TL to Cover Dota 2

As of today, TeamLiquid.net will be adding Dota 2 as an official game to its site content. While TeamLiquid.net has provided resources for non-Starcraft games for some time now – forums, stream lists, calendar events, etc. – we have decided to go the additional mile for Dota 2. It will become part of our official news coverage, and it will become the third Liquipedia sub-site alongside Brood War and StarCraft II.

For those TL visitors unfamiliar with Dota 2, we encourage you to give it a try. If you like it, we hope you enjoy our coverage of it alongside StarCraft. If you're a Dota 2 player or fan visiting TL for the first time, we hope you watch and play some StarCraft as well. If one of the games is not for you, don't worry, just like the calendar events, stream list, and forum sidebar, you can toggle on and off the news and features from whichever game you choose.

There are a lot of people out there who will fight for any title to become an esport simply because they love the idea of video games being played professionally. We don't care about defining or realizing the particular term. In our minds, Brood War and StarCraft II are no different from traditional sports. They deserved their successful competitive scenes because they proved that they were complex, beautiful games that were amazing to watch and play. TeamLiquid supported these games because we loved competition, not because we were ideologists. We believe Dota 2 is another game that deserves our support.

Dota is a game with incredible depth. Just like in StarCraft where you can play one race all your life and never truly master it, Dota is a game where you are always learning new things. The game has a harsh and brutal skill curve that requires many of the same qualities out of top players as Brood War and StarCraft 2. It requires practice, experience, and knowledge. Ultimately, it comes down to the ability to think strategically and make fast, smart decisions.

Historically, we have never been solely about Brood War just for the sake of covering one game, but it just so happened it was the only game our community really fell in love with. In 2003, we briefly experimented with adding WarCraft 3 to TL, but we realized the game didn't fit us very well. Our community and staff were never really passionate about it the same way we were with Brood War and StarCraft 2.

Ever since, we've been very careful with adding games to TL, and we're confident that Dota 2, like the StarCraft series, can be one of those games that resonate with our community.

While Dota 2 is currently in beta, the game is more polished than most that are fully released. There are many professional online tournaments and Valve's million dollar "International" tournament begins its playoff bracket this weekend. The original Dota is a game with very deep roots and has had an established pro-scene and community for a long time. However, Dota 2 is still in its growing stages, so it's an ideal time for TL to start its coverage and support.

We believe we can contribute to the Dota 2 community and help it grow as a competitive sport. One thing we pride ourselves on at TeamLiquid are our forums. We believe our moderation and culture have been very important in making TeamLiquid a place where fans and players interact in a way that you can't find on any other forum. We still stick to these principles, and TL will be a place where both StarCraft and Dota 2 fans and players can interact and treat other with respect.

In our news section, we will be covering Dota 2 competitions, starting with "The International" this weekend. We'll have previews and recaps, interviews, and editorials. StarCraft fans will find that there's actually a lot of similarities between the two games' competitive scenes, even if the genres are different. We will also be launching a new section in Liquipedia that will hopefully, with your help, cover the Dota 2 competitive scene the same way it does StarCraft 2.

We understand that League right now is the biggest game with the largest player base. But this isn't purely a business or numbers decision for TL. At this moment, taking into account our existing core audience (StarCraft fans), we believe that Dota 2 should be the game we add to our coverage. It "fits" TL's style, and it's very popular among our staff, who play and watch the game as well as visit sites like r/dota2. We already have an active Dota 2 forum, and pro Dota 2 players are streaming using our stream list. Though no TL game expansion can compare to us adding StarCraft 2 two years ago, this is a similar situation where all the pieces are already in place.

This doesn't mean we hate League of Legends or that it has no place on TL. In fact, we have many fans of professional LoL on TL and they and our staff have done some amazing forum-based coverage of LoL tournaments, such as MLG Summer Arena or IEM Cologne. We're not ruling out adding League, but right now we feel that Dota 2 fits us more.

For those who wish to follow just one game or the other, we're providing customization options that you only have to set once. You can find these options by clicking on the gear icon in the top left of the navigation bar. The news, calender, stream, and forum sections of each game can be toggled so that the site will display as much or as little of each game as you would like.

Both Dota 2 news and the Dota 2 Liquipedia have a way to go before they're equal to how we handle StarCraft, but that level of quality is our goal for both games. If you'd like to help with writing and coverage, PM Heyoka, and if you want to help with the wiki, it's ready to go. Now is actually the perfect time to help, as we're just starting out on this journey and we need as much help as we can get.

For us, StarCraft and Dota 2 is not a "pick one or the other" choice. You can enjoy both games just like fans watch multiple sports. What we will encourage though is mutual respect and tolerance between both fans and players of both games, as we are one TL community, and we treat our fellow users in a certain way. If you're a StarCraft fan who has never played or watched Dota 2, give it a chance. If you're a new Dota 2 fan visiting TL for the first time, I suspect you'll quickly share our passion about StarCraft, give it a try.

We have always believed that TL has one of the most well mannered, coolest communities in all of ESPORTS. Let's show the Dota 2 fans that may be visiting us for the first time that we are deserving of that reputation.