If you bothered to read a bit about DotA history or just happen to know some as a player, then you know how influential Fear and Merlini were with the game’s evolution the past decade. North American (NA) DotA is still weak comparatively weak in regards to the rest of the world (which is ironic because we consume more video games than the combined efforts of the entire world), but European (EU) and Asian DotA are huge. In fact, Asian DotA is so big, you may have noticed that this year’s International has Asia divided into two divisions. That said, Merlini was a sort of Jackie Robinson for Asian DotA, so whenever I discuss “Asians” in a general sense when it comes to DotA, I am neither stereotyping nor displaying hostility. I am simply giving credit where credit is due.
Because I was a pub American with no IRL friends who play DotA (I still don’t know anyone IRL who plays DotA; everyone I know plays League of Legends like sissies) I didn’t know anyone who could vouch for me, and thus I have never played a TDA game. There were other leagues around, but DotA is a team game, and most players would encourage their friends to play with them, forming alliances while playing dedicated roles. I was always on the outside looking in, on the wrong side of pubstomps while in my twenties as teenagers would buy TFT to play DotA without ever touching WCIII.
Fortunately, I would stumble upon games hosted by DotaCash.
I learned everything that I know about DotA during my tenure at DotaCash. I fell in love with the place on-sight because it was one of the first leagues that tracked stats like how dotabuff.com does. I still fondly remember the days one of its founding coders, MerelyASetback, also a married man with kids, connected with me on a hidden DotA message board on GameFAQs.com. We really connected because as a husband and father like me he knew the struggle as a DotA player. While the site was still in its infant stage, he vouched for me and I became a forum moderator there. If I couldn’t do anything about the toxic environment of an actual DotA game, I vowed to keep the forums clean. Regrettably, my obsession with DotA and DC fueled my wife’s hatred for all things DotA. I misinterpreted her withdrawal from me during my “DotA binges” as an opportunity to spend less time with her and more with DotA instead of pursuing her and winning her back. DotA, among other issues I have already covered are why my wife “jokingly” referred to call my gaming PC as “Your Misstress.” That should have been a sign but alas, the mistakes of the past.
Speaking of other mistakes, it was unfortunate that I was a 20-something year old (black) man participating in an arena of mostly Asian (primarily Korean) teens who felt that the kind of flaming and harassment that one would endure during a DotA game was an intricately immutable strategy for emotionally compromising opponents so that they would make mistakes and lose and would bring their attitudes to the forums. Me trying to reprimand them was like an old man telling children to keep off his lawn. I didn’t make any friends legalistically adhering to the TOS while the forum trolls became popular as they tend to do with youths who are antiestablishment. Things really went downhill when I gave Monolith (currently manager of EG) a three-day suspension for his pernicious, pretentious, and condescending tone toward other users (and if you read his Twitter above, you will see that much has not changed). He just-so-happened to be buddies with the lead moderator, so I was undermined with a decision reversal, and a target was thusly painted on my back. The lead moderator would be more afk than present as forum decorum would deteriorate, and upon his return, he would take the side of the dissenters and de-modded me before going permanently afk again.
Great leadership, huh? Well, I believe the downward spiral of DotaCash was well underway by then. There were simply too many factions, cliques, and drama from the gaming side (bans, permabans, MapHack allegations of popular players and staff members alike, etc)and the majority of the admins—including the site’s founder and moneybags Jason—were more afk than present.
It’s weird how fast the site went down. I began this draft in January 2014, and now it’s gone just like that.
The other factor that killed DotaCash was DotA 2. Good lord, did we (retired)staff members beg Jason on our knees to begin integrating some stuff for DotA 2. We may never know why he ignored us, but it was obvious that the emergence of games like HoN, LoL, and DotA 2 were eroding the community. Even the elitist users were divided: some welcomed the competition because that meant less “baddies” on DotACash bots; others hoped that DotA 2 would not be FTP because that would discourage “baddies” from buying and “trashing our games.”
Nice community huh? It’s always about avoiding the “baddies” rather than doing some introspection.This is the one constant of DotA culture: IT IS ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE’S FAULT!
