Shut the hell up about whether Dota 2 or League of Legends is better

Before we started Games in Asia last fall, I wasn’t really following the MOBA gaming scene. I had heard of Dota and League of Legends, of course, but the genre didn’t interest me too much and, to be honest, I was a bit put off by the reputation the MOBA gaming community has for being, well, jerks.

Obviously, I’ve since taken up League of Legends, and although it was just for work at first, I quite enjoy it. We’ve already got Xairylle writing Dota 2 content, so between the two of us we can now write knowledgeably about two of the most popular games in Asia.

But I have to say, after my months of immersion in the MOBA scene, the community’s reputation for negative is pretty well-deserved. And I’m not just talking about the harsh way new (or bad) players are treated in LoL and Dota, I’m talking about the way the LoL and Dota communities treat each other.

It’s sad, but it’s rare these days for us to write an article about League or Dota 2 that doesn’t get some comment about how one game or the other sucks. Yesterday, I wrote a story about two people who died over an argument involving League of Legends, and one Facebook commenter’s contribution to the conversation was simply “Shitty game.” Really? We’re talking about two people dying, and all you can do is put down the kid’s taste in video games?

I don’t mean to single out that commenter, though, because plenty of others have made comments just as negative, and fans on both sides of the LoL–Dota 2 divide can be extremely obnoxious about how their game is “better” and how the other game “sucks.”

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if you think one of these games sucks and the other is great, that’s your prerogative. But I have to wonder about the maturity level and the psychology of someone who sees people talking about a game they enjoy and immediately feels the need to jump into the conversation and put them down by telling them that the game they enjoy sucks.

So you don’t like Dota. So League of Legends isn’t your style. Fine, I salute you. But please, shut the hell up and stop putting down other gamers just because their taste is different from yours. PC gamers often mock console gamers for the silly rivalries between the users of different systems, but the rivalry between League of Legends and Dota players is just as stupid, petty, and pointless.

It’s also sad, because I think it keeps a lot of players from trying games they might really like because they feel like they have to choose sides. My guess is that if they really sat down and gave the other game a fair chance, most Dota players would enjoy League of Legends, and vice versa! The games are quite similar, yet different enough that there’s fun to be had in both.

And think about what we could learn from playing both games; the strategies and metas in one that might be applicable to the other! Increased friendly communication between Dota and League players could really only be a good thing for both communities, and the diversity of play styles seen in games. The only reason we don’t see more dual Dota–League players is the MOBA community’s toxic hatred for any MOBA game that isn’t the one they play.

I am entirely certain that this plea will fall upon deaf ears, but I don’t care, I’m going to make it anyway: please stop. Stop telling people the games they enjoy playing suck just because you don’t like them. Stop trying to make yourself feel superior by putting down other gamers. Stop perpetuating the stereotype that MOBA gamers are immature, rude, and judgmental.

If we all just stop for a second, I think we’ll realize that the Dota 2 and League of Legends communities have way, way more in common than the tiny, petty differences that divide us.

Related:

11-year-old killed over Dota, 16-year-old suspect detained