“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.

“Here we have games throwing incredible simulations of war and civilization at the player, delighting their audiences and pushing consumer technology to its limits. So, the question is: Why, exactly, would I give a shit if a dota game is throwing a few dozen soldiers and five-man teams down a corridor of small, static environments?”

“The free camera is not essential to the experience, and countless excellent games have shown that in the context of a character-action game, it is the inferior option.”

“As manifested today and through significant revision, the history of the dota genre is the history of amateur game designers using their limited resources to manipulate a game engine which was never designed for formal modification, never designed for traditional action games, and was demonstrably terrible at doing many of the things that were commonplace in videogames.”

“Skilled play is simply one means to exploring and understanding the games in question. What matters is whether or not you know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“I expect some will suggest that a scathing rebuttal of a genre which is being played at prize tournaments and by tens of millions of people means that I do not enjoy videogames. … When the reality is that I love them enough to take the knife to a popular and emerging game genre and provide a series of answers which demonstrate an incredible love of videogames.”

“For this reason, it’s simply the easiest and most effective to identify the genre with the game that brought it wide popularity and codified most everything commonly associated with the genre today.”

“In the Groove entirely opts against the strengths of the dance game in order to pursue the weaknesses, and the decision to go longer, harder, and faster is nothing less than a total disaster.”

“I don’t care whether the journalists handed out their “universal acclaim” and I don’t care whether the “pros” say it’s good. It is my absolute fucking right to ditch your game, call it what it is, and move on to something else.”

“So what’s the problem? Well, the terms are often used interchangeably, and it leads those who clearly lack authority to inadvertently assert that authority.”