Different worlds

    It’s so weird for me, every year I’m reminded that we all live in different worlds. Worlds so antagonistically different that I feel they can’t possibly exist at the same time, yet they do. So often it makes the world feel mad. I live in a world where the Dota 2 international, is the most important event for me every year, but at the same time, we live in a world where Donald Trump has a real chance at becoming president.

    Throughout the year the teams travel the world to compete in the Majors, Starladder, Dreamhack, and many other tournaments, all for a chance at an invite to the biggest tournament of them all, The International.

    The Dota international is a celebration of camaraderie. Teams of multiple nationalities, ethnicities, and religions compete against each other to prove who is the best team in the world, with fans from all over the world coming to witness it. Dota fans get a chance to meet their favorite players, the makers of their favorite items, or even their favorite shout casters, and over the last couple years a rare chance to get to play on stage in the All-Star match. At the event fans from all over the world make new friends brought together by a common interest in Dota.

    This year was full of upsets, newly formed teams beating tested veterans. Teams seeming to have returned to form getting taken out on the first day of the main event. Shouts and cheers clearly audible behind the casters calls. Cheers not just for a specific team or player, but cheers from good plays cheers for good Dota. Fans found teams, they never would have cheered for, suddenly becoming their favorites to win.

    In the grand final this year, the Chinese underdog Wings battled it out against the multinational team of Digital Chaos.

    DC quickly became a fan favorite as the battled through the lower bracket and took out teams no one ever thought they stood a chance against. Their player, David “Moo” Hull, captured the hearts of many when shots of his proud mother seated behind his booth deep in the crowd were shown on the main stage.

    Wings took down the American Juggernaut team of Evil Geniuses in the winner’s bracket final, after a seemly mad run through the upper bracket taking down teams with hero picks that to the outsiders would appear completely random. Quickly winning over new fans with their wide variety of playstyles and broad hero pool.

    DC took game one in a convincing fashion, the crowd chanting “Moo” as the players walked off the stage as they prepared for game two. Game two was a frenzy, engagements, and disengagements all over, leading into one teamfight where Wings took down too many DC heroes, and suddenly Wings sweep into victory. The crowd chants and cheers “Wings” as the players walk off the stage for game three. When fights break out at the start of game three they start being even but slowly Wings gets the advantage and DC was on the back foot. DC took some great fights in the middle, but ultimately Wings took game three. DC looked like they had the upper hand in game four, many strong early fights, but ultimately Thing turned around and wings crushed DC at the end and were crowned The International 6 champions.

The crowd was on their feet, everyone cheering, good Dota was played all around and to many that was all that mattered. Humorously, there was someone in the crowd with a sign, reading “Single” followed by a phone number.

    Yet even with this celebration of Dota and good sportsmanship, we live in a world where Trump has a chance to be president. A man running on a platform of hatred and general ignorance has a chance of being president of the United States. In a world where Dota championships exist and dismantling imaginary boundaries through common interest, a man has shown how much hatred and bigotry there still is in the United States. A team of “Reject” players could band together and see that there was a dream they all shared much bigger than their differences. They placed second in the tournament, they went further than many other teams.

    So what we’ve learned is that people can do incredible things when they are united behind a common goal. It shows that that goal doesn’t have to positive, and in the case of Trump I would argue is incredibly negative. I can’t think of a single positive reason to vote for that man. To quote Larry Wilmore, “At this point, if you vote for Trump you’re just a dick.” The man literally not so subtly hinted that if Hillary gets to pick the Supreme court judges and you don’t like them, maybe you should assassinate her.

His campaign makes me remember how much hatred there is still in the U.S., how much ignorance there is in the U.S. It makes me sad to think about our future when a man like Trump can win the nomination of a major political party. It only shows how out of touch many of the members of that party are with reality.

    It saddens me mostly because I see the Dota international as a wonderful expression of our similarities, and then here we have a political campaign trying to force us apart based on our differences and to hate those differences. Those two realities feel so different they can’t possibly be in the same universe. How can the Dota international, or any other sporting event for that matter, bring so many people together, while we see a man who might actually gain political power trying his damnedest to drive us all apart gains traction?

    It feels completely mad to me, when we are more similar, why try and force us apart based on imagined differences?