Butthurt #PinoyPride is what should be banned from Dota 2

Dear fellow Pinoy Dota 2 players who have been raging about the “rumored” Pinoy Dota 2 ban, can you put your pitchforks down and stop being ridiculous people for a minute or two so you can pay attention to what’s really happening? That post you are raging about is satirical and sarcastic; it isn’t real. Pinoys are not going to get banned from Dota 2.

But you know what? As a Philippines-based Pinoy Dota player, I think the post actually makes some important points.

(See: 5 reasons why Filipinos should play the satire game Party Animals)

Why do people hate Pinoys in Dota 2?

It’s no secret that Pinoy players are hated in Dota 2. I’m sure a lot of people, both Pinoys and foreigners alike, can give you a detailed breakdown of reasons why they hate Pinoys.

In a nutshell, it’s because players from the Philippines think too highly of themselves, trashtalk a lot, don’t bother to speak in English, can’t play properly, and can only ever say different versions of “tangina” and “bobo”. And when you call out their mistakes, they get pissed off and it’s your fault all over again. You’re lucky if they don’t call you racist. Oh, and they’re like this not only to foreigners, but to other Pinoys as well.

“They refuse to communicate in English, when they do, they scold or blame people. Even when they are wrong, they will still be right. With them in game there is bound to [be] trash talking and flaming […] everywhere,” said a Singaporean Dota 2 player whom we spoke to.

These are the same reasons cited in the recent satirical post that went viral. The post even went as far as saying Valve is considering the measure if it gets “a million support”. Of course, while Valve is known for not competing with its own customers, it also didn’t become as big as it is now by giving in to every pointless tantrum thrown by the community. And considering that the Philippines has one of the largest (if not the largest) Dota 2 playerbases in SEA right now, I don’t see the country getting banned anytime soon.

Why do Pinoys act the way they do in Dota 2?

I’m Pinoy and based in the Philippines, which is why I know all too well how and why these people act in-game. Being in a front-row seat at this show isn’t lovely, and I’m probably being labelled a racist and a traitorous bastard by my own countrymen right now as I tell you this.

Let me start by saying that Dota is a very popular game in the Philippines. You can find the game in almost every cybercafe, where PC rental is as low as 15 PhP ($0.34) per hour. Because of this, almost everyone can afford to play this game. And if you go into a regular cybercafe with staff that don’t care (which is the case most of the time), you can find a lot of different kinds of gaming patrons, from regular players, to students who cut classes, to people who don’t shower, to people who don’t wear shirts, and to kids as young as five, if not younger.