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Undulating newbies
Competitive gaming is on a downward spiral. Not long ago, games like DotA or World of Warcraft were only seen as strictly recreational. Now they are the future of esports.
By Michal 'Carmac' Blicharz
Feb 4, 2008 16:37
Competitive gaming is on a downward spiral. Not long ago, games like DotA or World of Warcraft were only seen as strictly recreational. Now they are the future of esports.It is difficult not to notice that the titles that have the numbers to make competitions sustainable are constantly less demanding than their predecessors. They appeal to countless masses of mediocrities unwilling to put in some hard work into becoming good at something. They do their best to diminish the difference between a god and a beginner so you have the illusion that you could be as awesome as the guy next to you.
At the same time, "ultimate esports" projects like Challenge ProMode Arena for Quake 3 have proven to be failures with respect to attracting players. Warcraft 3 and Counter-Strike lose players to WoW, DotA and whatever else is there to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
The dumbification of competitive gaming wins.
The ones that would like to lament this process will have to take a step back and get a better perspective on it, though. It is time to get off your high horse. A mere six years ago, Quake players complained at how Counter-Strike is gaining popularity thanks to how attractive it is to... countless masses of mediocrities unwilling to put in some hard work into becoming good at something. Warcraft 3, ladies and gentlemen, was regarded as newbiefied and a step back in gameplay from StarCraft.
The dumbification is really not a new thing. Neither a bad one.
This process, although it is as old as multiplayer games themselves, will go into reverse one day, after it reaches an extreme. Every trend eventually does.
I believe that everything in life undulates. Look at how soccer goes back and forth between being defensive and offensive. When defensive strategies dominate, coaches start adding players to their defensive lines at the expense of forwards. But as soon as this hits an extreme, a team will notice there is only one striker to guard for five defenders and will put extra men up front. A trend towards the attack starts.
Look at how the world undulated from the peaks of debauchery and sexual promiscuity to prohibition and chastity, and back again. How many times already?
The reality right now is that games are too difficult to learn, especially the ones with old and developed gameplay. There are so many elements to a game like Warcraft 3 that becoming decent at it is too painstaking to handle. People naturally lean towards the simpler games.
But each of those simpler games introduces a community of players with the basic skill set that makes them ready to get a seamless start in something more complex. For every ten players in a simpler game there will be a couple that will want more. They will be tired of checkers and will start looking for chess.
It may still turn out that DotA will be the best thing that has ever happened to StarCraft 2.
At the same time, "ultimate esports" projects like Challenge ProMode Arena for Quake 3 have proven to be failures with respect to attracting players. Warcraft 3 and Counter-Strike lose players to WoW, DotA and whatever else is there to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
The dumbification of competitive gaming wins.
The ones that would like to lament this process will have to take a step back and get a better perspective on it, though. It is time to get off your high horse. A mere six years ago, Quake players complained at how Counter-Strike is gaining popularity thanks to how attractive it is to... countless masses of mediocrities unwilling to put in some hard work into becoming good at something. Warcraft 3, ladies and gentlemen, was regarded as newbiefied and a step back in gameplay from StarCraft.
"The dumbification is really not a new thing. Neither a bad one."
If you want to complain about how lame and undemanding games like WoW and DotA are, then you should remember that in all likelihood the very same things were said about the game you love to play. And from the perspective of the people that said them, they were as well backed-up as what you may have to say now. Ironic, isn't it?The dumbification is really not a new thing. Neither a bad one.
This process, although it is as old as multiplayer games themselves, will go into reverse one day, after it reaches an extreme. Every trend eventually does.
I believe that everything in life undulates. Look at how soccer goes back and forth between being defensive and offensive. When defensive strategies dominate, coaches start adding players to their defensive lines at the expense of forwards. But as soon as this hits an extreme, a team will notice there is only one striker to guard for five defenders and will put extra men up front. A trend towards the attack starts.
Look at how the world undulated from the peaks of debauchery and sexual promiscuity to prohibition and chastity, and back again. How many times already?
"Games are too difficult to learn, especially the ones with old and developed gameplay."
The same will happen in esports. I have already seen it happen. I thought at some point that Unreal Tournament had died out, its players fleeing into real life, to other games or the lowest form of FPS gaming, instagib UT. Then there came a wave of new players for whom instagib was no longer enough. They quickly became formidable opponents in deathmatch. The very same ones for whom its complexity used to be a reason not to play.The reality right now is that games are too difficult to learn, especially the ones with old and developed gameplay. There are so many elements to a game like Warcraft 3 that becoming decent at it is too painstaking to handle. People naturally lean towards the simpler games.
But each of those simpler games introduces a community of players with the basic skill set that makes them ready to get a seamless start in something more complex. For every ten players in a simpler game there will be a couple that will want more. They will be tired of checkers and will start looking for chess.
It may still turn out that DotA will be the best thing that has ever happened to StarCraft 2.
