Bad Captains

The Backstory

So, I recently played a match of DotA 2 captains mode. The reason I like captains so much is because it involves a lot of teamwork and usually the best team wins. The matches also tend to be close and enjoyable! The usual thing, I'm sure most people are familiar with it. I didn't get the captain role, which I didn't mind. I just decided I would ask nicely for the pick I wanted and recommend some bans. That usually goes well, right?

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Not this time.

The captain was evidently a troll (and not the funny kind; the annoying kind) who ignored all our polite suggestions and just decided to pick and ban whoever the heck he wanted! When I asked for support Lina by saying,
"can I have lina support pls?"
His response was, "stfu."

Yeah. So he picked a bunch of random heroes that none of us knew how to play (except a favorable hero for him, of course). When we told him that we didn't know how to play those heroes, he responded with,
"you call yourself a dota player and you don't know how to play easy heroes like Wraith King and Ursa?? omg noobs"

Well, to be fair, these heroes are common "easy" pubstompers. However, even the easiest hero ever would take a few games or so to learn. These were heroes we had never played before. Well, except for his. Anyways, we went on. Since I wanted a support originally, I decided to go for Omniknight (who I hadn't played ever before) and decided I would do my best despite the bad circumstances.

I bought wards and I went with the recommended items. I healed and helped my teammates as well as I could. However, because I was dying with a hero I never played before (despite advising the captain otherwise), I got "noob omnik omg" instead. No tips, no encouragement, not even silence. I got negativity.

I decided that since these were mild comments, and since I wasn't actually doing well, I would just let it slide. I wouldn't argue or even respond, just let it pass. Then things got more serious. A torrent of cursing and insults was directed towards me (and others) because we did badly with the captain's picks. Ironically (yet obviously) these insults came from the captain himself.

They were personal insults and although I wasn't the least bit happy with them, I stayed calm. After all, I was playing to have fun, so let me just do my best and respond like a civil human being. Although I don't rage when playing videogames, I could understand that the feeling of an imminent loss wasn't nice. So I decided to be as logical and calm as possible and I said,
"well yes but they were your picks"

All this earned me was an even worse stream of insults that started to really get to me. What got to me even more was the fact that I was doing my best in game and staying calm, yet this guy was flaming me for something he was responsible for!

As things escalated and he began using extremely vulgar language, as well as directly insulting me as a person and not just a player, I eventually retorted in kind. I couldn't take it anymore. I stayed in the base since I wasn't doing well, and I just did nothing. After all, I wasn't a good Omniknight player, so it wouldn't do any good to go out and feed.

You can probably guess we lost the game.

Anyways, I reported him and he reported me. We got mad at each other. We finished and left the game.

However, I wanted to set myself apart from this guy and his lack of respect and manners, so I told the other team that they played well and deserved the win. And it was one of those games where the enemy team was more likable than my own.

What a Captain Should Be Like (IMO)

A captain should (in my opinion):

• Be encouraging
• Listen to advice and suggestions
• Suggest and advise the team
• Make decisions beneficial to the team
• Settle differences
• Be mature
• Not be bossy

Which the aforementioned captain clearly wasn't.