Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology

College of Arts and Social Sciences

Department of Sociology

SOCIAL INVESTIGATION

on

DOTA ADDICTION

(Socio 152 Community Organizing)

Submitted by

Paul Peter John S. Enoy

Mademoiselle N. Galorio

Janeth S. Talingting

Christine T. Calapini

Jamaica Bacolod

Submitted to

Maria Cecilia M. Ferolin, Ph.D

 DOTA an ADDICTION

WARNING! The first thing you should know before you play this game is that it is highly addictive.
They say that “once you are in, you will never get out.” It is especially true for me. I started playing
Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) way back my college days. I fell in love with the game the first time I
played it. For those of you who don't know what DOTA is, well it is a mod game based on Blizzards' best
selling game Warcraft III – The Frozen Throne. It was created by Eul and Guinsoo and currently being
maintained by IceFrog. Despite the emergence of similar games like League of Legends, Heroes of
Newert and Dota 2, DOTA has maintained its popularity and fanbased especially in Europe and Asia.

The objective of the game is for a team to destroy the enemy's Ancients. The two teams has its own
Ancient, from the Sentinel team : a giant Tree of LIFE; and from the Scourge: a frozen-giant-Icedrop like
FROZEN THRONE. The first one to destroy an Ancient will be the winner.
To play the game you must have the wisdom of a General, the cunningness of a mouse, the heart of a
Lion and most of all a team-work-attitude of an ant. I say General because this is a game where you will
need to device a lot of tactics, control units and use the “Art of War.” The heart of a lion because you will
never become a Pro if you are afraid of losing. The attitude of an ant because this is a team game and you
will need to coordinate with your teammates in order to succeed – a lot of TEAMWORK is required.
There is no shortcut to awesomeness and Godlike strength in this game except of course if you are one in
a million who was a natural born genius like me.. ahemm. Just kidding. If you are a common person and
would really want to rise up from your newbie status and become a PRO you must be willing to spend a
lot of time to practice. There will be a time when your mother will scold you, your girlfriend will breakup
with you, you grades will definitely drop, and you will feel what is like to be awake for 3 straight days.
Well if you don't have your own computer then you will spend more money at the cafe than spend your
money for your own food. And if you have your own computer then you won’t be able to see the sun
rising from the east! That’s because my friend you will be so hooked up in this game that you would not
dare step out of your room.

I. The social problem

How does dota addiction affect the lives of dota players?

Technology, revolutionize our lives. The World Wide Web offers access to information exchange and
communication. Computer games became accessible to the masses. Many computer shops have sprouted
to different corners of society that gives help to people who do not have the luxury of their own personal
computer. Their clientele are mostly students. And as such it arises different kinds of sicknesses in our
society and an example of this is DOTA ADDICTION. The main social problem that dota addiction gives
the society is that students tend to cut classes and forget their respective responsibilities in school and in
their homes.

II. Research objectives and questions

Objectives:

The researchers want to know the gaming experience of a DOTA player.

 The researchers also want to discover why the game is addictive.

Questions:

Participant
1. What is your experience in playing dota 2?
2. Who are the people that influence you to play dota?
3. Where do you usually play with your friends?
4. Since when did you consider yourself being addicted to dota?
5. Why do you love dota?
6. How do you manage your time with your social life?

Non-participant
7. What did you observe about the place
8. What are your observations about the players?
9. Why did you chose that venue?
10. How did you observe?
11. Who are the players?
12. When did you conduct your study?
13. Where did you conduct your study?

III. Methodology

The researchers used to two methods in their study. First is through participant observation in
which the observer will participate or experience in the actual observation. Second is non-participant
observation in which the researchers only observe.

A. Participant Observations

During the course of our study, we, the researchers had a glimpse of why the dota game is so addictive
and we were able to experience it on a firsthand experience. Based on our findings we have come into a
generalization that the respondents experience for dota is highly unique to each rank of addiction. The
scope of our study includes veteran players(locally renowned dota players) down to your usual casual
gamer. For the veteran players we had observed that there experience for the game is more poetic, more
passionate and more invested in the game compared to your usual gamer. We can conclude that dota is
like a drug for them. They get high during the game and get the sheer excitement that comes with it. They
get the feeling of euphoria, the feeling of dominance, the feeling of victory, the cheers of teammates and
bystanders. And if there is winning there is also losing, while on the losing side, these so called veterans
are more invested emotionally and mentally on the game and as such they also tend to hang on to small
details that had led to losing the game. They get depressed on thinking about ways they could have
changed the flow of the game which could have led to the victory for the team. Some get too depressed
and thus go into a state of hibernation which they shield themselves from other social contact, and solely
focus on improving their skills. For the casual gamer, we could say that their experience for the game is
simpler compared to the hard core veterans. Their experience of the game is solely centered on the
camaraderie which the venue for the game can give and as such they are able to socialize with other
players or with their friends and family. These kind of players usually play the game for the sheer fun of
it, and thus in a way can be an outlet for negative energy and in some cases promote male to female
interaction. And also during the course of our research we were able to find the persons that were
responsible for our respondent’s addiction. We generalized that the respondent’s friends are mostly the
ones that had influenced or had played a role in their addiction. But there addiction is solely centered on
their own decision to thrive for the betterment of their skills and to be able to achieve an IMBA player
status. And not only that, we found out that the venue for the game time for dota ,nowadays is ever
changing because of the fact that dota can be played anywhere that has a capable computer and a stable
internet connection, and as such their physical interaction greatly diminishes and their roles in society
takes a limiting factor.

