The "Unwinnable" game scenario
We've all had games where you appear to have reached a point of no return, your left defending your fountain from mega creeps against an overfarmed enemy alongside your underlevelled allies. A couple of your allies have probably already told you they are "afk fountain" or are busy placing 50 sentry wards around your base and getting the courier killed, all because they've had enough, while you're adamant there is still a chance to win if only your allies would make an effort.
Perhaps it's the other way round perhaps you realise the game is lost and you want to start a new one but you can't because you'll be in low priority if you quit and your moronic team-mates keep trying to win this situation which you have deemed unwinnable. They are wasting your time and your enemies.
Is giving up before the end a selfish decision?
In the past I've always considered fighting until the bitter end a sign of respect to your opponent. It's hard to imagine a scenario where you start any kind of game be it sports or board games and you just walk off and quit the moment you decide you probably won't win in the end. I think we can all agree in this scenario we'd probably consider that person selfish and think twice before playing with them again, labelling them a "bad loser".
At the Boston Major during a game of Mafia after the tournament was over, one participant decided he wasn't enjoying himself so he just announced he didn't want to play anymore. However, due to the mechanics of the game him retiring from the game affected the quality of the game everyone else was already participating in, which is the reason it caused such a heated reaction.
In his mind he wasn't enjoying himself and didn't see the point in investing the time to finish the game while for others they were in the mindset that if he had started the game he should finish it properly. It's easy to see both side of the argument in the real world.
But how does it work in Dota 2?
Black suggests dragging out a game "over 10 times already" is also bad mannered
Black said dragging out a game is also bad manneredThe comment came in response to a question about Faceless' seemingly "sudden" early gg in one of their groupstage matches at DAC2017.
"It wasn't like a rage GG or anything like that we didn't argue about it, it was more like we saw our heroes, we compared with their heroes and if we don't win the early and mid game, which we lost, we won't be able to win late game. So there was really no point in playing for us," said Black.
"If the only way to win is for the opponent to really throw it away then you probably don't even deserve that win."
The interviewer asked whether it would not be more sportsmanlike to fight until the bitter end to which Black replied: "I think it goes both ways, because sometimes people keep playing and playing and playing, even though the game is like over 10 times already, and I also think that is kind of..not so mannered," said Black.
Is it bad mannered to drag out (extend) a game if you know you lost?
Arteezy appeared to support giving up if a pub game is unwinnable (Interview by RuHub)Evil Geniuses' Arteezy also voiced an argument for it being acceptable to give up under certain circumstances when asked the reason why he gave up streaming in another interview done by RuHuB at DAC2017. "It's just a bit annoying when some people (viewers) don't see my perspective, of course I see theirs, they're here to see me play dota but this guy is throwing my game," said Arteezy.
"I should at least try my best and such but at a certain point of the game if I think or feel it's like completely unwinnable or this guy is completely not interested in winning the game then I don't want to play anymore either, I might as well save my energy and that's what I end up doing just walking down mid and people don't like that sometimes and that's fine."
In this scenario Arteezy was clearly talking about pub games not official matches, and it's another interesting viewpoint that if the ship is already destined to sink, there's no harm in abandoning it early rather than wasting your energy trying to avoid the inevitable.
In the past when the joinDOTA League was going on - it's coming back soon please no more PMs - I formed a team with our staff. One of the staff members was a 5K MMR+ player who was always keen for us to give up and move on to the next game whenever he decided we were in a losing position. However, the lower MMR players in the group were generally more keen to never give up and never surrender because there still might be a chance to turn it around.
Thinking about it is it perhaps less bad mannered to quit if you have more knowledge and experience of how the game will pan out? At what point is it okay to throw in the towel? Mega creeps? two lane of rax down? Or is it never okay? Is a moronic feeding team-mate justification to walk down mid?
Debate: Which is more bad mannered? Dragging out the game or giving up?
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