Dota 2: Flame or Fame?

Judging by the title of the blog post and the introduction, my article today will be one of the most commonly seen acts in any online multiplayer game - the art of flaming. What is flaming? 

Flaming is the hostile and sometimes repeated insulting action between users over the internet. It is frequently done as a result of real-world issues, such as politics and religion, or also done to point out specific areas of the game on user is inept in. By using this definition, we can see that flaming is rather accepted as part of the norm in any game, not to mention Dota 2. 

Examples of flame (none of these are real people):

LongJohnBong says "gank mid!" 
RazorEdge says "okay coming..."
LongJohnBong says "you stun first, then I attack and kill"
RazorEdge says "sure"

BossWizard has killed RazorEdge for 235 gold.
BossWizard has killed LongJohnBong for 240 gold.
BossWizard has a double kill! BossWizard is on a killing spree!

LongJohnBong says "OMG. What a noob, you idiot. Get out - leave this game. Go die in a hole and never come back because you deserve it.
Wow, a complete dumb bag, you should delete this game off your computer and kill yourself."

Now just looking at this rather scripted dialogue, you can see the language used is rather clean, but most flame directed upon another player is full of expletives which are not suitable for an internet article. This blog will be separated into three sections - why do people flame, how to prevent/bypass flame, and how does this apply to Dota 2.

Why do people flame? 

This is a question asked by many. People flame because the actions of one player on their or another team has aggravated and provoked their emotions, triggering a rapid, unthoughtful and often distasteful comment. Whether it be a personal scathe or an insult, to a certain extent, it becomes a sign of arrogance. When a player of your own team feeds unintentionally, accidentally misclicks or does something wrong, ther is absolutely no need to flame whatsoever.

Drawing from personal experience, flaming comes from those who are uninformed and somewhat immature themselves. One kill will not cause the end of the world, and certainly in Dota 2, if a support takes the kill instead of a carry, the carry has no right whatsoever to become angry with the support player for supposedly "feeding", an instance in which I see plentifully in the current closed beta of Dota 2. 

Other reasons include real-life issues - politically motivated hatred, racism or religious rebuke. In a game, players co-interact with each other to have fun, enjoy their passion and to relax (to an extent). Not to insult each other about their personal decisions in life. Insulting somebody racially or insulting somebody due to their religion is unnacceptable in my view in any form of the game, and this should never be tolerated by Valve. I see this way to often in Dota 2 and it has to stop. 

How do people express emotions of anger in a game?

1. Through expletives and bad language - this is the most common method of flaming another player. The use of a few magical words can cause a bit of uproar in a game and really destroy the fine, delicate balance needed for teamwork and to win a game. This is one of the most aggressive forms, and given Valve has introduced the voice chat feature, now, users can abuse in their own language or abuse loudly verbally. 

2. Through the use of caps lock - this is a rather docile method of being angry. By stating your point once, it is fine, but the repeated use of caps lock indicates excessive aggression and is poor practice to be used anywhere (cmon, where is your netiquette people?) 

3. Just leaving the game - the most annoying of all methods. It ruins the game, it makes sure your team (almost all the time) loses the game and ruins your own reputation (hence the title, flame or flame. Is flaming to get your point across worth the infamy?)

Is there an acceptable limit to flaming?

Of course, when a particular action of another player intrigues you or evokes particular emotion, being angry or stating your point to a certain degree is completely acceptable, and should not be considered flaming, instead, as an informed argument or informed statement to your fellow players. If someone dies unintentionally, rather than screaming all the expletives in urban dictionary, it is important you tell them what went wrong, and try and help! For example: 

RazorEdge has been killed by neutrals. 
LongJohnBong says "next time, try to focus on your HP and don't neutral if you know you can't kill them."

Clearly, if LongJohnBong didn't undergo anger management courses, he would be screaming and cursing at me. 

How do we bypass/prevent flame?

Some players are simply too narrow-minded or arrogant to care about others, so they flame anyway. Those do not deserve to have a Dota 2 beta key in my opinion. The first and foremost method to prevent flame is to build a solid friendship with those in your team. Apologise for stupid mistakes, have this support/communication thing going around and it will create a sense of teamwork, rather than one blaming the other for a genocide. 

In Dota 2, Valve has implemented a reporting system for flamers and intentional feeders/game ruiners. The signifance of this system has not yet been fully explored by Valve. If one player reports another, nothing happens really - they still can play and they continue going on with their actions. If Valve wants to seriously stop all this nonsense going on, they would have a flamer pool, take reports seriously into account, follow up on what the community thinks, because it is important that Valve focuses on these minor details in the full release which will make the game a success. 

So now the question can be - what happens if we've already been flamed at. How do we get through the game? Like most teachers teach you when you were young, bullies have no place here. Honestly, ignoring them would be easily the best option. They continue harrassing you, keep ignoring them. Eventually, they will get tired of it and stop, realising how much of a complete fool they have made out of themselves. You could also try to defend yourself, but usually, flamers have this instinct to pounce on you if you respond, making you the subject of even more curses. 

How does this affect Dota 2?

After clocking up countless hours in the beta, I've finally found out that flamers are everywhere. Seriously, in every single game. Dota 2 is a new community - one which is not open to all the Dota 1 community. Dota has never been that lovey-dovey, peaceful and supportive community, rather, it is vicious, arrogant and unwelcoming to newer players. This has become even more prevalent in Dota 2. 

This article is to open readers eyes to the flaming in the gaming world, and to seriously urge Valve to do something about what the community wants, and that's to shut the serious flamers up who abuse the only five words they know in the dictionary. 

If this continues to happen, my forecast for Dota 2 will be a fragmented, shallow and unwelcoming community, where everbody cannot possibly interact on public games, and it will be one game ruined after the other. 

Why did I focus my blog about this issue? Not a complaint thread, I just wanted to tell the community the line between flaming and telling others about their mistakes. Flaming is tolerated to a certain extent, but when it goes overboard, it gets annoying and becomes extremely repugnant. 

What do you guys think about it? Add your comments below! :)