How to Live a Balanced DotA Life

Intro

We live life in the fast lane. We don't always have time to finish everything we started and sometimes, we don't even have the time to start anything at all. However, with the help of the right time management strategies, we can make time for everything!

You may sound pretty doubtful, but that's only because you've been stuck in no-time-for-everything land for too long. Not using effective time management tips could make you lose a lot of time to bond with your family and friends, maintain a romantic relationship, and take care of yourself. If you're not efficient in time management, you tend to be too focused on DotA, forgetting that there is more to life than just that. This hopes to shed some light.

The 31 Reasons of DotA Addiction

Everyday, there are hundreds of new addicted DotA players and I have no idea when this growth will stop. Many players are also retiring but new players are exponentially more than the retired players. From kids to professionals, they can all be addicted to this game. This game is one brilliant creation by Ice Frog that causes tons of tournaments giving cash prizes. Some people are called "Professional Players" because they are already paid for playing for a certain team sponsored by companies or industries. Why is DotA so Addicting?


1. A Time Killer: Boredom is the most common problem of most people today. DotA can consume a lot of time without you even noticing it. You'll just say "Wtf, I'm late!" after the game.

2. Non-exhausting Game: Unlike Basketball or other physical sports, you can play DotA 'til you can still manage to sit, look at the monitor, use mouse and keyboard, and think. Yes, using your mind is also tiring but it'll take an average of 3 games before you'd want to take a rest.

3. Fame Source: Most players want to be the best in this game to gain fame which I find natural but technically nonsense. I have to admit that thirst for fame drove me to practice and improve my game. After getting the fame I wanted, I asked myself "Now what?". For players who don't plan on having DotA as their profession, Fame isn't that important.

4. Team Work Game: When we were kids we already love having team battles. That's why a lot of team sports came up and multi-player computer games have been invented. Playing with team mates is more addicting than playing alone.

5. Tranquilizing: DotA makes you forget your problems and make you think of simpler problem - how to win.

6. Non-violent war: We love wars. That's why there are shows like Wrestling, UFC, Action Films, etc. DotA is a chance to engage in wars safely. We can fight all day long and just stand up from our computer without even having a scratch.

7. Topic Provider: DotA is a great topic provider. That's why you talk about it while hanging out with your DotA buddies. That's why there are forums and blogs like this. We love chatting and DotA is a great topic to talk about.

8. Sweet Sound Effects: "Rampage!!!" - How sweet that sound is? This sound effect is unconsciously a source of self-affirmation. Everyone loves to be praised and accepted. DotA can be a source of this.

9. Easy to Play: Survey shows that DotA is played by more people than other strategy games like Starcraft. One of the reason is its simplicity. You only have to control one hero - great news for people who are not into doing micros.

10. Total Freedom: In DotA, you have all the freedom to do anything you wish. You can gank, farm, lane top, lane mid, lane bot, buy items you wish, you can even annoy your team mates if you wish. It is like an alternative for a person who doesnt that much freedom in their real lives.

11. Mind Exercise: Intelligent people love exercising their minds. This is the reason why crossword puzzles, Rubic's cube, and other mind games are created. DotA also have this feature needing analysis, prediction and decision making.

12. Physically safe: People care about their safety. In my case, I don't jump that much in Basketball because I hate landing on another player's foot and causing my ankles to be sprained. I don't want to try Rugby, Boxing, UFC and other dangerous sports because I care about my safety. DotA, on the other hand, doesn't offer dangerous injury. Eye problems may occur though but it's still avoidable. Just give your time proper rest and use low radiation monitors.

13. Game Variations: Every game is different. You buy different items, you lane against different opponents, you have different combos, you pick different heroes, you plan different attacks, etc. Variation is important to stay addicted on something. Nobody would want to do same things over and over again.

14. Source of Money: Money is becoming the goal of every humans. Poker won't be popular if you can't gain money from it. DotA have been used for betting games and tournaments; obviously, money is involved.