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or the same 5 clans became top5 almost every tourney?
i stick with it, knowlege is the base of every game(more or less, u r right) but u win by clicking and thinking faster than ur enemy
and i didn't say dota was only knowledge or that u don't need knowledge in any other game... lets put it like this... for a player to be good in dota most of what he needs is knowledge (of the game) and some micro (ofc some brains would go nice with it)... but for teams you need communication, cooperation, strats, sync, etc., and i believe thats what makes the difference.
CS used to be played in a purely recreational way before too, didn't make it any shittier a game.
Quake is also much less newbie friendly than CS or WC3 if you haven't noticed.
I do agree some of the pioneer eSports games have to be preserved. eSports games have to be challenging to be deemed worthy and stuff, but then, popularity goes a very long way too. If those core games were not preserved, they will soon be chumped by more popular games in the future.
Don't get insulted more than intended, I've learnt patience with stupid people over time. You see, I've been playing DotA for 4 years or so more or less competative. Now I'd say, being at my prime and as fit as I've ever been, I'm amongst the fifty best DotA players in the world.
Now you might understand why I've learnt to have patience with stupid people. Stupid in the sense that they are simply put it not up for the job or task that lies ahead of him. Just as you tried to make an insightful article about gaming-develepment but utterly fail I see lesser DotA players trying to archieve well and do good in games yet fails utterly. See the resamblance here? You're the noob and I'm the pro?
Not gonna try to outmaster you in writing nor saying I know more about gaming history than you do but I'd say one thing for sure. I know a heck load more about DotA than you. Nonetheless you go ahead a write and utter stupid fucking remarks about DotA and deeming its entire pro-scene as nothing more than casual gamers. Next time you plan on writing some dumb stupid shit wrapped up in good writing check out with me before and I'll be sure to let you know quick 'nuff if you've done your homework or not.
I'll tell you something about DotA, known names from wc3 and cs alike try to play DotA. Some even try to make it all the way to the top, I see them try to walk my footsteps. I see the stumble, and I see them fall. Cause there is no simple way into the pro-scene of DotA. It takes ALOT of effort and it takes ALOT of games played to archieve what makes the top-players stand out, to make people like me stand out. On a sidenote it also takes alot of stupidity to reach out to my serious side and for me to actually try to write something which looks half-decent in terms of grammar and what not. But here I am, you hit my buttons and I'm not done yet.
You see I've played games like wc3 and counterstrike on semi-skilled levels. I've seen my brother dedicate alot of time into becoming a good q3 player, I've heard the stories about people dedicating ALOT of time to become good players in all kinds of games. And the story is always the same, hard dedication and various amounts of natural compared and those two attributes weighing against each others. But farmost its about hard work, and there is not a single person within DotA, q3, wc3, qw or fucking old-school descent that made it to the top without hard dedication and a willingness to become one of the best players. However the difference between DotA and alot of other games right now is that the pool of active players is actually bigger than most other games. But that is okay since DotA is probably one of the most complex pro-games I've ever played and it's not until you start playing it on the highest level you understand how big and complex the game is, even so big that not even the best players in the world can give you straight answers right now.
This game is about pin-point micro and keeping track of 9 heroes at the same time you have to make out which of the 200 items you're farming for. When you're farming for it, how you are gonna use it? Is this really the best option for my hero? Which build should I go for? What kind of the 200 abilities in the game does that hero have? How much is the cooldown for his spell, will I be able to wait 0.2seconds more to get that final lasthit or should I just blink out? Do I have mana enough to blink out? Did he have a tp on him? These are just an example of how a DotA player has to reason within mere seconds, all the time for 40-160mins straight without losing concentration?
I coulda written more about DotA but I'm tired so I'm just gonna wrap this up with some finishing words to summerize my somewhat primitive feelings along with honest thinkings from my behalf:
FUCK YOU VERY MUCH AND DONT FUCKING UNDERMINE THE GAME IVE DEDICATED ALOT OF TIME INTO BECOMING GOOD AT WITHOUT HAVING A FUCKING CLUE WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! YOU ARE A FAGGOT AND SO IS YOUR BROTHER!
1. learn english
2. learn to get your facts straight
3. calm down, get a life
there's like a dozen of former higher tier wc3 players that are now in the "fifty best" Dota players.
I have played everything from the quake series, ut series, starcraft, warcraft3, hldm/ag, counterstrike, and painkiller, on a substanstial level of skill over the past 8 years, and nothing comes even CLOSE to dota in the terms of complexity and different skillsets.
Admittedly, mastering movement skills, map control and combining that with good tactics and shooting in 1v1 deathmatch games is very hard, but the complexity is limited.
Games like counterstrike are just plain stupid, it's probably the dumbest esports game out there, any retarded 16yo kid with amazing aim can do good, even on a high level of play. I wasted enough years of my life scrimming 3-4 (sub)top euro clans every goddamn night to know this for a fact.
DotA is THE hardest game to start playing, yet you can still have great fun while doing so. People might argue that starting to play quake3 for example, is even harder, this is true, but only because 99% of the active playerbase are oldschool players, and fucking pro compared to anyone trying to pick up the game.
