Lari "D.Devil" Sirota is the product manager of ESL for EMS one. GosuGamers caught along with him for an in-depth interview. Read on as Lari introduces himself and tells us more about ESL and the EMS one.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
[...]
I am sure you have been following ESL even before you joined right? It has never really focused much on DotA during its Warcraft 3 days bar a few small ESL Major Series. Would you know why was that, and what changed since?
Quite a few people here at ESL are avid DotA gamers themselves and have been following the competitive scene since its early days – yet, you'll understand that a commitment to Dota 2 that substantially benefits the community's growth and, at the same time, works out for the ESL, can't happen overnight. What we announced as the RaidCall EMS One is the result of lots of small steps and long-term-oriented thinking.
[...]
Going back, there were a lot of controversies surrounding the previous ESL DotA tournaments. Players have given testimonies that the prizes were paid after very long delays and that tourneys were relatively badly organized. What actions will ESL take to make sure this won't happen again?
It's unfortunate that people had negative experiences with the ESL in the past, but I can assure you that this won't happen with the RaiCall EMS One. We recently added some really experienced people to our team, specifically for this tournament. As for prize money, while there have been issues in the past we have paid out about 1.7 million Euro in the last year alone and more than 10 million Euro since Turtle was founded, so there is no need to worry.
I am sure you have been following ESL even before you joined right? It has never really focused much on DotA during its Warcraft 3 days bar a few small ESL Major Series. Would you know why was that, and what changed since?
Quite a few people here at ESL are avid DotA gamers themselves and have been following the competitive scene since its early days – yet, you'll understand that a commitment to Dota 2 that substantially benefits the community's growth and, at the same time, works out for the ESL, can't happen overnight. What we announced as the RaidCall EMS One is the result of lots of small steps and long-term-oriented thinking.
[...]
Going back, there were a lot of controversies surrounding the previous ESL DotA tournaments. Players have given testimonies that the prizes were paid after very long delays and that tourneys were relatively badly organized. What actions will ESL take to make sure this won't happen again?
It's unfortunate that people had negative experiences with the ESL in the past, but I can assure you that this won't happen with the RaiCall EMS One. We recently added some really experienced people to our team, specifically for this tournament. As for prize money, while there have been issues in the past we have paid out about 1.7 million Euro in the last year alone and more than 10 million Euro since Turtle was founded, so there is no need to worry.
