TI 10 broadcast talent Moxxi speaks out about gatekeeping against women in the Dota 2 community

With the aegis of TI 10, the relatively unknown Dota 2 roster of Team Spirit was flung into mainstream fame.

Recently, their entire Dota 2 roster, coach, and manager were called to Russia's biggest talk show Evening Urgant. On account of being one of the biggest annual esport events, The International is a highly important platform for players and broadcast talent alike due to the exposure it can bring.

When Valve announced the broadcast talent for this year, a part of the community became vocal about their allegedly nepotistic selection process. Statistically, most of the English broadcast talent are Dota 2 personalities affiliated with the Beyond The Summit studio. To balance this out, Valve has been introducing newer faces into the mix since TI 9.

However, as TI 10 was afoot, a contingent of the Dota 2 community expressed their dissatisfaction with how the new panelists and casters performed.

Michelle "Moxxi" Song, one of the new faces to The International this year, wrote at length in a Twitlong post yesterday about the flurry of negative feedback and its adverse long-term effects on the Dota 2 community.

A prominent streamer-turned-analyst from Moonduck Studios, Moxxi was a familiar face in the West European DreamLeague Dota 2 Pro Circuit, and she is also the first woman to cast a TI main event match.

---

SirActionSlacks, Purge, and other prominent Dota 2 personalities join the conversation

Akin to the larger Dota 2 community itself, the tier-one casting community has become an exclusive bubble. Dota 2 itself prides itself on being the most complex MOBA out there. Likewise, its long-time followers expect the same air of exclusivity and complexity from the casters.

However, a broadcast talent's lot is not just to hype up the game, but also to pander to newcomers. This is why casters and panelists seek to strike a balance between precise play-to-play casts and an in-depth analysis of the macrogame, along with a tame-paced explanation of the basics which is watered down for newcomers.

As Moxxi writes in her thorough indictment, much of the Dota 2 community, in an act of condescension, criticizes newbie-friendly casting. Defending the fresh talent of TI 10 like Frankie Ward and Kasumi “sumichu” Yogi, Moxxi also points out how the criticism is even more scathing towards the new female talent.

This calls into attention the #MeToo of Dota 2 that took place roughly a year ago. In June 2020, sexual allegations brought against Grant "GranDGranT" Harris opened a floodgate of posts that exposed instances of sexual harassment in the communities surrounding Dota 2 tournaments.

Mira "Ephey" Riad, also a new face at The Internationals, technically became the first woman to play tier-one Dota 2 in the TI 10 all-star match between Team Thunderhide and Team Dragon. In the male-dominated world of Dota 2, female talent like Jorien "Sheever" van der Heijden have never had it easy.

Moxxi's extensive open letter also underlines the broader issue of gatekeeping. Moving away from a beginner-friendly environment and barring new faces to retain a high standard of complexity, in casting or otherwise, leads to stagnation in talent. A niche community like Dota 2, as big as it might seem at present, may die out eventually if the rampant gatekeeping continues.