Sadly we had observed that most of our respondents did not consider themselves as being addicted to the
game but consider themselves as only recreational players that happen to have a ton of negativity in their
lives and thus leading to excessive hours of game time. During the course of our research, we collected a
wide range of reasons in regards to their affection towards dota. And thus we are unable to single out one
main reason towards their affection to the aforementioned. Their reasons are( Boredom killer,Non-
exhausting game, Fame Source, Promotes camaraderie ,Tranquilizing,Non-violent war, Topic provider,
Sweet sound effects, Easy to play, Total freedom, Mind Exercise, Physically safe ,Game Variations,
Income generating, Feeling of superiority, Tool for anger discharge, Constant need to improve skills,
Professional gamers as inspiration ,Peer Pressure, Game Illusion, Haunting of the game, The winning
feel, Losing makes you thirsty to win, Balanced game, Vast number of strategies, Being a strategic game
is solely addictive, Opportunity to be praised as a hero).

We are able to generalize that majority of our respondents aren’t able to manage their time wisely, they
also are unable to properly allocate their priorities, and thus leading to minimal or close to non expanding
social circle. It greatly affects their social life because of improper allocation of priorities and time. First
and foremost their social skills takes a great hit because of the fact that there is near to none physical
interaction, there are cases like this that our respondents are very fluid in regards to communicating
towards us through the use of a computer/laptop but when we where communicating personally they were
hesitant and a bit shy, in a way we could categorize our encounter as socially awkward. In some cases
their main reason for delinquency is solely based on their dota addiction, and most of our respondents
where highschool/college delinquents or has a history of delinquency.

B. Non-participant Observation

We, the researchers conducted observation about DOTA ADDICTION last Saturday on August 9,
2014 at exactly 9 o’clock in the morning at Simon’s Internet Café. We chose Simon’s Internet café as the
setting of our study due to the information given by our participant observer that the said internet café was
known to be one of the gaming places among DOTA players here in Iligan City. The said internet café is
located at the second floor. As we enter, the place was silent, dim and the only light of the place was
coming from the computer screens operated by the dota players/ we noticed that Bystanders are not
allowed. We properly asked the wonder of the internet café to allow us to stay and observe in conducting
our study.

We took videos of the venue and the dota players including our participant observer. We
observed that most of the players are male students coming from different schools as what we have seen
from their school ID’s. The players were very focused on the game and do not want to be interrupted by
others. We heard some of them saying bad words or trash talk every time they commit errors while
playing. There were also new comer players waiting for vacancy and some borrowed money from their
friends for them to play DOTA. We also noticed that the internet fee cost Fifteen Pesos (15) per hour.
Dota players usually use open time for continuous play.

IV. Findings

The researchers found out that Simon’s Internet Café is very crowdy and was purposely designed
for online games including DOTA 2.Proofs such, posters posted outside the internet café and most
internet users are DOTA 2 players. The researchers also found out that most of the DOTA players are
male students coming different schools here in Iligan City. The players give full attention in playing
DOTA 2 game. The researchers discovered that the DOTA players have a history of delinquency or is
currently a delinquent. During the course of our research we have observed that during our conversation
through the use of the internet they are good in communicating but during our live conversation we can
categorize that it was socially awkward. Most of the veteran players are currently playing at the luxury of
their homes. And in a way it becomes a limiting factor in their social life and skills.

V. Conclusion

The researchers conclude that DOTA ADDICITION is a social sickness and it demands to be treated as
soon as possible. Because of the fact that it hampers their social skills and their respective roles in the
society.

VI. Reflection

Through observations and asking questions to respondents of the study, we the researchers were able to
gather information about the topic and were able to know and understand the reasons of DOTA
ADDICTION. The researchers learned that in playing dota one should have limitations on the game and
should manage their time wisely and must know their duties and responsibilities in the society, and know
their priorities in life.