netflix, client update and tutorial – why dota will not gain new players

Alright, sorry in advance for the rant. My premise here is that dota should and deserve to grow in player numbers, because it is the best game out there, but it doesnt. I'm not saying the game is dying, it probably isnt.

But the answer to why dota has not gained a significant rise of new players is the exact same answer why the slacks tutorial will not help new players stay in the game.

Hear me out:

We're at a peak of tools with tutorials, information that's easy to access, overwatch, guides on utube, in depth lore, exciting esports (pls ana), the betterment of new player experience, great role models.

Aaaall of this should make it easy to understand and love this game and make it bigger than ever.

Sure, all of this is an essential answer to why the dota community with all it's splendor is where it is today. But when it comes to the influx of players, no. And this is because of the same reason humans as a whole fuck up and make bad decisions together.

Come in large groups we are actually just skinny apes. We need it to be fun and easy, and no amount of well-out-thought guides or ui is going to change the fact.

The only way dota is coming back to it's peak numbers in like the summer of 2013 and beginning of 2016 is the same way it was created, the custom games.

The place where dota was born. Every time we've seen a bump in the statistics it's been because of games like auto chess. If the custom games gets the love it deserves, dota will only grow and the fun will take the complicated of dota out of it.

The slacks tutorial is a gem, and will help out a lot of players. Suuure the netflix show will probably get dota some traction for mby a month. But if the ultimate goal is for this game to thrive (well, it actually does thrive, arguably yes, but it is still loosing players from year to year) and to gain the amount of players it deserves, you need to go back to basics.

Rebuild the custom games so it's easy to make new games.

Let me hear what you think