Gamerfunder brings the stock market to Dota 2

The stock market is a jungle in itself. For starters, you have to be familiar with confusing jargon and learn how to track data if you want to get started. And being successful at it is another matter entirely. But that is not stopping Gamerfunder, a company that plans to create a virtual stock market for Dota 2.

The man behind Gamerfunder, shoutcaster Treephop “Xyclopz” Tiangtrong, temporarily dropped his jokey online persona to talk about his new project. The 27-year-old caster is based in Thailand, and also works as a full-time engineer. He is currently working on the platform, which simulates a stock market where players use virtual money to buy, sell, and trade stocks. The stocks in question: pro Dota 2 teams, of course.

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Tiangtrong says that Gamerfunder is great because it’s fun. You can play it for free, and you can get Dota 2 items and other services as rewards. He also believes it can help young people learn about the stock market, standing them in good stead if and when when they do dive into actual stocks.

The program is currently open for alpha testing. Tiangtrong shared that while it had aimed for just 1,000 users initially, it received an approximate 10,000 registrants in its first 60 hours of opening.

History and formation

The inspiration behind Gamerfunder may have come from Tiangtrong’s personal connection with stock trading. Before Dota 2, he was actively trading in the Thai stock market. Gamerfunder started last May, but Tiangtrong says that coding for the website started way earlier. Tiangtrong also says that it used a “new language of coding” to build its backend.

Gamerfunder also seems to be a reaction to Dota 2’s item betting system, led by the online community Dota 2 Lounge. “Once we bet, we can’t do anything about it anymore,” Tiangtrong says. “If the team [you bet for] throws the game, you can’t do anything. You’ll just sit there and watch your rares go away. So what’s the point [of betting]?”

This made him wonder what would happen if Dota 2 was treated like a stock market, with teams representing public companies and people being able to buy shares in them.

“If we consider eSports as a real sport, then teams can be treated as big companies. Take Manchester United for example: they got players, coaches, and everything we need. It’s similar to eSports, so why don’t we also treat the teams as companies? So we started from there.

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