Anyways, if you think that, like zBob said, calculating in an overpowering amount of factors, that no other game can even aspire to come close to (and I fucking know this because I played them all), for nearly every single action you make, for 40 minutes and up NONSTOP, is EASY and DUMBING DOWN esports games, then you sir, should rush to the hospital to get a lobotomy and a castration.
All the people who hate on DotA or think it's an inferior game, should go die a horrible death in a fire as soon as possible, because out of all established and less established esports games that I have wasted the major part of the last 8 years of my life on, NOTHING comes even CLOSE to DotA in terms of skill and complexity. Nothing.
Some wc3 players playing Dota for fun get ridiculed cause they don't instantly own? oh my! I guess you where among the people who laughed at Fatal1ty when he switched to another game and didn't get first place in it for once.
You didn't respond to why some former mediocre wc3 players who switched to Dota now own at it.
Dota the HARDEST game to start playing? .Dota being the most complex game ever?
I don't know where to start how funny this is.
Let's start with the opening of your article, which suggests that DotA and WoW (though I will write here solely about DotA as, unlike you, I am not going to comment on a game I have never played) are setting "competitive gaming... on a downward spiral." You then attempt to vindicate yourself of having insulted DotA by saying to Maelk that you're not calling it a "noob" game and that he's putting words in your mouth. The expression "downward spiral" has nothing but negative connotations as with, obviously, "dumbification." So in fact, though you may be sorry about or not intending to say this, your article nevertheless conveys that sentiment.
You being a hypocrite and logically flawed aside, I will address some points in your article.
"They do their best to diminish the difference between a god and a beginner so you have the illusion that you could be as awesome as the guy next to you."
Apart from being blatantly wrong (from pub to IHL games it is very evident just by observing a player for five minutes whether he is good or bad) let us assume that what you said is in fact true (which I must affirm once again is in reality it is complete bullshit). So what? If a game somehow masks skill gap just by watching someone play, how is that in any way indicative of the skill actually required (behind the "illusion") to be a "god" or "beginner." Have you ever heard of the game Chess? While playing you sit there looking at the board and thinking. Just sitting and thinking. Guess what? You sitting and thinking probably does not look any more or less "godly" than me sitting and thinking, but somehow Chess is the greatest game of all time, go figure.
"They appeal to countless masses of mediocrities unwilling to put in some hard work into becoming good at something."
As far as new players are concerned, I agree. One of the things that makes DotA great is that it is fun for newbies and competetive players alike, though if new players attempt to play competetively they will get ridiculed extensively. I'd say 99% of people who play computer games do not attempt to be proffessional or high-level and so there is in fact nothing wrong with a game appealing "to the masses." I'm assuming you don't mean that it does not take hard work to become good (because it does, and I am still not on the level of zBob or Maelk) so in fact your statement with all bias aside simply means "DotA is fun to play at low level." Wow, what a shit game it must be then! Yet another void remark.
You seem to have this fundamental idea that DotA is easier (requires less skill than, takes less time to become good at etc.) than WC3. May I ask what you are basing this on? I have played DotA with Philbot, who was a good WC3 player right? With no offense intended he is not good. Same with Kowi, an amazing WC3 player, yet he is nowhere near the level of DotA skill or knowledge to be considered a top player. You said to Maelk "some games only require a basic skill set from an older game to be played relatively well." Surely Philbot and Kowi have very strong ability of the skillset in WC3? The game engine is the same for them, but that is about where it stops.
When I started playing (two and a half years ago) my friends would watch replays of coL, tpd, Nafu and SAY_PLZ from the first MYM Pride and say to me "you gotta watch this!" I watched these admittedly I did think, along the lines of the "illusion" you speak of, that I can last hit creeps and cast spells on enemies no worse than they can. Then I solo'd vs Jolie and Horon in MYM Nations and interestingly enough I realised I could not have been more wrong. Anyone who attempts to play this game seriously quickly understands how increadibly complex every single aspect of what you can do in DotA is.
No one knows everything and being ignorant of a computer game like DotA certainly does not make you an idiot, but posting an article analysing and drawing unsubstantiated conclusions about something you are entirely ignorant of on SK-Gaming website does make you an idiot.
If you read carefully, I am actually telling people to get off their high horse because their games were called the same things DotA gets called... And look at how many large competitions they had. Still, I believe DotA and WoW are much simpler from the point of view of dexterity and multitasking, which were traditionally seen as the core esports skills.
Game knowledge is just as good a skill as any other. Chess is all game knowledge and has enough depth as it is.
Now you might say, well HEY IN DOTA ITS 5 VERSUS 5 AND THATS LIKE TEAMPLAY AND STUFF. Just compare 4v4 in WC3 to 1v1, 4v4 is actually considered LESS skillful as it removes the individual skill factor by a huge margin. Even though there's more combinations of units etc. it doesn't make the game more competitive. It's the complexity of the individual role that shows how hard a game is to master. Just think for a moment, some players in WC3 might get up to 200 or even 300 actions per minute throughout a game of 20-30 minutes. The game requires a lot more of the player than to click right click 95% of the game.