Every online gaming community has its griefers and trolls, but if you had to make a list of the most egregious offenders, DOTA would probably be shoving Halo and Counter-Strike around for the top (dis)honours.
According to Valve, however, this is a misconception. Of course, they kind of have to be nice because they’re working on a sequel.
“We don’t think the DOTA community is a toxic one at all,” DOTA 2 project lead Erik Johnson tells Gamespy.
“A huge number of users spend a huge amount of their time just writing guides to teach new (and experienced) players strategies for heroes, items, and high-level strategy for the game. In any community of this size, you’re going to run into some people that rub you the wrong way but I think that is true for, well, your average grocery store.”
The thing about DOTA, he reckons, is that most of the players are just pretty hardcore. It’s serious business.
“Hardcore used to mean a fairly small group within a larger community that were dedicated to a particular product and spent a lot of their time interacting with the community, both inside and outside of the game experience,” he explains.
“In the case of DOTA, there are tens of millions of people that play the game, and it seems like most fit that description.”
Valve is prepping DOTA 2 for its big reveal at gamescom in Germany next week, which they’re doing alongside a $1 million tournament.
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