Joseph Schooling may be in our headlines every now and then winning medals for Singapore. He even bagged $370,000 for his accomplishments at the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

But before Schooling gripped our collective attention, there already was a Singaporean making waves in eSports (Electronic Sports) and he has reportedly earned over USD370,000 in prize money so far in his career. This figure does not include his monthly salary.

His name is Darryl Koh Pei Xiang, but to millions of people who play the online game Defence of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2), he is better known as iceiceice.

One S'porean here is more well known internationally than the other, people outside of S'pore are more likely to get the answer right than S'poreans.

Singapore is on the cusp of becoming a powerhouse in the eSports world but Singaporeans in general have no clue of this reality. To provide some illumination on this topic, this story is not only about iceiceice, but rather the journey of a few professional Dota 2 players in Singapore and how they put Singapore on the Dota 2 map.

A short history of Dota 2's popularity

Here's a simple explanation of the game: it is played by two teams of five players competing against each other; each team has to defend their 'home base' against enemies while they employ strategies to destroy their opponents' base. Each player controls one 'hero'. It's like basketball or volleyball or many other sports where one team goes home the loser.

Close-up shot of one team's heroes destroying parts of their opponent's base in Dota 2

To give you a fuller picture of the Dota 2 story, we have to go back to the year 2011. Valve, the company which produced Dota 2, was looking for a way to shine the spotlight on their game.

At that time, eSports, as a spectator sport, was focused on other games such as Starcraft 2, League of Legends, and Counter-Strike. To really bring Dota 2 to the forefront, Valve needed something big to grab headlines.

That 'something big' was Valve organising a Dota 2 competition called The International. The thing that raised eyebrows was the prize pool - a total of USD 1.6 million was up for grabs and the top prize was USD 1 million. This was the biggest prize pool ever for any eSports competition at that time.

The International, Dota 2's equivalent to the FIFA World Cup, invites the best teams from all over the world to compete. Every year, the prize pool gets bigger. From USD 1.6 million in 2011, the 2014 pool grew to over USD 10 million - 15% provided by Valve and 85% was funded with e-ticket sales.

With big prizes, the game's competitive scene has drawn a lot more attention over the last four years. Aside from The International, several other Dota 2 competitions are held throughout the year with prize money ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Dota 2 is now one of the most watched eSports in the world.

Singapore makes its name in the international Dota 2 scene

So where does Singapore fit into all this?

In 2011, Scythe.SG, a Singapore Dota 2 team, was invited to take part in The International. Competitively, Southeast Asian (SEA) teams were never real contenders for the top spot at that time.

In fact, Singapore was an unlikely representative for the SEA block. Singapore's eSports scene has never matured like those in Korea, the United States, Europe or China, or even Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines - it was possible to work as a professional gamer in those countries.

In an interview with gaming website NGNT, Scythe.SG's captain, Benedict Lim Han Yong (nickname hyhy), said that he had been actively helping Dota 2's creator with the game and that was how Lim got a personal invitation to play at the event.

That year, Scythe.SG took third place, finishing behind the Chinese (2nd) and Ukrainians (1st). They won USD 150,000. That was the highest amount of prize money any Singapore eSports team has ever earned.

Scythe.SG in 2011. From L-R: Darryl Koh, Royston Chee, Wong Xin Lei, Toh Wai Hong, Benedict Lim. Source

In the 2012 edition of The International, Lim, Koh and Toh played under the banner of Team Zenith, and this time the team even had a star player from Sweden, Jonathan "Loda" Berg.

Team Zenith in 2012. From L-R: Benedict Lim, Toh Wai Hong, Darryl Koh, Jonathan Berg, Nicholas Kelvin Ileto Lim

The team finished fifth in 2012. Berg subsequently left Team Zenith and formed his own team with a few fellow Swedes. They went on to win the 2013 edition of The International, taking home close to USD 1.5 million.

Lim retired from Dota 2 after the 2012 The International. According to team mate Toh, Lim was the 'top player in Singapore'. Toh himself, widely regarded as one of the best players in SEA, left professional gaming in 2013 to further his studies. This was a big blow to Singapore's Dota 2 scene.

In 2013, Team Zenith failed to make the Top 8 of The International.

Although they could not replicate their success of 2011, the players have cemented Singapore's reputation as one of the Dota 2 powerhouses in Southeast Asia.

Quirky factoid: Thanks to Singapore being put in the SEA block, separate from China, more people overseas now know that Singapore is not part of China.