15. Ability to feel like having supernatural skills: We all love to have supernatural skills. In DotA, we have it. Just pick the heroes that possess the skill you want. You want to teleport? You want to be invisible? Do you want to cast lightning on a person? It's all in DotA Allstars.

16. Tool for anger discharge: DotA can be the place where you release your anger. You can pick a killer hero, make it monster-like, and then kill everyone you see.

17. Varieties of Skills to improve at: You can improve at farming, ganking, supporting, killing, teamwork, using different heroes, combos, etc. These are the things that will cause you to be practicing and improving. More skills learned mean more addiction. More skills to be learned also mean more addiction.

18. Character's Appearance: DotA Characters' appearances are made with great imagination. DotA Fan arts spread in the internet showing their appreciation in the Heroes' appearances. Cool arts and animations add to the addicting potion of this game.

19. Constant Map Improvement: Just when you learned enough strategies for you to be called a DotA genius, here comes another new map with new items and heroes. Now, your learned strategies need upgrade. You need to study, try and analyze new stuffs again making you more into the game.

20. Professional Gamers as Inspiration: Watching pro DotA gamers execute strategies perfectly make you want to be like them. You will be training more after getting inspired by these Pro DotA players and teams.

21. Peer Pressure: Right when you don't feel like playing, here comes a DotA Buddy saying: "It's weekend let's play!" or while you're at home, you got a "Buzz!!" followed by the word "game". How can you ever forget playing if these peer temptations are all around you?

22. Game illusion: While playing DotA, the map becomes your world and your hero becomes you. Feeling a different world which is more fun and breath-taking is way better than your old room with old stuffs. When the game's world is experienced, your mind would be constantly searching for that more pleasurable world making you really addicted.

23. It's haunting: This game haunts you. While you're in your classroom, you kept on thinking why you lost or how great your game was. You would then be thinking of playing DotA as soon as you arrive at the computer shop or at home. You would also think of what hero you would play or what play style you're going to have.

24. Winning Feels Good: Yup, feeling good is really addicting.

25. Losing makes you thirsty to win: On the other hand, losing is still addicting because you become more urge to have that wonderful feeling of winning.

26. No height or other physical disadvantage: In basketball you cannot have a team composed of 5 short players. In Rugby, you should be muscular. In DotA, you can be as thin and short as you want and still own everyone.

27. A balanced game: Since banning was introduced in DotA Allstars, I considered it to be a balanced game. Having a balanced game, you wouldn't think of quitting while whining "unfair!".

28. A vast number of strategies: More strategies means more trial and errors. More trial and errors means more games. "More games" means more game illusions. More game illusions means more chance to be trapped in the world of DotA.

29. Merely being a Strategy Game is addicting: Strategy games are so fun because it offers unpredictability.

30. No age limit: Yup, no age limit is a cause of DotA Addiction. Many players should be practicing their professions in real life but they are still stuck in DotA world.

31. Opportunity to become a Hero: It is so pleasurable to be feel like a hero. It is like hitting a buzzer beater in a basketball game or saving a kid from getting hit by a car. The appreciation is simply awesome. Self-esteem boosts quickly and exponentially with this.

The 25 Bad Signs of DotA Addiction

1. Whenever you lose a DotA game, you want to grab your weak team mate and punch him in the face.

2. Your left thumb is always on the alt button whatever you're doing at your computer. Maybe you want to check your facebook friend's hp bar.

3. When you get amazed at anything you call it 'imba'. 'He scored 99 at his math test, imba!'. You also call things that annoy you, 'imba. 'That guy is imba, he is damn fat'.

4. You relate people's appearances with DotA characters. You call guys with sharp teeth, Gondar. You call black friends, Nevermore. You call ugly fat guys, pudge.

5. Winning a DotA game makes you feel like a celebrity. You stand up feeling that everyone is looking at you. You tend to snob weaker players and treat them as your fans.

6. You start getting fat because of lacking exercise but you ignore it. You think that as long as you win, you'd be a handsome celebrity.

7. You play DotA from the moment you wake up until the last hour you are awake. Then, you continue playing in your dream.

