14 DAY TRIAL // I have a friend who spends half of his free time playing DOTA 2, fairly well he says, and the other half watching other gamers, those better than him, as they engage with the MOBA.
Sometimes he even submits replays of his own matches to better players who are willing to offer advice and commentary and then tries to run through his defeats in order to make sure that he never again fails in the same way.
I admire such dedication to a video game, although I must admit that the charms of DOTA 2 and its genre are a little lost on me, the type of player who has a long-term addiction to Crusader Kings II and Football Manager 2014.
But, at the same time, I keep telling my friend that his current course is unsustainable and that his determination to master one game, compelling as it might be, is threatening his ability to enjoy something new and interesting that stands outside the genre.
As gamers get older, with the median age over 30 at the moment, they have less free time even if they have more money to spend and that tends to lead to the development of groups that focus on one particular experience for a long period of time.
But at the same time we live in a world where the indie community alone can create two cool, must-play experiences in one month and it’s hard to be amazed by something like The Banner Saga or The Stanley Parable if you do not have the time to even hear about them.
The problem with MOBAs and DOTA 2 is that there’s a lot of depth that can be explored and that the thrill of victory against other humans is hard to replace with anything else.
I love their evolution and the feelings they create, but I hate the way they eat up gaming time.