Anyway, I’m not mad at those who conspired behind the scenes to have me de-modded. They all were eventually revealed to be the treacherous people that they are, or have been immotalized in everyone’s minds as trolls never to be taken seriously even as they become adults.. In fact, despite being a divisive figure myself, I must say that my experiences on DC were mostly positive. I assembled a journal chronicling me trying to win one game with every hero by playing them alphabetical order, and gained useful tips by other users who were reading through my tears of frustration as I had to win with Nevermore as a support because I can’t hit razes to this day. I mean, I put in thousands of matches of DotA during the DC era, so I had to have enjoyed it, right?
Finally, it has been darn cool to see DotA players who made appearances on DC, such as UNiVeRsE, Aui_2000, Purge, Tidesoftime, and a many others whom I can confirm but will not vouch for because they never posted on the forums (they only played on the servers), that would go on to play DotA 2 competitively as professionals. How can I possibly be ashamed to have been a part of that?
As a farewell to DotACash, where I became initiated into DotA Culture, I would like to thank the following for passing the torch:
Skyevodka: Probably the first “good” DotA player that I encountered who wasn’t just a pubstar who happened to have a good game while I was on his team who took me under his wing as a sort of protege and demonstrated to me the kills concerning how to run mid lane (farming, timings on runes and ganking lanes based upon the creeps positioning in lane, getting and not giving away first bl00d). I learned the most from him, but because he had a MAC, he couldn’t follow me into DotA 2. Unfortunately, he never posted on the forums.
W0lf0s: Too bad the 0’s don’t show in his name properly, but at any rate, when I was sort of blackballed while the DotA 2 invites were circulating among DotACash members after the guys at playdota.com got theirs, W0lf had mercy on me and sent me an invite via Steam. This was before Valve even charged people $30 for getting into the beta as the servers were invite only, and the company only released as many invites as it felt its servers could hold (lest they suffer a Diablo 3 launch situation). We played with each other for about a year, but we went through a rough patch of games, and W0lf would passively aggressively rage during games by going completely silent and eventually defriending me on Steam (and FB!).
Murs: He used to run with Aui_2000 and some other people from the team formerly known as Dignitas. I still think he’s good enough to be a pro DotA 2 player, but does not have the desire to do so. Next to Skye, he has taught me a ton, especially once he logged onto steam and I could ask him about strats and counters LIVE as I played. I know a lot but I wish I knew as much as he does. He began on DC as a troll, but I think it had more to do with the cliques; he’s actually quite mellow now and often afk, unfortunately. He’s wel
Kerensky: One of few people who understood me on DC, he’s also married and perhaps we are alike in maturity. He’s the best support I’ve ever played with who has coached me through a few wins when all my teammates pick carries and I have to support them even if they’re bad. He’s also usually on so I can rage over bad teammates. Too bad he’s in EU right now because I’d be playing with him every day if it were not for his lag. I love his photo on his Steam profile:
soap: It seems that he has retired, but he was a pretty good pubstar who demonstrated to me the fine art of being a captain during captain’s mode/captain’s draft. I still can’t do it myself, so I remain amazed at the clairvoyance required to not just pick a competent team that will possess all the synergies necessary to not get mudhole stomped.
EASTBOSS: A good kid who got a lot of flack for being a baby (I’m not sure if he was even a teenager when he joined DC), he demonstrated the kind of understanding that most adults do not have.
Phantom_IV: Taking a position of neutrality, he gave me another chance to be a forum moderator after my first “offense.” Patient as a Zen Master, few possess the knowledge of DotA that he has.
Novae: When he saw that things were going downhill at DC, he reached out to me and said that he believed I was right, and decided to jump ship. Perhaps I should have before I drained thousands of hours into a semi-hostile environment at the cost of all my IRL relationships.
Captain_Aizen: Simply one of the coolest, level-headed guys on the forums. If he were on FB, I would have liked practically 97% of his posts. He’s just one of those people that every community needs to keep conversations going.
Aquatowel: My ally in the struggle. Eastboss was a mod, but Aqua was there with me from the beginning to clean up forums. He first proposed stricter rules for offenses and stuck it out for a long time before eventually giving up a year later and retiring.
Cowlbutt: Taught me that people can smile in your face but a smile is a frown turned upside down.
I my next installment right before TIIV, I will discuss strategies with my favorite heroes. C’ya then!
