What Playing Dota 2 Taught Me About Building a Team

• October 29, 2013
• Jesandy

Playing DOTA 2 recently made me realize something interesting about teamwork, which sometimes you may learn more about people within a game instead, rather than some common official ways.

At this point in my life, that idea feels so true. After spending years working in professional environments, I recently decided to leave that behind and start my own business. It’s an exciting journey, but it also comes with new challenges, especially when it comes to hiring new staffs and building the right team.

And surprisingly, some of the most useful lessons about teamwork haven’t come from professional books or some (Human Resources Department) HRD training. They’ve come from playing Dota 2.

For those unfamiliar with it, Dota 2 is a competitive multiplayer online in category “Battle Arena”, where two teams of five players battle to destroy the opposing team’s base (D.O.T.A: Defence of The Ancient Thorne).

PS: The features image you see above is the artwork of Crystal Maiden, one of the heroes on DOTA 2)

On the surface, it looks like just another online game. But the more I play it, the more I notice a pattern how much the game depends on human behavior and teamwork.

In fact, individual skill alone rarely wins the match.

When Pressure Reveals the Real Person

One of the most fascinating things about competitive games like Dota 2 is how quickly pressure reveals people’s true real personalities.

In My everyday work in professional environments, people often behave carefully, tend to hold back their real behavior. They think about how they are perceived. They manage some impressions and try to appear professional.

But inside a competitive match game, everything moves so fast. Decisions must be made in seconds, mistakes happen, and pressure appears almost immediately.

That’s when you begin to see real reactions.

Some players panic.
Players blaming everything, most of the time: their teammates.
Or just simply give up when things feels no hope.

But others respond very differently. They stay calm, communicate with the team, and continue looking for ways to recover even when the situation looks impossible to win.

Watching these reactions over and over again makes one thing clear: pressure reveals the truth.

Why (Knowing) Your Roles Matter More Than Your Skills

Another interesting observation what I’m experiencing from playing DOTA 2 is how important roles are within a team.

In the game, each player controls a different hero with specific abilities. Some heroes are designed to have better part later in the game. Others are meant to support teammates, provide vision, being in front, or initiate fights.

When everyone tries to play the same role, the team quickly becomes unbalanced.

A strong team is not a group of identical players trying to do everything. It is a group of people who understand their roles and execute them well. In addition, you can be on every roles, you have to rely on your teammates

Interestingly, this mirrors what I experienced in my professional career. Before starting my own business, I spent years working in the Marketing and Sales division, where building the right team was extremely important.

Maybe most people don’t know, in marketing or sales division at most of the company, the person you hire directly affect the performance of the business. As manager or leader, our job is not only to recruit talent but also to create an environment where the team stays motivated, performs consistently, and keeping a positive vibe even under pressure.

Finding the right people, however, is not always easy.

“Smooth” Talkers During The Interviews

One of the challenges in recruiting people for marketing and sales roles is that many candidates are naturally good communicators with high profile impressions.

And that is exactly what they are supposed to be.

But that also means interviews can sometimes be more challenging. Because marketing people are trained to communicate well, it can be difficult to distinguish between someone who truly has the right mindset and someone who simply knows how to present themselves convincingly.

Of course, companies already have official evaluation methods—interviews, assessments, background checks, and various performance indicators. Those methods are important and necessary.

But over time, I found myself observing something else as well.

Sometimes I asked candidates what games they liked to play… and to my previous company sorry about that..

Unofficial, Unfamiliar

This was never meant to replace formal evaluation methods used by the company. It was simply an additional perspective based on my experience: an informal way to understand how someone approaches competition, teamwork, and challenges.

When someone mentioned playing competitive games like Dota 2 (or maybe other games), the conversation often became interesting.

How do they play the game?

Do they prefer teamwork or solo play?

How do they react when the team is losing?

Do they try to adapt and improve the unreal situation?

Of course, I admit gaming habits alone do not define a person’s professional ability. But sometimes these conversations reveal subtle things about attitude, resilience, and teamwork. And as you know, those variables are extremely important in real working environments to achieve company or business objectives

Especially in marketing and sales teams, where collaboration, energy, and resilience mindset often determine whether a team succeeds or the other way around.

On Of Best Lessons That I Ever Learned

When I first started playing DOTA 2, I never imagined it would teach me anything about leadership or team dynamics, not even a clue.

Like most players, I simply enjoyed the challenge and the excitement on every matches.

But the longer I play, the more I realize that competitive environments that real, whether in games or in business, or in professional works, often reveal similar truths about human behavior.

Teams succeed not just because of individual skill, but because of trust, communication, and the willingness to work together toward a shared objective.

In my case, these valuable lessons appear in the most unexpected places even inside a game.