Social media raging and drama, Dota’s favorite epidemic

Jacky “Eternal Envy” Mao’s latest rant blog has lit Reddit, Twitter and Facebook on fire. When players and important Dota 2 figures don’t have a mindful, responsible social media behavior and etiquette, the entire scene suffers a credibility gap. What good is ranting when it doesn’t generate improvement?

Is there not enough GOOD news and cool stuff going on in #Dota2 right now that we have to mire ourselves in drama and bullshit? Come on ppl

— Nahaz (@NahazDota) April 29, 2015

Millennials typically take to social media to express themselves, make statements and incite change. However, when professional players and prominent personalities in the community do that, all eyes tend to be on them, watching their every move. Their viewpoints spread like wildfire. When players and important figures don’t have a mindful, responsible social media behavior and etiquette, the entire scene suffers a credibility gap. Let’s not forget: on social media, we all are what we share.

Negative impact

Ranting and venting all too often can take the form of public shaming or finger pointing. Regardless of the original intention, the message can be easily lost or misconstrued, since emotions are rampant and flowing, inflaming the situation even more.

FLUFFNSTUFF

Last year, Root Gaming member, Brian “FLUFFNSTUFF” Lee took to his blog to express his feelings and status regarding Team Liquid – his team at that time. The blog was raw with unadulterated emotion exposing vulnerabilities and his deepest anger and fears, but it was overshadowed by the manner in which he presented his team:

Team Liquid has been a joke for as long as I can remember; Nothing but a streak of disappointing results and inconsistent play. Everyone looks at us and says, “Hey they are team that will let me down” and “Hey their team has so much potential, but I wouldn’t bet my money on them.” We’re losers, we just are. And I’m a bigger loser for letting all of this happen. I don’t know how many blogs I’ve put out that stressed the improvement of our team that basically led to empty promises of success

He continued to speak about his own feelings and perceptions, leading into another brutal confession:

I was sitting in my chair throughout all of these events waiting, HOPING that we would fail. I know that’s a terrible thing to say, but that was the only way that I could see us realizing a change needed to be made. I wanted to, in each event, take control over the team and seize leadership. I wanted my team to explode, I wanted everybody to feel so much frustration that there would be nothing to lose.

The public platform for his disclosure incited a frenzy in the Dota 2 scene and received mixed reactions. It lead to his release from Team Liquid after a public statement from the team.

Eternal Envy

EternaLEnVy is one of the most vocal and prominent players in the scene. Well known for his no holds barred approach to expressing himself, the latest incident was just days ago, regarding his viewpoints and feelings on the experience at StarLadder Season XII. The player posted a video blog on YouTube first, only to take it down hours later and then replace it with a written one instead, which was equally, if not more provoking.

During Starladder there were two games happening at once, one game is played on the main stage and the other one is played on the secondary stage. Bulba told me there was a little girl screaming near him as they are playing their elimination matches (…) This is actually insane, I don’t even know what to say. Either the organizers are lazy as f*ck or they are incredibly stupid.

It’s no wonder that Loda got mad because his girlfriends being used by cheap f*cks who wouldn’t even think of compensating people in anyway. There are translators out there that wake up at 3-5 am to help not just translate discussions but entire documents for FREE, I’m sure you would be able to find them since you use them for the ridiculous Chinese Visa troubles.

While his rants are intended to bring about change and transpire issues that are going on in the Dota 2 scene, the message is lost in his approach and disrespectful communication style.

Reactions

While I don't agree with every point nor how he's delivering them I do think his ideas being willfully misrepresented by people

— Aui 2000 (@Aui_2000) April 30, 2015

Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling, Evil Genius player responded to his former teammate, EternaLEnVy. He concludes saying:

Pushing for positive change in your profession should be both a respectable and expected thing (…) While imo Envy didn’t approach nor communicate some things well, I respect him trying to improve the scene a lot. I could be wrong but my best guess is that Envy wants the scene to grow and be bigger and his blogs should be read with that perspective in mind. Not everyone is good at expressing their thoughts, but to me, Envy’s intentions are crystal clear.

Team Rave member, Jio “Jeyo” Madayag – well accustomed to difficult situations impacting his team and the Dota 2 scene, recently weighed in:

@v1lat @EternaLEnVy1991 all of this should just be discussed in private IMO between players and organizers. Negativity stops scene to grow.

— Jio Madayag (@Jeyostyle) April 29, 2015

Positive impact

When players and organizations handle social media gracefully, they can make things happen, prepare for possible future problems or find solutions to current ones.

Rave

When Team Rave faced their first visa issue challenge, immediately followed by an immigration status disaster, team members and their organization took to social media to express frustrations.

The situation drew government and national media support, immediately. The team was able to meet with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency to resolve and clarify their status and eventually with the embassy as well, receiving their visas for travel to the US to participate in The Summit 3.

Valve

Some talks with VALVE will happen in next few days. Loda, Funn1k, PPD, Misery and others will be representing Players. Thats all what I know

— Vitalii Volochai (@v1lat) February 9, 2015

One of the biggest and most prominent examples of a proactive stance was the meeting some of the professional players had with Valve representatives. The aftermath is remarkably constructive: Valve has announced the Dota 2 Majors. Those four Major tournaments are Valve’s attempt to alleviate and address many of the issues that have been significantly impacting the scene.

Today, however, we would like to talk about our plans for improving the competitive landscape as a whole. As fans of the game, we love watching teams compete in high stakes tournaments, but we also recognize that there is room for improvement on a more structural level. While the lack of roster stability and major focal points during the year had its advantages, it has eventually come at the cost of fan engagement and competitive stability for the players.

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

Taking a stand and being vocal is crucial for development and progress. In order to improve issues or inspire change there must be passion and fires to ignite movement. Players should speak their minds, their opinions are valuable. However, when they do it in a disrespectful manner, and they’re not on the same page with their organizations, their credibility is affected, and together with it, the entire scene’s image has to suffer.

Like Akke once said, “There is nothing bad with having an opinion but the way you say it can be.”