“[W]hat I can assure you is that the game which forces you to demonstrate competency and mastery of a universe—often to the point where that universe is burned into your brain—is going to lead to a more satisfying and memorable impression than the passive experience that’s as challenging as a cheap television show.”

“So, I’ll leave one message for the videogame industry and concerned citizens: If you want to stop toxic behavior, then stop buying and building games that encourage it.”

“I need to stress that Jedi Knight is not a bad game because it’s not Dark Forces, nor is it really a bad game in general, it’s rather of a fairly average pedigree. But almost every core addition wasn’t thought out well enough to reach its full potential and what unique assets there are simply don’t set it apart as its own class of quality—not by a long shot.”

“Everything about this show—from the corporate influence, to the structure, and pacing, to the horrible choice of entertainment options—is partially or absolutely the work of one Geoff Keighley, the Lord and Master of Doing the Dew. But talk is cheap and so is this awards ceremony. Let’s get to business.”

“[I]n roughly the same time that a variety of genres went from proof of concept to their apex, the dota genre has gone from Defense of the Ancients…to Dota 2.”

“So let’s explain the real reason that dota became popular. It has nothing to do with the quality of any dota game.”

“What the creators of Defense of the Ancients inadvertently pioneered was a game model that was designed to defeat the decline of novelty, a game which can offer new situations even as a world of replays, video streamers, salaried players, and tens of millions of players hammer down on it.”

“[I]f your game does not give veteran players the agency to overcome lousy teammates, and if your game does not give weaker players the game modes where they can learn the game without inconveniencing others, then the inevitable result is a community of raving lunatics.”

“In other words, dota is defined by “teamwork” because its creators have failed to provide anything but teamwork.”

“I do not want a game of weak logic where the theory changes because its creator wants to balance a matchup, and I do not want a game where it is more convenient to learn things by reading a guide than it is to play it. I want games which are worlds, and have rulesets which are confident and strong enough to convince me that is absolutely what they are.”

“How can the Dota series be balanced if we are now nearly a dozen years past its conception, and yet, it always seems like someone has to go back and make a correction? And how can dota games be balanced if nobody seems confident enough to stake their reputation on a current version of the game?”

“The interactions created by those parts—where teams of five lead a small number of computer-controlled allies down lanes on a single base map—are less complex than what you can find in competing genres.”

“So you see, dota players have sold themselves a myth that their games feature some of the most complex and diverse character rosters in videogames…but are bound to one of the simplest control schemes in the entire medium, and are built around a character template that was merely a subset of an RTS game.”

“And if you would argue that dota actually improves itself by automating the repetition, you are arguing the repetitive elements in these games are so awful that it is better to forego them entirely.