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I have ~13,000 hours in DotA (and several thousand in other strategy games, and an erstwhile career in game development).

I'm a noob, the depth of the game is still unfathomable to me.

Every time I sit down to play, the game feels richer, more nuanced. The minds I encounter striving for the same joy of mastery come alive and reveal themselves - you'd be amazed how much personality can come through mouse clicks.

I take better care of myself because if I'm in a bad mood or mindset, I won't be able to play good dota. It's a litmus test for my current mental and emotional state.

Oh, and it keeps my ego in check: If you're playing for yourself, you will lose. It's better to work together on a suboptimal plan than announce you're correct and sabotage the team. Humility complements skill.

I find most other games boring - I don't play for story, I play for depth and nuance of mechanics, for connoisseurship and mastery. Most video games are on-rails; may as well watch netflix for all it demands of you. Having a wide variety of colored candies does not make a diet.

You get out of games what you put in, in my opinion.

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> You get out of games what you put in, in my opinion.

Fair, although what you get out of League is a lot of stress and abusive teammates. Of course you also get tons of fun and challenging matches that make it worth it. But…

I have about 8k hours on Factorio, and about half that in Terraria. Another 5k in Civilization V. Now: are they more enjoyable and enriching than a MOBA? Do they have better mechanics and provide more happy memories? Yes on all counts.

Of course we all enjoy different things :) And hey, in DotA you have a really cool sniper!




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