How to: Have fun while playing MOBA

Finding one’s niche in the gaming universe isn’t exactly the hardest thing to do but still some thought takes place. About two years ago I was playing World of Warcraft religiously and could only be forced to play HoN by my neighbor friend Ben; I never thought that I would be playing HoN practically every day as I currently do.

Back in my Warcraft 3 days, which came before WoW I played a little bit of Dota, strictly casual though. It was fun, but I preferred other games like Life of a Peasant (LOAP), and Lord of the Ring Wars (LOTRW). Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games never really interested me until I started to grow up.

Around the age of 18 I started to play a lot of HoN, I think it’s the competitiveness that spun my attraction. Being able to compete at an active pace for 15-60 minutes and then do it all over again in the next game with little downtime was amazing. Something I never experienced outside of WC3 ladder games.

However as of late I have grown increasingly frustrated playing HoN games and decided to draw up this guide to help ensure fun while playing MOBA games, no matter the title; Dota 2, League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth.

Here are a few guidelines to having fun when playing MOBA:

1.       Queue in your own bracket.

-          Smurfing (playing on a lower rated account) which is becoming increasingly popular is often times a great way to dominate on your own, but the problem is that you are matched up with people of less skill. This will cause you to be frustrated at their actions as you are used to expecting a lot more from your teammates.

2.       Queue with friends!

-          Not only does this decrease the issue of dealing with bad players but you also are able to communicate,  build friendships, and have overall more fun than you would not queuing with friends. Also by playing with friends you can use your coordinated teamwork to help you win the match rather than dealing with new people every game.

3.       Don’t take the game too seriously…

-          If you find yourself fuming, just take a deep breath and remember that it’s just a game. Countless times I have found myself being overly upset over something that in the end does not matter, a huge buzz kill to everyone’s fun is your or another person’s complaining.

I know I’m the biggest violator of some of these guidelines, often raging at my random teammates, and crying about things that don’t matter. That’s the main reason I took a break from HoN for a day and wrote this article. Because in the end, playing video games is about having fun and no one should ever forget that.