DOTA 2 is one of the most popular games on Steam and the competitor to League of Legends. Both MOBAs are also very competitive and free-to-play, which is why they have similar problems. These primarily include smurf accounts and the toxic behavior of some players. Valve is now once again tackling these problems and presenting them to the community in a special way.
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Just in time for Christmas, Valve is giving away permanent bans
What kind of gift was that? Valve is now giving away “gifts” in DOTA 2 that result in a ban. It contains a highly toxic lump of coal, which is said to be a reference to the toxic behavior of the players.
When affected players open the gift, they will receive a message stating that they have been permanently banned. The description of the lump of coal states that the reason is a violation of Steam’s guidelines. An example of a violation is smurfing.
Mason Venne also received a toxic lump of coal as a gift and was placed under a permanent ban. The streamer was live at the time and reacted in surprise: “What? Am I banned? […] What if I just never opened it? Are you serious?”
Here you can see a clip of the situation on X.com:
Streamer comments on the ban, viewers say: “Nonsense”
What does the streamer say? As a result of his ban and the associated stream excerpt, Mason Venne turned to the community on Reddit and tried to explain his situation with a statement.
In almost 6,000 characters, the streamer stated that he had noticed some time ago that he enjoyed DOTA 2 the most when he played it competitively and communicated accordingly with his team.
However, DOTA 2 has a so-called “communication score”. This is a value that – to put it simply – evaluates a player’s communication. If the value is very low, a player is characterized by poor communication, for example in the form of toxic behavior. This may result in the person being blocked from text and/or voice chat. This also applies to Mason.
The 32-year-old explains that he tried everything and behaved well in order to increase his communication score and be able to talk to his teammates again. However, the value simply did not rise high enough. That’s why he paid someone to play on his account and increase the score for him.
After just one day he decided against arranging someone else to boost the communication score, but then he was banned. Finally, he asks for a second chance because he loves playing and streaming DOTA 2.
This is what the community says: On Reddit, some players responded to the streamer’s statement and made it clear that he had been attracting attention for his toxic behavior for years: “I recently saw a stream and you flamed non-stop, you were toxic as hell. Bro, you know you do”.
The comment has a total of 1,500 upvotes, while the streamer’s statement has 1,200. Other users also wrote on Reddit that Mason Venne had been “a symbol of the game’s toxicity” for years and deserved the ban.
In addition to toxic behavior, smurf accounts in particular are a big problem in DOTA 2. When they are hit by a wave of bans, it is a reason to celebrate for many players:
DOTA 2 bans 90,000 accounts of unfair players who beat up smaller players – “The best day of my life”