Social Science: Heroes of Newerth

Brief Introduction
Art by S2Ari. This is the beautiful game of HON that S2Games created. This was posted on S2Ari’s blog. It is a
combination of various heroes’ silhouettes and ideas. You may recognize some of them.
I have watched the HON forums for quite some time now and I have enjoyed many positive threads like the
HON movement, S2 appreciation thread, or even the HON “Bro Code” thread. This
made me think about what HON is on a social level. The information in this “Brochure”
is my humble observation and beliefs. If you would kindly join me as I try to explore the
social science of HON.

What is HON?
Boil it down to its barebones, HON is the battle for better cooperation, and cooperation
is backed up by communication. Communication, though, is not just a mere blabbering
of words or one’s voice. I would argue that communication does not exist until the
receiver of the message understands what the sender of the message intended.
 Art by S2Aaron

The Transactional Communications

Model often used when psychologists
talk about the Communication
Process.

From Wikipedia.org

HONmmunications with its players after they’ve “Oh nooooo, you spelled arse not
already sold the game). ass” Even my editor is trying to
From a social psychology
IV. Community-Driven Contests correct me.
standpoint, there may be two types
(dream heros, alt avatar, 5. Organizational: Bad directions/
of gamers: those who game to
pumpkin carving, Lulu vs instructions
escape from reality; and those who
Diva Facebook off...etc) 6. Cultural: Stereotypical
game to enhance reality.
assumptions.
Whichever one you may be,
None of the above would exist for 7. Psychological: Emotionally
a game that’s about not about driven attitudes (anger, sadness)
One big reason I jumped into
social interactions. Oh my, this is a
HON’s close beta and ended up
double negative.
pre-ordering HON was that it
offered many opportunities to
communicate compared to its Communication Noise
These disturbances are
predecessor DOTA. Not that these
what we want to eliminate
features are unique to HON, but
in achieving the ultimate
they sure show a sign of an
goal of perfect
attempt to build a community, and
communication. These are
ultimately perfect communication.
some of the different
Look at it:
factors that may cause
I. A built in Voice Chat system
misunderstandings:
(VOIP)encourages players to
1. Environmental: bad
talk to each other.
speakers, broken
II. Clan organizations (clan
headphone.
channel, clan pages...etc)
2. Physiological: deafness,
III. Active forum. even though
blindness.
many threads on the HON
3. Semantic:
forum contain similar
interpretations.
disturbing content, people
E.g. “You mad?” does not
exchange ideas. Moreover, More art by S2Ari.
have to be interpreted as
the developers S2 also has a
an angry player’s catch
large hand in this whole
phrase, it can be a sign of Forsaken Archer
process (not many games’
caring.
developers communicate
4. Syntactical: grammar.
 Endless Desire
Above is some art from S2Aaron. idea can be summarized Freud and many
Taken from his blog. This is in one phrase: other social
suppose to be a potential Heroes of psychologists also
Newerth Box Art. speak of human
nature’s fear and
HON players want performance
hate. There are
and satisfaction.
many different
We.
perspectives on
We want to win; we want goblin Always. these aspects of
coins; we want to make friends;
Want. human nature,
we want to have Fun.
which I will not
More.
go into detail
Actually, let me take a step back.
here.
Sigmund Freud claims that people
The Empath Advertisement (Perhaps fear
have infinite desire due to basic
This is not a bad thing. is a good
human needs. This is also a large Art by S2Bruce.
Desire helps people thing? It can
basis of consumer choices in the
strive to improve. With keep people
study of Micro-economics. This
competition, abilities and from doing
situations will only get “better”. stupid things. Thomas Hobbes
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Taken from: Wikipedia.org
said so in Leviathan). These
primitive instincts guide our
reaction to foreign nations and
ideologies. When we are given
cause, either by the attacks of
radicals or the sensationalism of
the media, we enthusiastically
release our primitive hate. Some
basic human needs can be
summarized by Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. Once our
physiological and safety needs are
satisfied, we attain something
called Boredom. Boredom is a
dangerous foe. It borderlines
apathy and relaxation
(figuratively). From boredom
came the seek for excitement. This
may as well be the origin of
desires.
Relating to HON
In terms of HON, players can get
bored with conventional gameplay
easily. I like HON, but being HON,
an improvement from DOTA, it
has its limits. The game has to be
split up into 3 lanes. To win, one
must last hit, deny, and buy
powerful items. These are
traditional paths to winning a
HON game. This is fun to play as
well as master in maybe the first
100 HON games, but then you
realize every game becomes the
same repetitive actions. Thus,
players seek excitement: building
portal key on Mage Bane, building
Codex level 5 on scout...etc. By
traditional means, these builds are
outrageous! But they give players
the Thrills. Both merits and deficits
exist in this approach to HON. On
the one hand, you might have a lot
of fun; on the other hand, you
might end up losing every game
from here on and get everyone on
your team annoyed.
I encourage anyone patient
enough to read this far to stop
thinking about wanting more and
more.
Try giving.
What about trying to get 20
wards/game as a stat? It’s more
fun than you think. Be the Giving
Tree. Give advice to new or
confused players (Warning:
Communication Noise may cause Image from Wikipedia.org
misunderstandings easily). The Giving Tree
Trust me: HONmmunication is an By: Shel Silverstein
art.
 All pictures on this page are great art
from S2Aaron’s blog. Drawn by, of
course, S2Aaron.