8. Playing DotA is having several code names like, "mom, I'm doing my research I'll be home at 2am.", "yeah, dad I'm changing the tires of my car.", "hello sweetheart, where am I? (thinking...) Damn, damn, the battery is low... (turn cell phone off and resume game)"

9. You become so thrifty on anything except on DotA. You would endure not buying food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then spend everything you earn playing DotA.

10. DotA became a third party on your relationship. Your girlfriend is starting to let you choose between her and DotA. The worse thing is, you choose DotA.

11. You say the word 'aw' in really life. Girlfriend: "my mom is sick." You: "aw, sorry to hear that.."

12. You have a facebook photo album full of DotA screen shots though people don't really care about it.

13. You judge the totality of the person based on how good he plays. Ugly but good player would say, "How the hell that noob guy got a hot girlfriend?! I'm going to tell his gf that he's noob so she can change her mind."

14. You are enumerating DotA character names while doing other things like watching tv, walking to school, cooking, eating, pooping, dating.

15. Sexy fan arts of lady DotA characters make you aroused. Worse, you search for more sexy pics of DotA character. Worst! You search for their nude pics.

16. You find it difficult to sleep after losing a DotA game. Your body rotates like 30 times while thinking before you sleep. You even hammer your pillow and repeat a phrase several times, like "I did my best!". And sometimes, you'd do the most pathetic thing ever you can do with your life, you cry.

17. When you go to a party with your friends to hang out, the topic you're going to discuss are the following: DotA games played, DotA new plan, DotA character's strengths and weaknesses, and how 'imbalance' is the food you're eating.

18. You try teaming up with good players because you get so afraid to lose a DotA game. You feel like losing a DotA game would turn you into a vapor and dissolve out from this planet.

19. You remember the exact time you bought all your items but forget the time your home will be locked.

20. You try to play better whenever a girl is near, thinking that they would approach and ask you to be her boyfriend after.

21. The years you are addicted to DotA would be the years you are in a different world, forgetting your real life. You wake up suddenly, "Wtf, I'm 30 and I'm still at high school?!"

22. You depend on DotA games whether you'd be having money for your meal or not.

23. It's your birthday and your birthday wish is to play DotA and won't be disturbed by anyone.

24. You start to have a hot-temper, like you want to cast lightning bolt on your teacher.

25. This is the ultimate test. Check your yahoo messenger, if 90% on the list are DotA buddies, congratulations! You are within the portals of DotA Realm.


I made this guide to warn people. I am giving a lot of Dota Strategies but I don't want you to give up your priorities. Dota should never come first nor second. There are a lot of things to focus on. If you are making enough money from Dota to run a big family, no problem. What you should spend time thinking about is how to be successful in your real life, not your Dota life. Treat this game, not your studies, as past time. Play for fun. The only thing that can beat all the strategies is having fun. If you have fun, nothing can beat you. Win or lose, you still won because you didn't waste your time being slamming your keyboard out of stress. This is the main purpose of games - to have fun.

Tip 1: Balance Your Games and Studies

The more you excel in DotA, the more you flunk at school - not true.

Improving in DotA is not all about playing 10 or more games per day. Players improve by how well they learn after winning or losing a game (most of the time in losing). Players who are hard headed and don't believe that they lost because what they are doing is wrong, will never be a better player.

The best way to balance studies and DotA is having strategies for both. These strategies are the things you're going to think of on how you're going to improve quickly.


Pay attention at school

Most players are spending all night playing DotA and still daydream about DotA when it's school time. You have to focus on what you're doing at the moment. If you are in the classroom, listen, take notes, do your seat works. Forget anything else unrelated to your studies.

Play moderately

Do not exhaust yourself too much to avoid getting dizzy at school in the morning or worst getting absent/late. Also, you have to reserve energy to study for announced/unannounced quizzes.

Pay attention at your game

When it's playtime, play wisely. Use your limited time to the fullest. 2 or 3 games every afternoon are enough to be a great player after 1 or 2 months. You have to focus on your strengths and weaknesses. Develop your strengths and convert your weaknesses to strengths.

