Making it count
Today I want to talk about an idea that I have talked about before, which I have gained a new perspective on lately; that is the value of having a learning focus in Dota.
This past few weeks I have been dabbling in some Hearthstone. I find it important to take the occasional break from Dota to keep the game feeling fresh, and with the pangs of absence from playing MTG (turns out drafting in Japanese is quite difficult), hearthstone felt like a reasonable compromise as I take some down time from my first love.
And it was, but for different reasons than I expected.
Hearthstone is a game which like many Collectable Card Games, is plagued by variance. In Hearthstone in particular the outcome of a match is very reliant on topdecking (drawing the right card at the right time). This is less of an issue at the competitive level, as top tier decks are very well optimised, and competitive Hearthstone is in fact quite interesting to watch. Unfortunately for the newer player who has both a ragtag selection of cards and the most to learn about the game, the variance in results is wild and actually punishes players who are trying to learn. I think this detracts from an otherwise very enjoyable game.
This isn’t the case in Dota.
In Dota it's not you, it's me
Okay before you jump down my throat about how your awful teammates throw games all the time let me make a few points. Although sometimes teammates who make significantly bad choices can make a game of Dota impossible to win, if you are a significantly better player you will always be able to have a large influence in the game. In Hearthstone however, it is much more common to encounter games where you simply could not win; where you could have no influence on the game no matter what your skill level was. Quite often you are guaranteed to lose if your opponent has the right cards. This doesn’t reward better players.The real lesson I have learned from playing Hearthstone is the value of improvement, and what it means to play a game that rewards improvement. In Dota you can ALWAYS learn something from a game no matter how small, there’s always something you can do better next time. This is a quality which I think is priceless and undervalued in Dota, and it took some some serious contrast to really get perspective on why I get so much out of the effort I put into the game. It means that there is no wasted time in a game like Dota compared to a game like Hearthstone.
The Three Types
There are three types of Dota players:The first type of players is one who just wants to have fun. Hearthstone aside from its frustrating variance is hugely fun to play, and I’m quite enjoying having side game to play when I’m not in the mood for Dota. In both games though, crushing losses that leave you feeling helpless are not fun, and this can dampen the experience for this type of player.
The second type of player is there to win, with winning being the ONLY objective and the means to achieve that being largely irrelevant. This is the Dota player I used to be, and I also think this is the slowest way to achieve the goals that this kind of player has. A player like this will have an experience with Dota very similar to what I experience with Hearthstone, where many games feel like a pointless waste of time, again leaving them with a subpar sense of fulfillment.
The third type of player is focussed on improving. They are more interested in being the best player they can be than they are about the direct results they obtain. This is a frame of mind that has a much better pay off in the long-term both in Dota and Hearthstone.Don’t squander the learning experience of Dota. If you take an approach based only on winning, you are choosing to discard valuable and rewarding experiences from your many lost games, and the ratio of effort to reward will be very low. This is the only part of Hearthstone that I don’t like, and it is something that is totally unnecessary in Dota.
As you can see, it’s the third type of Dota player who truly gets the most out of the game. They waste no time on frustration or defeatism. They squeeze every ounce of learning out of every game they play, for a truly holistic and fulfilling experience of Dota. Most importantly it’s an approach to the game which is not reliant on other players for you to enjoy the game. Both as a coach and as a player, this is the type of player I urge you to be. Focus on improving, and being the best player you can be, and I promise you that Dota will reward you for your efforts game after game.