What is… Lobbsta?

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″ el_class=”articlebody” css=”.vc_custom_1523270772654{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”5155″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1529308121805{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_row_inner content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1523350157423{margin-left: 20px !important;}” el_class=”cat-tag”][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1523351002838{background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;}” offset=”vc_hidden-xs”][vc_custom_heading text=”Announcement” font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:12|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff|line_height:1″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1529307815096{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-image: url(https://esportscentral.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Rectangle-26.png?id=2528) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”What is… Lobbsta?” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1529308144279{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #262631 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Chris ‘Sargon’ House” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1524480387368{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #2a2b37 !important;}”][vc_separator color=”custom” css=”.vc_custom_1523350609771{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}” accent_color=”#3b455a”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1529586634042{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;}”]Lobbsta, an online platform that currently supports Dota 2, just launched in the South African region. The competitive platform is currently launching in a beta state, and the founders hope the South African Dota 2 community will help them further develop and improve Lobbsta. It will also be showcased live at Rush 2018 later this month, where the 10 most popular South African Dota 2 users on the platform will participate in an All Star match at the event. Transport and accomodation for Rush will be provided for by Lobbsta for these top 10 users! We spoke to the team behind Lobbsta to find out more information about the platform and their plans for Dota 2 in South Africa.

Q&A with Lobbsta

CH: What is Lobbsta?

Lobbsta is an innovative online platform designed to simplify your competitive existence. It provides teams with a modern way to create and book scrims. You can also connect with other users, find players on the marketplace, spectate matches, or even track position specific stats. The platform is useful for all users, whether you’re a casual or competitive player.

If you want to find a team for the first time, or you’re a competitive team looking for a veteran player to add to your team, Lobbsta is designed for you. The platform is full of features that we think users all over the world will find really valuable. Right now Lobbsta supports Dota 2, but we have plans to expand into other titles in the future.

Why the focus on Dota 2?

Dota 2 is one of a handful of competitive esports games that have stood the test of time. Many of the founders of Lobbsta have played a lot of Dota 2, and there is a well-established community. As such, the title made the most sense to add to Lobbsta first. We plan to add more titles to the platform as well.

You mentioned a few features that players can use already. Can you go into some more detail?

One of the functions is automated scrims. This is a easy to use function to book competitive matches for your team, or challenge other teams based on your own criteria, on the platform. Once a match is accepted, a bot facilitates the rest of the process in the Dota 2 client. The bot makes sure all the correct players/casters join the lobby and that the match starts at the agreed upon time. This means the entire process, from setting up to starting the match, is effortless.

Another function on Lobbsta is our global overview, where you can track yourself and others from around the world. You can sort users according to their experience, popularity, seasonal rank, or reliability. This can be done according to region or globally. You can see position specific stats for players from anywhere in the world. This feeds into our next function, the marketplace. The extensive Lobbsta marketplace gives you the power to view and filter users globally. Using the marketplace you can scout specific players from specific regions around the world. Alternatively you can form the perfect team from scratch.

There is even a spectating function to keep up with live matches from around the globe, so tracking a team’s competitive journey is really easy. This also helps you create exposure for your matches, or find casters. You can also add matches to your Lobbsta calendar, which makes organizing and keeping track of your competitive interests effortless. There is also an integrated social tool where you can follow your favorite players, casters, teams, and friends. You can engage with other users with a chat function, and posts can trend across our global community. This really allows players or casters to build their brand within their community.

Does the platform cater only to pros?

The most important point to make here is that this platform is for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re about to play your first ever match of Captains Mode, or if you’re a seasoned pro from the best teams in the world. If you’re new to competitive play, you can use Lobbsta to build a team with other players. If you’re a seasoned player and are looking for a team to join, you can do that too. Since you can sort the marketplace by experience or seasonal rank, you can find the perfect fit.

Another important point is that there is space on the platform for users who aren’t competitive gamers. If you want to follow how a team or player is doing, or spectate all their matches, you can do that via Lobbsta.