Observe the factors that affect your studies

If you find it hard to study after playing, you should study first before playing. In my case, I find it hard to study after losing therefore I used DotA as a reward after studying.

Know when not to play

Be the master of your own body. If you have a report on the following day or an examination, chances are, you need more time for that. You have to sacrifice playing which is not and shouldn't be your priority.

Don't mind the insults

If you are insulted for being a weak player, don't be offended causing you to play more hours trying to prove to them that you are a great player. Be offended if you're scolded by your teacher for not doing a simple homework because of playing all night.

Cutting-class is a drug

You try it once, you'll get addicted. Never cut-class if you want to graduate on time.

Know when to quit

Know when DotA cannot be included in your schedule anymore. For example, in my case, I have to do advance reading and projects. I gave up playing competitive DotA and just play whenever I'm free (twice or thrice a week).

Tip 2: Get Enough Sleep

It is not a good idea to stay up all night playing DotA, surfing the net, etc. An average man needs to have at least 7.5 hours of sleep. If you have been sleeping less than 6 hours every night or you have not been sleeping for nights, you would want to sleep right after reading this list.

Obesity

Lack of sleep does make you gain more weight. According to research, human body burns 60-65% calories while sleeping. Lack of sleep causes us to have more appetite but also causes our metabolism to slow down. Slow metabolism causes our body to slow down the conversion of calories into energy, thus resulting to weight gain. Michael Breus (the Director of the Sleepdan Beauty Sleep Issues in Health Arrowhead, Glendale, Ariz) explained the relationship of Weight Gain and Sleep through 2 hormones - Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin is a hormone that serves to inform you when the time to eat. And if lack of sleep, youll have a lot of ghrelin (as leptin is a hormone that tells you to stop eating). And when you lack sleep, leptin in your body just a little, he explained. If the hormone ghrelin in the body more than leptin, it would be related to weight. Youll eat more, but that the metabolism will slow when you lack sleep, -Breus.

Diabetes

Yes, sleep deprivation causes Diabetes. The main reason here is our body would have more insulin resistance due to lack of sleep. Our body needs insulin to maintain low glucose content in our body. Sleeping for only 7.5 hours or less makes our body slow or even non-responsive. So, after eating our meals/snacks, our sugar level increases but there are not enough insulin to lower it down. Worse, we tend to eat more because lack of sleep makes us hungry as I've stated on the first effect. (based from scientists' research)

Heart Disease

Sleeping less than 7.5 hours every night provides 33% higher rate of cardiovascular diseases. Lack of sleep raises Cortisol levels that cause inflammation resulting to plaques to be dislocated. Once these dislocated plaques ruptures, they can block blood vessels in the heart or brain leading to stroke or heart attack. Sleeping less than 7.5 hours every night provides 33% higher rate of cardiovascular diseases.

Stress

People who lacks sleep produces more cortisol or stress hormones. Thus, lack of sleep affects the way you think resulting small problems to be more stressful and you tend to panic a lot which is really deadly. Stress is, indeed, one of the top killers on earth and should really be avoided.

Mental Disorder

Study shows that the activity of the part of the brain that is responsible for emotional reaction called Amygdala is 60% higher than the people having enough sleep. "It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," said Matthew Walker of the University of California Berkeley, who led the study.

Tip 3: Stay Fit

In the Philippines, and probably in your country too, the most played games are DotA Allstars and Basketball. Have you ever been torn between these 2 games? I have. These are my 2 favorite games in general and I want to compare them accordingly. I focused more in DotA maybe because I have more friends who are into this game. But, did I make the right decision? Let's discuss...


Level of Fun

Starting with DotA, how can this game not be fun? You are able to feel like a real warrior while playing this game. The strategic nature of this game really adds to the fun specially if you are a person who loves using your mind. The visual and sound effects also contribute to the level of fun of this game. Other than these facts, it is playing as a team with your friends that make this game really addicting.

