A competitor at the FoxConn Cup last month focuses on his bid for world domination. Pic: Aung Tun Win

THE stench of sweat, caffeinated drinks and defeat filled the air of Myanmar Info-Tech’s main building in Hlaing township last month as the battle for world domination, by proxy, took place.

More than 200 gamers had converged on the hall to battle for the coveted FoxConn Cup 2008, a DOTA game competition organised by the Myanmar Gamers Club.

The event, held from September 23 to 26, also attracted a large contingent of gaming fans – especially male youths – who watched as the competitors waged war over the local area network.

Some 36 gaming clans, with an average of eight team members, fought for glory and booty in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Expansion over the course of 63 matches, with the final held on the afternoon of September 26.

“This competition is the second DOTA competition this year; both were organised by Myanmar Gamers Club. The previous event held in February was the DOTA e-sports championship 2008,” said U Min Wint Oo, the founder and president of Myanmar Gamers Club.

The competition, mainly sponsored by Royal Ayeyarwady, awarded 10 prizes overall, including one for the winning team, second, third, best player, best killer and a number of novelty awards.

When the dust had settled, the Invisible clan emerged into the spotlight as the winning team and took home a cool K500,000 for their efforts. The runners-up prize of K300,000 went to the No Mercy clan, while Double Damage grabbed the third prize of K100,000.

In the individual awards, Zero of the Double Damage clan stole the show by claiming both best killer and best first blood awards; the youngest gamer gong went to 13-year-old gamer G Kind from the Michael Liu clan.

Ko Pyae Phyo Maung, 20, nickname KZ, is a member of Invisible clan. He said his clan, comprised of six members, had played a number of practice matches with other clans prior to the competition and was fully confident they could take the title.

“We played six matches throughout the competition and the most difficult challenge for us was against Double Damage. I took us about 50 minutes to win that match,” said KZ, who also won best player at the competition.

He said that teamwork and understanding among members of a clan were the most important attributed needed to win a match.

He added that the team occasionally studied strategy by watching replays of international DOTA games but said that regular practice sessions were a rarity.
At the awards ceremony, U Min Wint Oo encouraged all competitors to view the competition only as a match and not to worry too much about the results.

He said that the Myanmar Gamers Club plans to hold another event in December.