The Pinoy Dota culture (2012 – 2014): what has happened through the years?

In 2012, Joshua Frankie Rayo, computer science undergraduate at the University of the Philippines Diliman, wrote a paper that aimed to understand how Dota plays a part in the lives of Filipinos. Titled “The Culture of Dota in the Philippines“, the study also sought to “inform and remove negative thoughts about Dota” from his readers.

Two years have passed since then, and that’s actually quite a long time given the way that eSports has been growing in recent years. We’re going to look in on what’s happened since then, update on Rayo’s paper.

(See: What Pinoys really are saying when you play Dota 2 with them)

Offline to online

Before Dota 2, Warcraft III Dota (WC3 Dota) was played almost exclusively in internet cafes. You could play online via the Garena client, but latency and ping issues made it impossible to enjoy that experience most of the time. So what gamers would do was to get together in internet cafes, or LAN shops to play locally.

(See: 3 reasons why I still play in LAN shops even when I have those games at home)

Back then, livestreaming was unheard of, and tournaments were promoted by word of mouth. Teams also preferred bet games. Betting was second nature to Pinoy Dota back then, and it was common to see teams betting more than a tournament’s prize money.

But what really made Dota fun, according to Rayo, was trash-talking. He wrote that trash-talking in a humorous spirit creates an atmosphere conducive for gaming, and that it promotes interaction among teams.

Then came Dota 2 and online play. Trash-talking, which used to be something fun for Filipinos, was frowned upon by other countries. Pinoy players were flamed because of that, and were dubbed the “Russians of Southeast Asia”. The flaming created a vicious circle. The harder other countries bore down on Pinoy players, the more many of them retaliated, often in unfriendly ways, as seen here. Rude Pinoy behavior in games resulted in players getting stereotyped, sometimes even ostracized, and this has led to campaigns for better courtesy.

The rudeness of several Pinoys during games even triggered caster Tryke “Tryke” Gutierrez to launch a campaign that promotes online responsibility. He started #ThinkBeforeYouType, with the message that everyone must remember that they are talking to people, not computers.

That was a good day for Pinoy Dota. An influential personality like Tryke could motivate Filipinos into being more polite and respectful.

(See: Butthurt #PinoyPride is what should be banned from Dota 2)

Professional gaming