It’s not all games

The fight goes on: The new Fnatic lineup – (from left) Raven, eyyou, DeMon, Mushi and Ohaiyo – has set its sight on the Frankfurt Major tournament in November. — SHAFWAN ZAIDON/The Star

Learn what it takes to be a professional eSports player from Malaysia’s elite Dota gamer, Ohaiyo.

“To be a successful eSports player, you need to have discipline,” says “Ohaiyo” Khoo Chong Xin, one of the most popular Malaysian Dota 2 gamers.

Malaysia is now seeing an increase in talented players but many are still not making it big due to lack of commitment, he says.

“Skill, coordination and reflex will only take you so far,” Ohaiyo says.

Entering tournaments is ­different than playing games ­casually – players must be mentally strong to go all the way or they risk letting the team down.

Ohaiyo is part of Team Fnatic which won forth place in The International 2016 (TI6), the biggest Dota tournament in the world. The team – which consisted of captain “Mushi” Chai Yee Fung, “MidOne” Zheng Yeik Nai, “343” Adam Erwann Shah and “DJ” Djardel Jicko Mampusti – walked away with a cool US$1.45mil (RM6mil)

He credits his teammates for the success – despite performing ­poorly in the group stages, they managed to turn things around to reach forth placing.

Dota 2 is a popular MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game in which two teams of five try to destroy each other’s main structure known as the “Ancient”.

Valve, which developed the game, has been steadily increasing the prize money year after year. Now in its sixth year, the tournament offered a record prize pool of US$20.7mil (RM85.6mil).

While the prize money and earnings look lucrative, Ohaiyo says the take home salary is a lot less. He says 30% of the prize money goes to the coffers of Washington as tax, and the rest is divvied among the players, manager, coaches, analysts and other parties.

New blood

Fnatic is not resting on its ­laurels – it has already started shaking up the team. MidOne, 343 and DJ have been replaced by two new young players “Raven” Marc Polo Luis Fausto and “eyyou” Nico Barcelon, both from the Philippines, and “DeMon” Jimmy Ho from the United States.

The three were playing for TNC Gaming from the Philippines in TI6.

The captain Mushi and Ohaiyo, the mainstay in Fnatic, are now the only Malaysians in the team but it’s still very much a “local” team at heart.

Also, Astro, through its eSports channel eGG Network, is now one of the team sponsors for Fnatic.

Fnatic still spends most of its time in its gaming house in Seri Kembangan when they are not globe trotting.

Ohaiyo says the team is now preparing for the upcoming Fall Major in November.

“The current Fnatic lineup is still new and there is lots of work to be done before we can see results,” he says.

He is quick to point out that while eSports looks glamorous, it takes a lot of hard work to reach the international stage.

“Most of the pros have to ­sacrifice their personal life to train, which takes up more than 10 hours a day,” he says. The ­gruelling schedule makes it almost impossible to spend time with family and friends.

Asked on what the future holds for him as a professional player, Ohaiyo replies that he probably has only two or three more years left to compete although he is only 23 years old. This is not uncommon, as the lifespan of professional players are pretty short as many retire around the age of 25.

Ohaiyo believes that a career in coaching might be the best option for him after he retires, as he is passionate about Dota even after playing the game almost daily for the past eight years.