Short description of the game
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena video game released by Valve in 2013. It originated from a custom map made in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne back in 2004. The main objective of the game is for the players in each team to destroy the opponent’s Ancient tower. Players will get to choose from a variety of heroes to compete in the arena. Through the process of gaining gold and leveling up, players will ultimately overcome the enemy base’s defenses to claim victory.
Link to game website: http://blog.dota2.com/?l=english
Link to game documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZYMI1zB9s
Observation of myself
Lens #37 – The Lens of Cooperation
Fig 1.0 – Teams cooperate to take down their opponents
Right into the start of the game, we assigned ourselves to the different roles of the team. This is essential as having each player focusing on their specific roles improves the chances of winning. Therefore, players will need to work together regardless if they are friends or strangers. Cooperation is also enhanced by having proper communication channels such as the chat box and the chat wheel. Dota 2 also has special communication hotkeys where clicking on skill icons and health bar provides more information to your teammates regarding the current skill or health status. Furthermore, they are also able to communicate through the in-game microphone. Therefore, the game offers many opportunities for players to cooperate among their own team.
Lens #30 – The Lens of Fairness
Dota 2 does its best to ensure that the game is fair and balanced. Public games can only start when there are 5 players per team. Should any player suddenly quit the game out of anger, he will receive warnings or be put into a lower priority pool for future games. Furthermore, the game automatically tries to match similar party sizes into a game to ensure both teams are equally balanced in terms of team familiarity. On top of that, the game also has a matchmaking system that tries to put players of the same skills in the same game through internal skill calibrations after every round played. Therefore, the game is carefully designed to ensure that all players receive fairness in terms of gameplay.
Lens #25 – The Lens of Goal
Fig 1.1 – The ultimate objective, the Ancients
The ultimate goal of the game is clear. The minions of each team are programmed to walk towards the main objective, the Ancient. Therefore, it is clear to players that their ultimate goal is to destroy the Ancient. Completing the main objective will rewards players with cosmetic items and experience points to level their main accounts. There are also mandatory side goals such as destroying towers and also killing optional bosses where players are rewarded with items and extra gold which will give them an advantage in battles and bring them closer to the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal can only be achieved after destroying some key towers. Therefore, goals are interlinked and progressive.
Lens #7 – The Lens of Elemental Tetrad
- Story
Dota 2 does not have any lore tied to the gameplay. Each hero also does not contain any personal history that spices up the rivalry between each of them.
- Mechanics
The mechanics of Dota 2 are thorough and complex. They range from hero mechanics which involves attack types and how experience, stats and abilities are gained to gold economy which is affected by how much bounty players can gain from killing things. Some mechanics also involves chance such as the randomization of boss spawn timers and power up runes. Having played the game for many years, there are certain mechanics which are fully understood. Therefore, there were times when I found myself guiding players through important sections of the game where certain decisions can affect the outcome of the game.
- Aesthetics
Realistic 3D graphics with high level of details and quality incorporated into the heroes, environment and cosmetic items.
- Technology
Dota 2 is a PC game runs on a heavily modified version of Source Engine. It utilizes technology that enables players to customize any hotkey to any functions they want, including setting skill hotkeys and customizing their chat wheel.
Observation of friend
Lens #27 – The Lens of Skill
Having only played less than a week, there are many mechanics in the game which she has yet to be familiarized with. Furthermore, Dota 2 demands heavy hand eye coordination and cognitive reflexes. Therefore, veteran players have an advantage over newer players. However, upon playing more matches, she gets more experienced, skillful in performing certain roles and having faster reaction to enemy actions. Therefore, Dota 2 is a game which requires certain skills and it allows players to improve them with practice.
Lens #40 – The lens of Reward
Fig 1.2 – Cosmetic Rewards
Upon finishing a game, my friend experienced joy upon receiving a cosmetic reward. These cosmetic items can customize how each hero looks in the game. Furthermore, it is clear as to what these rewards do as the game provides good visual feedback on characters with their new cosmetic items after equipping them. However, these rewards are given out on a slow and random rate such that the possibility of completing a cosmetic item set is low. As such, the game has a reward system which needs to be further refined to ensure that players receive the rewards at the right amount and at the right time.
Learning Process
Even though two players may play the same game, they may have different experiences, decision making, interactions and feelings invoked while playing. This may result in different expectations than what the game designer wants from players. Therefore, as a game designer, it is good to test your prototype against players of different skills and background to ensure that the game is well designed.
Furthermore, the game might not necessarily need to do well in all aspect of the lens in order to be enjoyable. As shown by the analysis previously, there are certain lenses which Dota 2 did not successfully achieve even though it is a successful game with close to one million unique players per month. It can be due to a combination of certain lenses that are well thought out and interlinked which may result in making Dota 2 an enjoyable game.