‘What kind of commentary is this?’ people may ask. Well it sounds like a sports commentary, but the terms the commentator uses aren’t similar to any sport out there. This is a new breed of sports commentary, of E-sports. What is E-Sports? It is professional competitive gaming and the business has grown exponentially over the past few years. This clip is a recording I did of a game me and my cousin was watching and our reaction to this certain bit of commentary.
So what is the commentator actually talking about in this sound clip? A bit of context, the team Evil Geniuses (Team EG) is playing against team Complexity (Team CoL) in an elimination best of three match in a current ‘Major Tournament’ worth 3 Million US dollars held in Shanghai. Anyway, the commentator ‘Tobiwan’ (one of the best in the scene) is talking about the player ‘Universe’ from team EG is one of the best at the ‘hero’, ‘Dark Seer’, after a play that gives them the upper hand in the game they are currently playing. This type of commentary is similar how a footballer is complimented at being one of the best kicks in his position. The reaction you hear from myself and my cousin when Tobiwan says ‘reason number 322’ which is an inner joke within the community of Dota 2 E-Sports.
This piece of commentary is just an example of how far E-Sports has gone in the past few years. The scene has gone much more professional and has attracted crowds enough to fill stadiums and I would hope one day to be a part of this or contribute to this scene.
