Are my fears of Dota well founded?

[Professor James]

I have a fear of playing real competitive games like Dota 2 online because I'm afraid I might majorly screw up and get yelled at by everyone; and what I've heard of Dota community has made my fears even worse. Am I overreacting or should I be worried?

 

[TheRaider]

I have a similar fear, more that I am sure I won't be up with the strategy and will be terrible!

I guess you just have to give it a go and see what happens.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Play with friends. If you don't have any friends that play, ask around. Even if you hardly know each other, it's still better than nothing. They tend to understand that if you need someone to queue up with, then you don't expect to do that well, and nor will they expect it out of you.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

One thing people should understand before getting into any kind of MOBA is that community will, almost inevitably, be hostile. It is dictated mainly by the very nature of a game. Dota is an incredibly team-oriented game and one weak link can REAAAAAAAALY screw everyone in a team up. That's why it's so hostile and paranoid. That's why I NEVER play solo and usually try to play with at least two of my other friends. So, my advice is to either find someone who already knows how to play and stick with them or convince a bunch of your friends to join you in learning. Or just keep practicing with bots, play every single tutorial, and learn skillset of at least half of all heroes, or better all of them. And only then try going online.
And hey, just remember, if someone is being an asshole you can always report them.
Also If you'd like to know more just tell me. I spend too many fucking years playing that game so at least I can make most out of it.

 

[shrekfan246]

Well, it's not always angry yelling.

More often you get passive-aggressive trolls who will find any excuse to abuse the system and screw you over.

If you're going to play a MOBA, you should probably have a group of friends in mind to play with. Random groups are just the worst, and at low levels when you're just starting out you're likely to get swamped in matches against people who have created alternate accounts and are just using their experience to metaphorically fuck the few newbies they'll run across (NB: I'm not sure if that's also the case with DotA 2 specifically or if they don't allow smurf accounts).

Yeah, I wouldn't really say you're overreacting.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I have a fear of playing real competitive games like Dota 2 online because I'm afraid I might majorly screw up and get yelled at by everyone; and what I've heard of Dota community has made my fears even worse. Am I overreacting or should I be worried?

1. Yes, you will majorly screw up. Repeatedly. For many hundreds of games.

2. Yes, people will yell at you. Often in really nasty, hostile, cruel ways. For many hundreds of games.

3. The good news is, initially you'll *mostly* be plugged in with other people fresh to the game by the matchmaker, and those games are going to full of other people majorly screwing up too, and everyone is generally pretty easy going about it. It isn't until you've played 50+ games you start regularly getting match with people who...

A) Think they know a lot.
B) Don't really.
C) The one thing they know for sure is everything is your fault. And they will tell you. Over, and over, and over.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well yes MOBA or action RTS games at top level are the type of thing where each of your mistakes makes everyones game worse, it's also goes on for torturous lengths and you are not allowed to leave, with a bad team member this means you could be forced to play a losing battle for a whole hour or more and you can't do anything about it... it's really fucking messed up, and the community reflects this mechanic.

So either you go all in with those and learn the one million billion rules to each game or you don't go in at all because everyone around you will be miserable and they will tear you a new one each any every time.

However with the explosion of MOBA games it does mean that there are plenty of options other then that high end, stuff like Awesomenauts and Super Monday Night Combat are very quick casual variations that get plenty competitive but because the entire universe doesn't hang on your performance and you aren't fucking banned for leaving it is a much more relaxed environment.

 

[Trinab]

I've been playing DOTA 2 for close to 6 months now. I'm still terrible, but there are survival tricks.

Read this:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123364699

Welcome to Dota, you suck.

It tells you a lot of useful information, including basic survival tips for playing right, and encouraging you to continue, even through your mistakes. As long as you are actively trying to get better, you will be able to ignore a lot of the hateful comments.

For your first 50 games or so, you will be playing with either complete newbies, or people coming off of the original Dota from WC3. There are a -lot- of assholes who claim they know better here, but frankly most of them will be just as bad as you. It's easier to blame someone else then admit you made a mistake.

I found around games 100-200 you start running into more reasonable people. You will still run into one or two raging assholes, but the amount of times you do is dramatically decreased.

Around the 300-400 game mark, I'm finding more players that just are trying to learn and play the game. We're still all terrible. We're completely awful compared to the High tier, but it's now just amateurs playing.

The advice above is good too. Playing with friends is a lot more helpful, as they can give you criticisms and observations that are not tainted with the desire to win.

 

[eBusiness]

They haven't released much info on how the rating and matchmaking systems work, and at least initially you get no clue that there even is a rating system, but it is there, and from my limited experience it is very effective. Most people, good or bad, will be matched evenly after only a few games.

Of course spending a few hours on the tutorial stuff is probably a good idea, but after that there is no reason not to take it online, after all that is where you will truly learn the trade.

