White and Blue is the Official Student Publication Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Philippines with editorial office at Rm. 06 Student Center, Saint Louis University

A typical teenage boy goes home late at night. And by the door, his mother awaits ready to unload her nags about his late night arrivals and one day spending off his allowance.

This boy tended to spend his time in a computer shop for too long. He was so transfixed and ever focused on the adventure brought about by this computer game craze which seems to steal away his element.

Let’s just say that he was snatched from home for that keyboard moment filled with body electrifying and soul elating ambience. It has been an inevitable call for excitement which promises a supernova play of heroism to salvage your territory. He then eats, breathes and lives the game. His innocence brought him to be addicted on this attraction considered as a daily supplement for some. It is DoTA – a catharsis.

But as for the indifferent ones, do you really know DoTA that much? Is it really a pain in the ass? Or are you just a victim of a fatal assumption about it. Well, as they say over and over again, there are two sides of the coin.

Discovering the Ancients

DoTA, a new household vocabulary, stands for Defense of the Ancients. DoTA is conceptualized from the map of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. It was initiated by a mapmaker named Eul. The beta version was first tested in 2002. However, Eul did not update his map resulting to an impediment in the mass release. It was opened for development long before it was stopped. An author with an alias of Guinsoo succeeded which brought the nativity of DoTA Allstars. It is now considered as the actual standard in DoTA games. Guinsoo worked for the 5th generation versions (notably 5.37 until the end of the 5.xx versions). In 2005, Guinsoo opened the Allstar map to further development and ceased his own development. Continuing the work of Guinsoo, Icefrog is now the main programmer for the map and is liable for the update and its development. He even brought out a submission contest for a new character. The first two programmers were enshrined in the game through the items Eul’s Scepter of Divinity and Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vise (which incidentally has Eul’s as a requirement).

The DoTA map accommodates up to ten players on a five-on-five gameplay. However, there is still room for two observers who may preside over the official games. It is a combat game consisting of two teams outwitting each other. These opposing teams are based on opposite corners of the map. The base contains the Ancient which is the stronghold of a team. It is also the main aim for target. Defending the base are eleven towers which are to be penetrated so that the Ancient shall be destroyed.

Before the start of the game, the players choose their side to fight for. They can choose either of the Scourges: Defenders of the Frozen Throne (upper part of the map) or the Sentinels: Defenders of the Tree of Ancient (lower part). The server (termed as the blue player) then types in the command for the current game mode. The most common modes are: ap (All pick – players pick heroes from all taverns), ar (All random – all players get random heroes), np (No power-ups – power-ups do not spawn), sp (Shuffle players – players are randomly assigned sides), and the official lm (league mode – a random team chooses one hero then the teams alternate choosing two heroes with the last choosing only one hero). From those sides, the players can now select their Hero. There are more or less ninety heroes who are designed in unique equilibrium and style. Each of them is created with different spells and tactic abilities.

Characters are stratified on their three attributes: strength (which focuses on its life points and regeneration), agility (focuses on attack speed and armor) and intelligence (focuses on magic points called mana and skills). The skills, attributes and the items make the possibilities in the game almost endless. The control of each character is through mouse clicks. The player can also use the hotkeys designated for your heroes’ abilities for easy access in activating the skills.

The player should also battle with computer-controlled creeps. These “minions” are spawned from the bases every thirty seconds and traverse the three lanes (officially called east, middle and west lanes). The objective of each player is to defend his Ancient and to destroy the opponent’s side. In the game, you need equipments which offer special effects on your offense, defense and attacks. In order to avail these equipments, one should earn gold by defeating creeps, bases and heroes. After the towers, the barracks of the enemy base are the next target. While destroying them is optional, once all of these are destroyed, the opposing team gains mega-creeps, which are creeps that are better and nastier than the common ones.
Each time a hero gains an experience with the battle, the hero moves up a notch on its level. The significance in gaining a level up is for the improvement of the hero into a better warrior indispensable for besting out the rival. Smart and right decisive skills are required in choosing your heroes and equipments; one may end up with a double-sided winning and losing dilemma.

In the Zone

Anyone can play DoTA with anyone anytime through offline using LAN (local area network) connection or online using Battle.Net. An unofficial online server is the GGClient. With offline gaming, you can only play through networking with your close friends or others in the same shop or area. While with online gaming, there is a multinational combat involving DoTA masters all around the world. Shout-outs can be posted too, just to taunt your enemy.

With the infectious invasion of DoTA all around the world, players have developed a certain lingo. This lingo has now become a major topic especially among males. For instance, in a classroom situation, one may access uniformity to another by this. And by means of observation, male students can get an antidote against an “Out of Place” scenario.

Adding to the bright side of DoTA, one may gain management and decisive skills, camaraderie and critical thinking by the complexities offered by the game. It is a form of a stress management as it may be an emotional outlet for stressed students. Rewarding one self with an exciting game is just enough to end the day right.

Furthermore, some parents agree with DoTA as a better recreation for their children considering the many vices of today. So, can we consider DoTA good as well? There will always be two sides of the story. So mull over DoTA once in a while before judging it. Well, then maybe, one may give it a chance or don’t even care at all.

Sources:
www.wikipedia.com
www.unc.edu/~thikket/basics.html

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