When we think of a person playing a video game, we hardly ever see this as harmful. Its main purpose is to entertain, after all. The entire idea of a person being addicted to a video game sounds irrelevant compared to other dangerous things like alcohol and drugs.  However, it’s been quite a while since experts established how dangerous video game addiction can be.

One of the most popular games that students play for the past decade is Dota. There are literally students who go on tournaments to play Dota and earn rewards. The game even has its sequel and many, many updates throughout the years. This is by far one of the top rated games by students of today, which makes the effects of Dota widely researched. 

Today, students can spend an unlimited number of hours and constantly try new things such as combinations and builds. Dota addiction is a real and quite frequent thing, which is expected for games that have such high levels of popularity. The game is constantly evolving as a result of its popularity and as a result, it takes students dozens of hours and quite the energy to play the game until they’re ‘fully entertained’. 

Who Plays Dota and Why

Why do people choose to play Dota in the first place?

Dota is a truly entertaining and really engaging game to play. This is one factor into why students choose this game particularly to spend their time on.

One other reason why a student may choose to play Dota is its popularity. The entire idea of playing one of the most popular games in the world will make you interested. After all, word of mouth has a serious grab onto people. Seeing how young people, including students, are the target audience of this game, popularity is definitely the number one reason why more and more of them start playing. 

Sure, the fun might become the main reason afterwards, but the thing that motivates people to play is the popularity of the game. 

When I mention the effects of Dota on academic performance, I don’t just mean this in a negative connotation. If the playing is limited to fun only and the student uses this for recreation and to take a break only, it can be a really good way to reenergize. 

In fact, games are known to boost the focus and critical thinking, as well as help gamers develop some really useful skills. So, you can basically say that Dota is one of the educational games of today, too. 

In addition to teaching some useful skills, a limited playing of Dota can be the perfect escape route from the student life. Life as a student can be really challenging, which is why most students seek a way out, at least for a short while. This doesn’t have to mean that the student will become addicted and turn into an unsocial person or a bad student. 

If you play video games without the addiction and still focus on what is important in life, this can actually be really beneficial for you. A little bit of Dota hasn’t harmed anyone. The reason why it is popular is because it is engaging, beautiful, and unique game. 

How Dota Can Negatively Affect the Academic Studies of a Student

When you play Dota a lot, you’re addicted to a video game. The more you play it, the worse it will affect your life and your studies. Video games can be toxic for those who play them. What seems like a perfectly entertaining day spent in front of the computer playing Dota can actually cause you to fail your exams, harm your well-being, and even make you forget to eat. The effects of video game addiction are huge and truly devastating.

In fact, when you’re facing a loss streak on the game, you can even become more stressful than you were when you first sat down to play. This can ruin your mood and make you feel frustrated, in spite of the game being a mode of entertainment and fun.

You won’t just end up missing on sleep or studying. There are plenty of students who ask for essay help because they are too overburdened with assignments. But, if you do this because you are addicted to Dota, you’ll literally be missing out on your writing and research skills to play a game. 

Playing Dota can seem amazing to a student, but it can slowly turn him on a wrong way. As soon as this becomes an addiction and the student starts spending too much on it, this will turn into a problem.

The addiction causes the student to stay in front of the computer playing for hours. As a result, their sleep suffers. They don’t think of eating even if they are hungry, or they refuse to eat just because it might break their concentration. 

Game addiction can also destroy the social life of the student. If the student is addicted to playing Dota, he’ll say no to every friend who asks him to talk or actually socialize. Losing in the game can even make the student rude and stressed, which ruins their relationships with people around them. 

These effects can vary from one student to another but, the more addicted you become, the worse will this all become. Dota will affect the sleeping hours and the studies. Instead of studying, the student will sit on a computer, spending all his time playing Dota. 

What starts as a mode of entertainment and a short break from studies turns into a full-time job with more disadvantages than benefits. That’s when Dota or any other video game becomes dangerous for the one who plays it.

Conclusion

Playing Dota does not have to be dangerous or bad for you. In fact, it is quite the entertaining and rather educational game if you set your limits. But, as soon as you let yourself get addicted to it, your studies will suffer a lot.

Author’s Bio:

Connie Elser is a psychologist for young people. She works freelance in several colleges and universities, guiding students on choosing a major, a career, or simply making better life choices. As such, she’s exploring different topics on how to make the student’s life much easier. 

 


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dota 2 Game Page.

Last Updated: Sep 07, 2019

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

Comments