With National Service and higher education commitments, coupled with the lack of sponsors and financial support, Team Zenith disbanded shortly after 2013's The International. This concluded Chapter One of Singapore's Dota 2 story.

Challenges of a professional gamer in Singapore

In a subsequent documentary by Valve, Lim shared the challenges he faced from his family and school trying to be a professional gamer in Singapore.

"He's an A-star student, you know? Because of this gaming it pulled him right down. It is very sad for me" - Lim's Aunt

The pressures faced by an aspiring gamer in Singapore, the attitudes non-gamers have towards the notion of playing games as a livelihood, and the mindset that getting an education is more important, can all be summed up neatly between the exchange Lim has with his Aunt in the documentary which starts at the 14:45 mark:

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Lim left Dota 2 to join a professional League of Legends team where sponsors provided a monthly salary. He left that too to pursue his higher education subsequently.

One person 'representing' Singapore

Since 2013, Singapore's only high-visibility presence in the international Dota 2 scene was that of Koh (iceiceice). Following the disbanding of Team Zenith, Koh was picked up to join Chinese team DK. Team DK was propped to be the best team of 2014 due to its highly-skilled line-up.

DK enjoyed success in many competitions in China and Europe and many people expected them to clinch the top prize in the 2014 edition of The International. However, they came in fourth. The top two teams were also from China. The Chinese, having been beaten at The International in 2012 and 2013, thus regained their supremacy in Dota 2.

With renewed international interest into Chinese Dota, Koh - the only player in a top-tier Chinese team conversant in English and Mandarin -became the western world's doorway to China. Ever the troll, he is known for constantly mis-translating his teammates' comments for comedic effect when he acts as a translator during English interviews.

His quirky attitude and skilled plays made him a gaming celebrity and earned him many fans - his Facebook fan page has over 42,000 Likes and thousands watch him when he live-streams his plays on streaming platform Twitch.tv.

Currently, Koh plays for Vici-Gaming another Chinese team favoured to win the 2015 edition of The International. Vici-Gaming recently were the victors at The Summit Two, the same competition in which Singapore team First Departure were unable to attend due to NS and school commitments.

First Departure can be the next wave for Singapore's eSports, if only Singapore allows it

First Depature's qualification to attend The Summit Two is a story in itself. They were last minute replacements for another team in the qualifying rounds - nobody had any high expectations for last-minute replacements.

However the Singaporeans grit their teeth and beat two top Malaysian teams that were hot favourites to qualify for the final play-offs in the United States.

However, First Departure's lead player Galvin Kang could not take leave from NS, while another player Chan Chun Jie was not allowed to take time-off from his studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

The team missed out on the chance to travel to the United States to play against the big names of Dota 2. The team's next hope is to receive an invitation to play in the qualifying rounds for 2015's The International.

Time for professional gaming to be recognised as a real and viable career

Currently, there is still a stigma perpetuated by parents and schools that video games are nothing more than a distraction from studies. But like any sports, playing video games at a professional level requires dedication, tenacity, resilience and discipline. In fact, eSports pays better than certain sports.

While Singapore as a society is becoming more accepting of athletes pursuing their passion in sports as evidenced by the setting up of the Singapore Sports School, perhaps the same recognition can be given to eSports. Could the Ministry of Education (MOE)'s ASPIRE give aspiring gamers a head start?

Societal pressure to adhere to the paper-chasing route and NS commitments are still big stumbling blocks to aspiring professional gamers. The same can be said for any other athlete looking to hone their skill in sports.

Our local footballers have long had to deal with juggling football, their education and NS. I foresee a day where Fandi Ahmad's son Irfan, listed by The Guardian as one of world football’s top 40 young talents, would require the 'blessings' of MINDEF should he want to develop a football career in Europe.

eSports' popularity is burgeoning, but it is not fully matured as other spectator sports such as football, and it would be foolish for Singapore to not capitalise on its current standing in the Dota 2 scene and play a bigger role in shaping how eSports turns out.

Just like how Brazil/Germany has long been thought to be football powerhouses, Singapore can be a powerhouse for eSports, we just have to realise we are already so close.

And just like how Schooling is Singapore's sporting poster boy, Koh - with all his accomplishments and accolades - could propel Singapore into the upper echelon of eSports if given the support.

For a start, our eSports news could be reported in the sports sections of our various papers instead of once in a blue moon in Digital Life.

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