The International Newcomer Stream Renewed My Faith in the Internet

The International, one of the biggest esports events and the biggest Dota 2 tournament every year, is happening this week. Of course you probably already knew that, it has taken over Twitter in a similar fashion that the Super Bowl does every February, but on a smaller, just as passionate scale. And I’m sure that many of you are like me and have never played Dota, maybe you haven’t played any MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), but you want to be apart of that sweet discourse.
So I decided after reading Arthur Gies’s guide to watching competitive Dota 2 that I would tune into the official stream and try to learn as I watch. And that’s when I ran into the problem that all of esports has in connecting to casual fans, it is extremely intimidating and hard to follow if you have never played that game. The casters assume the audience knows the all the intricacies of the game and the Twitch chat is a wasteland of racism, sexism, and endless spam that is typical of a stream that size. Luckily since I am a regular to Twitch chat this didn’t shock me but for anyone not used to it would have probably left right there and went off to tell others about their negative experience.
But then, from reading another Arthur Gies piece on how to watch The International, I found The International newcomer stream. It’s an official stream that has some overlays that explain some things in game, but most importantly the chat is filled with nice, helpful Dota 2 veterans who are willing to answer whatever stupid question you could ask. Obviously if you have zero knowledge of the game or basic MOBA mechanics, it would be hard to get an explanation through Twitch chat, but if you want to know what a specific item does, how are you supposed to know who’s winning, or what a certain term the casters keep using means, you will get several people giving you the answer.


I watched all day during the first day of the main stage event, and some of the people who were there for the first game were still answering questions after the last game had ended. And when trolls come in to try and ruin the experience, the mods either time them out, or they are just ignored and the chat moves on. In fact, at one time I saw people in chat asking for the banning of a person who was spamming the same thing over and over, a common thing you’ll see in the main stream.
I’m not sure how Valve has done it, but they have an official stream for one of the biggest events of the year with an actually respectful Twitch chat. Just by saying this stream is for newcomers, all of the horrible people avoid it for reasons I still do not know why. But this stream came as a reminder that the horrible people you see online are truly just the vocal minority. Often times on the internet it feels like you against the world when it comes to terrible people, but most people on the internet just want to connect with people who share their interests and spread that to others.