Attempt at Deciphering Angry fire. They end up arguing with this

HON Players Tro- , well, special type of people:
ending up more angry than
HON is stressful. There have
anyone.
already been many discussions on
this in the HON forum, or even
I hope one day people will realize
more recently in Nome’s blog
that arguments go nowhere. One
(maybe not exactly recent, but he
can argue as much and have as
did talk about factors that made
much evidence, but it doesn’t
HON a stressful game: Stat
mean another person has to be
tracking, language barriers... etc.).
convinced. Silence doesn’t mean
It’s only natural to rage. A player
that a person has lost the debate. It
rages because he cares. A player
probably just means that one has a
shouts at another player because
higher tolerance of another
he had high hopes of the player
person’s ignorance/arrogance.
when the game started.
Disappointment pushes a player
I leave you with this one quote:
into a spiraling RAmpaGE.

Better than a thousand hollow

This is also the reason why
words, is one word that brings
stereotypes like, “BR suck at
peace.
HON” arise. Communication is
hard between two players who
speak different languages,
especially when that player is
stubborn: picking a carry, goes
mid, dies 5 times, and refuse to
concede.

Then there are the Tro- , well, a

different group of players who
likes to argue, correct, and
“prank.” Players who are serious
about gaming can easily have their
figurative, emotional oil tank lit on
 P.S. Ending Notes and Summary
Above art is another masterpiece by S2Ari. Valkrie will give you the Javelin of Light!
What I would LOVE to see in a game:
1. Say Hi! Ask someone how his day was. This is a great icebreaker. Sadly the only hero that does that is my
friend Pandamonium, the bear. I mean why hasn’t the phrase, “A hello a day keeps the anger away” catch on
yet? RAGE.
2. Talk. I can’t stress this enough, people don’t tend to talk enough in games. I’m not counting people who yell in
the microphone and see how long their “Ahhhhh” can last. Ask if you think the hero you’re picking is a good
idea for the team. Ask what item your teammate is building.
3. Take a step back. Apology is not a sign of weakness or wrongness. Quite the
contrary, a study back in 2001 (I forgot the name of the study)has shown that in a
heated debate: taking a step back and giving another person some breathing room
gives a person more satisfaction than fiercefully battle-royal-ing to win an argument.
You know, the famous fable: Two goats and a bridge.
4. Keep an Open Mind. I would love to see new ways to play HON. Penta-lanes (well
maybe not that realistic). Oh, here I’d like to stress one point that’s a little unrelated.
Before a certain point, strategy doesn’t matter if a person’s mechanics are bad.
Personally, I’m still a bad HON players, there are still many techniques I need to
improve upon.

I may be dreaming and hoping a little too much but I think gaming itself is an art, and art must unquestionably
have a social value; that is, as a potential means of communication it must be addressed, and in comprehensible
terms, to the understanding of mankind. Well that said, I know I’m a dreamer and I’m not the only one. This post
would probably be lost soon enough on the HON forums, but I can dream. :)
[Coke] Revelation
Brochure created by: Revelation Written: Revelation Pictures and Art by: S2Ari, S2Aaron, S2Bruce, and S2Games
Contact me: wild.musketeer@gmail.com