I don't know how bad the trash talking is in DOTA 2, I presume Valve are doing their best to prevent it, but either way it isn't something you will experience much at the beginner level.

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Quite honestly ? Don´t bother.
The fun to be had is not worth the amount of time you have to invest and the mountain of shit you have to suffer through.
Unless you, for some reason, desperately want to play Dota AND you want to invest a ton of your time AND you have a couple of friends you can play with AND you don´t mind dealing with unpleasant people for at least half the time you´re playing, just don´t do it.

Case in point: that guide Trinab linked ? It´s probably the nicest and most friendly, serious introduction to dota you´re gonna get.
And it starts off by telling you that you suck, you are going to suck for the foreseeable future and that your very participation will "ruin games".

I don't know how bad the trash talking is in DOTA 2, I presume Valve are doing their best to prevent it, but either way it isn't something you will experience much at the beginner level.

That´s just incorrect.
ESPECIALLY at the beginner level, you will be faced with a mountain of insults and bad behavior.
And most of it won´t even come from your enemies, but your teammates.
It gets WAY better after a hundreds games or so. But most people, rightfully, never even get to that point.

 

[Forobryt]

Ive played for about 8 months now and I cant say ive had any hostile stuff short of a random russian shouting crap about not talking russian in an english only game before they fixed the language filter for games.

I play with a couple of people who suck, and frankly thats fine everyone sucks at some point.
But the 2 guys i do play with are getting better because i'm giving them some advice on little things.
Like dont run too far in past the enemy towers instead of yelling "noob dont dive" which new players wont even understand, or about things they didnt even realise they could do like deny towers.

I guess like all games theres the community split, the people who are playing for fun and those who think they are some pro in training who must win every game and its your fault if they dont. Those playing for fun will either not pay attention to you or will pop some advice in if you ask.

And hell if you like the game but dont want the crap you can always just play practice games versus bots.

Or try joining the Dota 2 community group on escapist, whilst its pretty quiet theres a few guys on there who know what they are talking about who can help you out.

 

[Zhukov]

You won't get yelled at every game.

However, you will encounter at least one dickhead every three games. At least. Whether or not they direct their ire at you is basically the luck of the draw.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Find someone to teach you how to play the game, hell i'll do it if if you want.
As long you're at least trying to play "properly" (ie, not purposefully dying all the time, trying to go for last hits, coordinating with the team etc) you're unlikely to get shouted at.

I've played 185 hours of dota, I've never been shouted at once and I've only seen shouting and name calling maybe 3-4 times and to be fair, while it wasn't the nicest way of expressing frustration, there was a genuine cause for it.. and you can just mute and report that person anyway.

Maybe I've just had it lucky but honestly, the vile community everyone talks about has never really shown itself in game to me, it's about as good/bad as any other game.

 

[PatrickXD]

You'll get put in with a group of people of similar skill level. Anyone who is seriously playing to win is playing with a team of at least 2 or three other friends, and they'll be able to carry you. My first couple games went very badly, I was feeding the enemy team big time and not getting any last hits. Someone called me a noob, and I definitely contributed to my teams defeat, but it's all part of a learning process and ultimately most people will recognise that.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

I have a fear of playing real competitive games like Dota 2 online because I'm afraid I might majorly screw up and get yelled at by everyone; and what I've heard of Dota community has made my fears even worse. Am I overreacting or should I be worried?

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Best you run with friends. Or if you don't have any, the Escapist's Dota 2 group is right here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/DotA-2]. I can promise that we won't yell. Much.

 

[Abomination]

I have zero understanding or sympathy for people who are "afraid" or "fearful" of people saying nasty things to them on the internet.

It's the internet. People say nasty things on here all the time. If you can go a day without someone saying a nasty thing to you then you probably didn't interact with any strangers.

 

[DSK-]

I have a fear of playing real competitive games like Dota 2 online because I'm afraid I might majorly screw up and get yelled at by everyone; and what I've heard of Dota community has made my fears even worse. Am I overreacting or should I be worried?

Unfortunately, you'll get that in any competitive game. Actually, in any game, really. It's just the way things are, for the most part.

Best thing to do is completely ignore the ones that don't give you constructive criticism.

 

[Smertnik]

Just as the game's difficulty the unfriendliness of the Dota community is vastly exaggerated as I see it. From my experience there're just as many unfriendly people playing Dota as any other game, the game just makes it easier to be a dick because of its tight team nature and because one's failure directly aids the enemy team.
But as already mentioned, if you can't handle rudeness from complete strangers you'll most likely never meet again you should probably stop using internet altogether. Or go outside, for that matter.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Am I overreacting or should I be worried?

Think about this for a second. Of what consequence to your life is it if a bunch of losers online yell at you for being a newbie? Just go for it.