Why is dota 2 addicting?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes (ish)

Dota 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena which is developed by Valve Corporation. It is played by millions of people and it is also a famous choice for e-sport competitions. In fact Dota 2 International tournament prize pool was recorded at $18 million in 2015, the highest of any e-sport prize pools in history. So why is it so popular?

First of all, it is an incredibly hard game to master. There are hundreds of heroes which plays uniquely to each other and hundreds of items to consider depending on the evolving nature of the match. Then there is also a beautifully diverse map that demands spatial strategic thinking. All in all, the game is said to have an infinite skill ceiling just like chess. Dota 2 is a great example to indicate tremendous difficulty in creating a game system that encourages for unlimited creativity. Constant balancing is necessary to keep the game afresh and to eliminate unfair exploits. It is an unending endeavor.

Levelling up your hero’s experience and gold is essential to winning the game. By choosing to either kill AI controlled enemy underlings or kill human controlled enemy heroes to level up, the players constantly work out risk vs reward in their heads. When you do able to kill multiple heroes which is a very difficult task, the game rewards you not just by giving lots of gold and experience, it will also display big animated words like ‘UNSTOPPABLE’, ‘OWNING’, ‘WICKED SICK’ which are announced by a deep voice. The sensory experience amplifies the sense of accomplishment. This is something that some apps and websites could learn from.

Being a part of dota 2 community is the heart to of its experience. Since it is a multiplayer game, you work with four other players to take down 5 enemy opponents. Teamwork and impeccable communication are essential. Not only that, the community posts guides, tips and tricks on how to master a particular hero or how to control a particular area on the map. The game also rewards veteran players when they mentor beginners within the game. Many players have close friends within Dota whom they formulate strategies with. Designing a passionate community is not an easy task but dota 2 has been doing it right for a decade now.

A match in dota can typically lasts for an hour. Because of this, the losing team will feel a big dose of anxiety while the winning team feels an euphoric high at the end of the game. This is due to the sunk-cost prison working on both sides at the same time. That high is very addictive. Even the losers can’t wait to play another match to feel that high again. Epic team battles in the middle of the match are very unpredictable and requires a lot of preparations. If all 5 enemy heroes focus their powers on you, you can literally die in half a second. When you are killed, you will be forced to stop playing while waiting for your hero to reincarnate in 90 seconds. Because of this torturous break, you can hardly control your impatience while you are observing the enemy team demolishing your base.

When you win the match, your profile will level up and you will get item packs that unlock for appearance items for your favorite heroes. So, you can customize how your favorite heroes look so you can kill your enemies in style. The customization and modding features create a little sense of ownership on top of all the good feelings you can get from Dota 2.

There are a lot of things we can learn from skill based games like Dota especially how the game provides both strong positive and negative feelings constantly to the players.