UnicoMarketing: How Singapore’s most famous gamer girl is now organizing the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year

Tammy Tang is front and centre.

Tammy Tang from PMS Asterisk is a household name for any Southeast Asian Dota 2 player. Founder and leader of the abovementioned Asian division of the international PMS competitive gaming clan, the 30-year-old Tang has been in eSports for ten years now. But she’s still thriving in the industry, despite being beyond the age at which pro-gamers start to hang up their mice and keyboards and look to other careers.

Formerly involved in Razer’s eSports department, Tang left the consumer tech company in 2012 to strike out on her own. She was business manager for the now-defunct Singapore eSports team Flash eSports, an events manager for Adroit Gaming, and now, an eSports tournament organizer for the upcoming Ok Dota 2 Cup.

“The gamers need something to be excited about again,” Tang says, of her decision to turn to tournament organizing. She recounts the heyday of Dota in Singapore with fondness, saying it kept the competitive gaming scene active and produced some very talented individuals who have since gone overseas to pursue professional gaming careers. However, the frequency of physical events has declined together with LAN shops, and Tang says that no new talent on par with these now-overseas legends has emerged.

One of the legends is Daryl “iceiceice” Koh, who has moved to China to play professionally.

Tang says that no one has stepped up to really organize big gaming conventions and long-running competitions locally following the closure of Rapture Gaming Network (RGN). (RGN appears to have shut its Singaporean doors and moved to Vietnam to work with the community there, with two of its key staff members now working with a game publisher.)

In a way, I feel like duty is calling. Everything has advanced so much: PC specs, internet connectivity…but our talent hasn’t.

The Ok Dota 2 Cup

Tang’s the brains behind the upcoming eSports competition. Title sponsor Ok is a new energy drink from Switzerland that has sponsored basketball events and Garena’s recent campus competition. It’s new to the Singapore market, but it’s ready to go deep.

The Ok Dota2 Cup will have two qualifiers – one of which has already concluded. Two Singapore teams from these qualifiers will go on to compete at the cup’s regional grand finals, which will be held in the Suntec City Convention Centre on December 26 to 28. If everything goes smoothly, Tang says that the cup will segue into a league, which will stretch into 2015.

With a base of S$50,000 (US$38,564) in prize money and an additional prize pool that will be crowdfunded, as well as a multinational grand finals, the Ok Dota 2 Cup will be the largest Dota 2 event in the Southeast Asia and Oceania regions this year.

Artist’s impression of what the Ok Dota 2 Cup finals will look like.

Its crowdfunding model is interesting. It’s similar to the one employed by Valve for the largest Dota 2 tournament in the world – the now annual International competition. Every Ok energy drink sold at partner cybercafes will add 50 Singapore cents (39 US cents) to the prize pool, and 25 percent of every sale made by T-shirt partner Freeknot will go into the prize pool. Tang says that she’s looking for more partners willing to do revenue sharing in the same manner, which she notes is easier for smaller companies to work with, as opposed to handing over a lump sum upfront.

Similar to the literal “by gamers, for gamers” approach that the gaming convention Gamestart Asia took, the cup is organized by individuals as passionate as Tang is about the community and Dota 2. Partners and contributors like Aftershock PC and renowned Dota 2 and Imaginary Friends Studio artist Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim will be supporting the event in their own capacity; the organizing team is not looking to make a profit.

Tang says that all registration fees collected at the qualifiers will be given back as prize money, and that the team has offered registered players extra discounts at partner retailers.

We’re trying to keep the costs as low as possible, whilst giving back as much to the community, and trying not to compromise too much on the quality. Most importantly, we want to make it a really good event, and set a precedent for next year.

“Continuity is probably the key word here,” she finishes. While Tang didn’t reveal how much she had already been spent organizing the tournament, she says that the organizing team isn’t looking to be profitable this time round, and that it would be lucky to break even.

A snapshot from the recently Ok Dota 2 Cup qualifier in Singapore.

Tang believes that an eSports league can be sustainable in the long run, if approached carefully. “The most important thing would be to make the first year as good as possible so that everyone sees the value of it and opts to throw in their lot in subsequent installments,” she says. “Continuity [...] is important because that gives sponsors and partners more incentive to part with their dollars to be included in a long-term branding project.”

Tang’s philosophy is similar to that of Gamestart Asia’s. According to Elicia Lee from organizing company Eliphant, Gamestart Asia will run for one more year, by which time it will hopefully have been able to use the success of its first show to recoup losses and entice some investors to help bear the show’s heavy financial burden.

See: Singapore gaming conventions ranked from awful to awesome

But what happens after this?

Although tournament organizing is presently Tang’s ricebowl, she doesn’t believe it’s ironclad just yet. She says it’s tough to view it as a viable career, since it’s in a niche market and the demand isn’t very high. “If you’re looking to be contracted, you probably will only be drawing a salary for six months or less every year,” she says. Tang was herself working on a contract basis for both Flash eSports and Adroit Gaming.

Going solo isn’t the best option either. According to Tang: “If you want to come out and do it independently, sponsors are also not easy to get because you need to offer the whole range of services – from online to offline – and they normally see Singapore as too small a market to focus on.”

“I guess I’m a little jaded,” she says, when asked what the biggest challenges when she shifted from role-to-role in the turbulent gaming industry were. “My biggest enemy is myself.”

After seeing all the crap that happens behind the scenes – greedy people, dishonest people, passionate people becoming discouraged and turning into purely business-minded people – it’s hard for me to believe. I now always retain some cynicism towards eSports, organizations, and even gamers, and their promises and dreams.

“Passion might lead you to the gaming industry, but you have to know what your skillset is, what is lacking in the market, how you can contribute, and what steps to take,” she says, when asked if passion alone is enough to help someone break in to gaming.

“Passion just gives you the general direction.”

A more current photo of the PMS Asterisk lineup. Tang is second from left.

But deep down inside, I believe Tang’s still a very passionate gamer. You can see it in the steps she has taken in her career, in the path that led her to this industry, and even in what she posts on her social media today. Because of that, jaded isn’t all that bad a thing to be. If anything, it gives Tang the edge you need to keep on top of the dishonest and the selfish.

At the very least, it has likely also helped her to discover her own skillset. Having captained team PMS Asterisk and navigated a male-dominated industry when it was still in its fledgling state, Tang has developed a specific skillset that we can only see blossom when given the right chance. And it looks like this right chance is this: the upcoming Ok Dota 2 Cup. Southeast Asia and Oceania’s biggest eSports tournament of the year.

This post How Singapore’s most famous gamer girl is now organizing the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year appeared first on Tech in Asia.