"The basic services of Dota-League will always be free"

German original:
"Die Grundleistungen der Dota-League werden immer kostenfrei bleiben"

fragster: How is the current development of the Dota-League?

Moritz 'Mooseman' Zimmermann: The development of the DL went very well in the past and this is still the case today. We are very well positioned and will be able to hold on that in future. Let's see what happens when the new DotA from IceFrog pops up.

During the last years you had highly increasing user numbers. Is this still the case or are DotA-competing products like HoN and LoL getting noticeable?

Mooseman: The rush for DotA could be felt in early 2007 on DL after we introduced the improved SIG system. Since then, we got a steady growth until now and our numbers are still increasing. You only notice LoL and HoN running besides when you see user comments about them on different eSport pages but otherwise it does not effect us. DotA is still just good.

How do you see the development general of DotA and how are you going to adept your plans to it?

Mooseman: DotA has strengthened itself in the scene over many years and is, despite very outdated graphics, still a top title. The decisive factor in its success is of course a combination of graphics, usability, clarity, etc. but the balance is the greatest strength. At least if there would not have been the old-fashioned bugs of WC3 which make it even harder for us as a league manager. Finally, this causes an increasing number of supports. IceFrog has brought the right balance into DotA and now we are confident that he will do it in the new DotA as well with all the advantages and cleared bugs of its predecessor.

The SIG-system as the PL and Ladder have been fairly unchanged for years. Can we expect any major changes in the near future?

Mooseman: "Never change a running system!" SIG and PL grow bigger from year to year. At the same time we take about some minor improvements. However, you also have to remember that it takes a lot of people and time to keep both running smoothly. Bringing major changes to them is always a major step that must be measured against the expense and possible errors that can occur. Of course we are planning some major changes for the future. I just cannot tell them yet.

Isn't there a risk that the Dota-League system will not be needed anymore when the stand-alone DotA is released?

Mooseman: Because IceFrog is heading with DotA in direction of eSports and this goal will certainly be no different at Valve – they both want to reach a large online gaming community – I'm pretty sure that after the release of a new DotA version there will be a need fore more experts; both online and offline. The philosophy of the DL for a new game will have to change a bit for sure but basically with our current site, we have a good future investment.

We won't get superfluous in any case. The question is rather if Valve will ever agree to develop its own league or whether take care about existing ones.

DotA-League.com was the target of hacker attacks for several days and therefore the site is very limited available or very slow. What is being done about it and when will the system be able to run smoothly again?

Mooseman: Unfortunately, we have observed increased attacks on our servers recently. Such attacks are always ugly because it takes time and energy to prevent or repel them. We are constantly working to improve our infrastructure, so that such hacking can not take away the fun of a large number of players the fun at Dota-League. Due to this fact, we are just about to move our systems to a new and more powerful server, so a better performance can be ensured in future. Our technical administrators are working hard on it and everything is under control.

Due to the constant growth, you have to deal with a flood of support tickets that are handled only by a small number of admins, causing problems and resentment for users. How are you going to solve that problem? Are you planning a change of the support system?

Mooseman: We always get rid of this flood of very well. There are times with a few more, sometimes there are a few less. That there is resentment against us is really not fair – if you consider that we offer the complete DL for free and at the same point we are trying very hard to resolve all conflicts and to answer daily questions by thousands of players. The ease of getting something for nothing should not be the rule. Nevertheless, we are happy to fulfill this as well and the admins can be proud to do such a good job.

We adapt the support system constantly to improve it for both, the players and our admins. But even here we can just take small steps due to the WC3 system. If for example varlock from Ghost Host would develope a reconnect tool, there would be a significant impact on the number of supports and with that gained time, we could focus on other things.

A new season of the Pick League is coming up soon. How do you want to make it more attractive for the top teams, in order not to fall into the same rut as in the past seasons?

Mooseman: As I already mentioned, it involves a lot of resources to run a PL with a handfull of admins taking care about several thousand players. So it is kind of clear that this can go well for every single player. Forcing people to be on time, for example, also does not produce perfect results. To establish a good balance in any case, compromises must be made so that everyone is satisfied. It is already a must that we improve and adapt the system to the wishes of the players.

How satisfied are you with the developement of your elite league F4F? Is the new system better than the old one? Which mistakes or shortcomings are still enhanced?

Mooseman: It currently runs very well. F4F is still getting very, very much attention in the DotA scene – more than any other tournament. We have the entire top 10 in Europe and, of course, Blight and Mcity. I am convinced that the system is better than the old one. 32 teams were just too many on long terms. The point distribution and the upcoming relegation bring more fairness and are less depending on lot luck. But what does not work at all are the match deadlines: The teams didn't really try to comply them and sometimes we were not strict enough.

Lately the delayed completion of games has unfortunately got a bit out of hand. Nevertheless, within six days everything has been played although the league goes on every week. Many DotA tournaments do not even manage this. Now two tournaments are remaining and the battle for the six relegation places is very exciting while the playoffs participation of MYM and Blight is quite save. The big showdown is not far away!

Will there be offline Finals for F4F#2 or is Dota-League Masters #2 already in the pipeline?

Mooseman: Unfortunatly there will not be offline finals for F4F2. The tournament series was designed from start on as a pure online tournament. A DLM 2 is an eagerly awaited desire of the DL, perhaps I can tell you more soon.

How good is Dota-League set up in comparison with the more and more in-house leagues that partially also offer prize money for players?

Mooseman: I think it is a very good coexistence. Several leagues will also mean more interest in DotA and push the whole scene forward. This helps us of course. With the SIG system we focussed more on the individual players, Pick League offers a very large number of players a league and with FARM4FAME we cover the needs of pros. So others are likely to take over the part of in-house and thus develop the whole scene further.

Why is it so hard for the Dota-League to get a big sponsor in order to obtain more funding opportunities, although you attract several thousands of users?

Mooseman: Behind DotA stands a private person that publishes the game for free. You never read anything in the print media about the millions of DotA players, since there is no publisher behind it that spreads something in public. Everything happens within the scene. Ergo these very interesting numbers never reach potential sponsors and investors. With Valve in the background, the real extent of DotA can be publicized which will make it more popular for sponsors and help the DotA scene.

Do or did you ever consider to make more money with Dota-League by introducing paid content?

Mooseman: We have been thinking about payment systems or something like premium accounts for a long time now. It would certainly be interesting for the Dota-League to get some additional services for a small amount – only being able to distribute higher prize money and to develop. However, this matter is facing some problems: first of all, the Dota-League consists of a widespread, international community, so it is difficult to make payments on so-called "micropayment sectors" in Europe. The prevasion of online payment systems is very different. In particular, the possibilities for younger players to transfer money are rarely available, due to a lack of PayPal accounts or even bank accounts.

It is quite clear that the basic services of Dota-League will always be free. In this case basic service means all we offer today. Whether there will be additional features in the future for a small payment is not quite clear yet.

Thank you for the interview and greetings to all fragsters!