You also mentioned casters earlier. Is there a lot of space for them to get involved?

Yes. Casters will find it exceptionally easy to find games to cast, and vice versa teams can also easily find casters for their matches. It is all facilitated through the platform. Casters who have built their brand will be highly sought after by teams! Viewers will also easily find matches, as all matches booked on Lobbsta are ticketed and available directly in the Dota 2 client. Everything is interlinked, so casters benefit in the same ways players do by using Lobbsta.

Why are you launching in South Africa first?

While some of the founders are South African, Lobbsta has been developed in collaboration with parties from around the world for over two years. Now that we’re getting close to a global release, we needed a place to beta test the functions and gather feedback from users. This will help us further develop the platform. Since we understand the South African competitive community quite well, we thought launching here was ideal.

Why should South African Dota 2 players beta test Lobbsta?

Lobbsta isn’t complete yet and we want to see how people engage with the platform. We really want to get feedback from players, and we also envision some technical issues that we’d like the community to assist us in identifying. We’d love to hear suggestions on ways we can improve the platform. At the same time we also believe Lobbsta will help improve the South African competitive community in return, because of the value that the platform provides our users.

Do users have to pay to use Lobbsta?

No. Lobbsta is completely free.

How else are you planning for the platform to be involved in the South African esports scene?

In the immediate future we’re going to be at Rush, which takes place at the end of this month. We’re planning to demonstrate the product live, so we want Dota 2 players to come and join us. We’ll organize teams of players from the crowd, with casters, and have some fun competitive matches every day. There will be tons of spot prizes for people who get involved, so come and have some fun. We’ll have some high profile players and casters there as well for you to meet and greet, with some signed merchandise.

We’re also going to have an All Stars match, where the 10 most popular South African Lobbsta users will face off against each other. The match will be streamed and casted live from Rush. The way popularity is measured on Lobbsta is pretty straightforward, the more followers you have the more popular you are. So the 10 most popular players on Lobbsta who have the most followers by the 25th of June will be invited to participate in our All Stars match.

We’re covering all the travel and accomodation costs for these 10 most popular users to make sure they’ll be at the event to participate, so sign up to Lobbsta today and get your friends to follow you. Follow us on social media to learn about other ways we’re rewarding users for testing our platform.

Who is behind Lobbsta? Mission?

We’re a multinational team of very passionate gamers, developers, designers, and media representatives. We’ve been working around the clock for two years to bring this product to life.

You can follow Lobbsta on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, and register on the website directly. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ offset=”vc_hidden-xs”][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”” style=”pagination” items_per_page=”8″ show_filter=”yes” element_width=”12″ gap=”10″ order=”ASC” filter_style=”dropdown” filter_default_title=”Matches” filter_align=”right” filter_color=”blue” item=”2271″ initial_loading_animation=”none” grid_id=”vc_gid:1529586596952-8a9ff207-d5cc-10″ taxonomies=”71, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 110″ filter_source=”category” el_class=”results” css=”.vc_custom_1527564819677{background-color: #30303d !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”ALL MATCHES” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:10|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1523611106929{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 5px !important;background-color: #30303d !important;}” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fesportscentral.co.za%2Fall-matches%2F|||”][vc_empty_space][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”” style=”pagination” items_per_page=”8″ show_filter=”yes” element_width=”12″ gap=”10″ filter_style=”dropdown” filter_default_title=”Results” filter_align=”right” filter_color=”blue” item=”2271″ initial_loading_animation=”none” grid_id=”vc_gid:1529586596953-592b7034-e79b-8″ taxonomies=”76, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 111″ filter_source=”category” el_class=”results” css=”.vc_custom_1528177085357{background-color: #30303d !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”ALL RESULTS” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:10|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1523611113209{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 5px !important;background-color: #30303d !important;}” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fesportscentral.co.za%2Fall-results%2F|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row]