Video games are meant to be fun. But, like any other hobby, people can take them far too seriously, especially when those people are teenagers. And, apparently, in a small Philippine village, it’s being taken way, way too far, since there have been two fatal stabbings over Dota.
Dota is actually an acronym for Defense Of The Ancients, which is a Warcraft mod that created an entire new genre. It’s a ridiculously fun game, but in Salawag, things got so out of hand it had to be banned after, no kidding, straight up murder over how some matches turned out:
According to Resolution 008-S-2015 dated January 5, 2015, issued by the Barangay Council of Salawag, Dota was being banned because it had already become a tool for gambling and was causing discord in the community. The resolution, which was written in Filipino, added that Dota was inducing the youth in their barangay to become violent to the point of committing murder.
Kotaku, which found the story, also has a few stories from readers that apparently make this pretty credible. The problem seems to be that kids play against each other in Internet cafes, lose some money, and take what would normally be an IRC argument out in the street. In other words, Dota is less the cause than the excuse.
It’s profoundly unfortunate on a number of levels, not the least of which is, well, people are dead over a game. Hopefully, people will stop using knives to settle video game disputes; until then, one hopes Salawag is at least a little safer.