“Po, po!” “Avana vidadhe!” “Get him!” The dimly-lit gaming café in Nungambakkam is full of angry men who will kill anyone who comes in their way. Or so it appears at first sight. But when the lights come on briefly, we see their real faces: lanky boys sporting glasses; geeky-looking college kids in shorts… they are ordinary people who live extraordinary virtual lives. Welcome to the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup, in which gamers compete against the best in the world playing DotA 2, a popular game that swallows hundreds and thousands of hours of a die-hard gamer’s life.
The event was held over the weekend at Playerz Gaming Café. Says Rakesh Navaneetha Krishnan, who owns the place: “DotA has a lot of serious players who spend long hours training. There are gamer teams that practise much like any other sport. In fact, there is a possibility for eSports to be included as part of the next Olympics.”
Chennai hosted the elimination rounds, along with Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. “Players compete in teams of five; the finals are set to take place among the teams that qualify from the elimination, in Mumbai,” he adds. The world of a gamer has little time for anything else. Fellow gamers refer to each other using the names of the characters they represent.
V. Aakash, a student at Loyola, games from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day. “I started playing Mario when I was in Class II,” he grins. “I keep thinking of games even when I am in college.” What will he do with the prize money (Rs. 5 lakh) if he wins? “I’ll buy more gaming equipment,” he answers. Varshini Venkat, the only female gamer who plays DotA, has clocked in over a thousand hours in her DotA account. Then there’s Keerthi Varman, a 30-year-old doctor who believes gaming helps him perform surgeries better.
Adds Rakesh, “I studied in the KK Nagar Corporation School. It’s gaming that taught me English. We interact with gamers from across the world, and as a result, our language improves.”
The afternoon’s session begins as he speaks, and a gamer who’s been listening to our conversation turns to say something. “Huh? What did you say?” we ask and he turns his back to us. “Don’t consider that rude,” laughs Rakesh. “They would ignore everyone once they start playing.” Could you tell us at least your name, we ask the bespectacled young man. But he’s long lost.
