winning team taking home $300,000 (£240,000).

“I think a lot of people think of the esports team as just five guys who like to play at home,” says Álvaro Sánchez Velasco, product director at ESL One Birmingham.

“But (team) organizations have training camps, they have schedules that include training regimens, psychological visits. They generally have a team manager and a team psychologist, that’s very common nowadays, in addition to a coach and an assistant coach.”

Jonas Volek is a Czech professional player and although he is not participating in this tournament in Birmingham, he is here to commentate and analyze the games. As I interview him I see a line of fans developing, clearly waiting for him to finish speaking.

When he does, everyone asks for selfies.

Volek, 23, played chess as a child, then moved on to video games and at age 12 got hooked on Dota 2, becoming a professional player in his late teens. He now competes in tournaments all over the world.

“It’s not really a job, it’s more of a lifestyle because it takes up a lot of my time,” says Volek.

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“When I really train, it takes me 12 hours a day and I’m always traveling. There’s no time for anything else.”

I didn’t see any female performers on stage in Birmingham and the audience is dominated by men.

“I hope one day I see more women playing on top teams,” says fan Charlotte Keane.

But there is none of the charged and often volatile atmosphere that can be found at many sporting events, particularly men’s football.

There is some comical “chatting” between players from opposing teams, egged on by the hosts for the audience’s enjoyment. But after one player criticizes the other’s hair in a mockingly serious manner, one of the hosts decides that enough of playing fight is enough.

Of course, for fans there is not the same territorial spirit that occurs when supporting, for example, a specific football team. Mostly it’s about respect for the individual players, who can’t hear the crowd’s cheers or chants during the game as they wear noise-canceling headphones so they can focus on winning.

After about an hour of play, the Falcons emerge victorious and fans leave the auditorium to buy hot dogs and fish and chips.

This event clearly feels less alcoholic than any sporting competition I have ever attended. But, even to an enthusiast, Dota 2 doesn’t seem like the kind of game that would be easy to pick up after a few pints.