RIKI NOOB HERO LOL

I've been playing way too much DOTA 2 recently. 

Way, way too much. 

There comes a point in games for me where I've learnt the rules back-to-front, and can kind of almost see the workings going on behind the game engine, and can kind of predict things. This manifests itself as a very rigid structural thinking, i.e. "To win, I have to go from this step to this step to this step and if anything gets in the way I'll lose". 

I first noticed this with the Civilization series. In III and IV there was this massively specific combination of world wonders to build, along with needing various resources and city-building spots and if they weren't perfect - perfect - then I had may as well give up playing there and then. In V this manifested similarly, but there was also the problem of - after a certain number of hours of aggregate gameplay - reaching a certain point and just quitting because, well, why continue? 

DOTA is slightly different. And it intrigues me, not just because someone in one game described it as "the most toxic game on the internet". 

Don't get me wrong. It fucking is. It's crazy on there. I can only imagine what League of Legends is like, and I'll go on imagining, because DOTA is all the toxicity I can take at the moment, thank you very much, kind sir. 

It's what I have tagged in my head as Left 4 Dead symptom, although it's probably been noticeable in other games other time, and it comes from putting a group of people together and expecting them to work in harmony or unison. 

Or, in the case of DOTA, in Russian. 

But anyway. 

So you have five people on your team, who you will never meet, or even likely speak to, again. And you have a simple goal; level up, get money, break the enemy Towers and then raze their Ancient across three lanes. In each lane, waves of disposable 'creeps' - little soldiers, mostly melee fighters but also some ranged - spawn at regular intervals and fight to the death, thereby highlighting the inherent futility of war, or somesuch. Enemy creeps dying near you means experience, experience means levels and new skills, etcetera, because if you've played any kind of RPG you know the dance steps for that one. Getting the last hit on creeps gets you cash, which buys you items, which help you in various ways. 

Then there's the opposing team who, naturally, you have to try to kill at every opportunity. 

And this is where I've started to see the scratching below the surface, because there are times when, no matter what you do, it will all start to go horribly wrong. It can be as simple as someone getting killed once or twice too early in the game, which leads to someone else having a bit of extra cash to upgrade their items, which makes them a little better, and then it all snowballs from there somewhat. 

And then people start complaining like you wouldn't believe. 

Die too early or accidentally? NOOB FEEDER. 

Don't get the kill in when you should? NUB HERO. 

Run off instead of suicidally attacking every hero in their team while your team slumbers in the grave, ready to respawn? 

NOOB NOOB NOOB. 

Maybe one in ten matches is an actual contest of skill between equally-balanced teams, that will go more than forty minutes and won't end in tears, recriminations and sweet, sweet name-calling. 

And yet it's addictive. Because that flow of the game - the way you can sense how things are going - is powerful, in a way, because you want to try to change it, to make the Great Energy Magnet flow your way, and your team's way. 

And then one of your team throws themselves suicidally towards the enemy repeatedly, giving them more experience and points, because they're obviously a FILTHY NOOB CASUAL, and...

Fun, though. Addictive, too. But still...