Basketball is quite similar with DotA in terms of the level of fun. Basketball is also a strategic game, you can feel like a hero every time you win the game for the team and you have the chance to execute team work. Both Basketball and DotA also requires skills. In basketball, the skills you should practice and acquire are shooting, dribbling, passing, etc. In DotA, there are farming, ganking, supporting, mastering heroes' skills etc. Being a more skilled player allows you to have more fun since you can win most games. Not being skilled also makes you more into the game because you have a goal, to become skilled.

In terms of the level of fun, DotA beats Basketball a bit, so I'm giving a score of 60-40 in favor of DotA.

Game's Balance

DotA allows anyone to be the best player no matter what height or athletic ability you possess. In basketball, you need to develop some physical advantages to be more effective. Tall players have more advantage in rebounding, he just have to develop more awareness. Short players should increase their vertical leap to beat these players but it still requires perfect timing and prediction. Basketball is a physical game. Stronger players can back down weak ones easily. Another physical advantage is arm length. Players with long arms are harder to defend and they are better defenders because they can reach farther.

In terms of Balance, DotA beats basketball 80-20.

Health

Do we still need to discuss this? Playing Basketball can be considered an exercise while playing DotA can make you fat and forces you to inhale people's illnesses if you'd play at the computer shop where breaths are shared. Some players in computer shop would smoke after 2-3 games making it unhealthier. At home you're safer but still, sitting for a long time on your computer chair is unhealthy. The only advantage of DotA in terms of health is being injury-free.

In terms of health, Basketball beats DotA 90-10.

Availability

You can play DotA as long as there is a computer with internet. Whether you don't have a group of 5 or 10, you can play it anytime. You cannot play basketball alone. You need a group, a ball, and a court. However, you can go to public courts to play with other players but mostly they are full. You would need to set a schedule with other players to play this game.

In terms of availability DotA beats basketball 70-30.

Fame

If you're a great DotA player, you are appreciated by people who play the game as well. However, if you let your parents or girlfriend comes to see you play in the tournament, what will happen is that they wouldn't understand most things in the game. They'll get bored all throughout the game. After the game, you'd just tell them whether you won or lose and that's when they cheer. That's why, mostly, you won't see family members supporting DotA players nor girlfriends (that don't know the game). Whether you became godlike or you amazingly dodged everything, they would hardly know it.

In basketball, family members and girlfriends don't need to know the entire rules to enjoy watching and supporting you. So the fame extends not only to other Basketball players but to other people who are merely fans. As long as you or your team scores, these fans would be in the game too. When you do something heroic they'll knew it.

In terms of Fame Basketball beats DotA 75-25.

Opposite Sex Attraction

Playing Basketball is more attracting to females based from a little survey i made and a bit of common sense. It is also proven with these pictures.

In terms of sex appeal, Basketball beats DotA 90-10.

It's now all up to your preferences to choose. If you're after the fun, thrill, balance and availability, DotA is the best for you. If you want to be have a cardio exercise while having fun, concern with fame and sex appeal, pick Basketball. It's not right to generalize what beats what. It all depends on your preferences. This is just to give you a guide on what to choose based from your desires.

Concluding my question if did I make the right decision focusing on DotA? Yes. My preferences before were fun, balance, and availability. I go to gym and occasionally play basketball for health care and fitness.

Tip 4: Maintain a Romantic Relationship

I am sick of Dota vs Girlfriend issue. Why don't people realize that being a good dota player corresponds to being a good partner? Dota is a training in having a good decision making and this can be applied in any aspect of life. I'll prove that in this article.

Playing Dota and Dating Traits You Should have:


Spontaneity


Confidence


Source of Fun


Be Full of Surprises


Not too Emotional



Enjoy your Valentine's Day EVERYDAY! Show your girlfriend that you are more than a good DotA player. Show her how good you are at decision making may it be in DotA or real life!

Epilogue

Being a teenager is perhaps the most torturous, and exciting point for human beings. A balance of work and play is essential to get the most out of this wonderful period of life. Just like any sports, DotA shouldn't be treated as a priority. Play it for fun and play it moderately.