Evil Geniuses frontman, 
Jacob 'Maelk' Toft-Anderson gives his thoughts on the controversial DotaBuff ranking and other topics such as ladder anxiety and flaming in games.
Photo by: Evil Geniuses
DOTABUFF has mainly focused on more specialized stats, however it drew intense scrutiny over its decision to create MMR style ratings. You said on Reddit that you do prefer having individual rankings. Why is that?
My preference is strictly selfish and I am undecided on whether or not it would be for the better of the game as a whole. In the grand scheme of things I see a community that would inarguably become more competitive. However it would most likely often come at the cost of a more fun and casual experience. For me though, I can resist caring about what is said in-game and instead simply focus on the game itself, so any poor attitudes won't necessarily hurt me in particular. But again, while I would stand to gain from it personally, I don't know if it's for better or worse in terms of the entire playerbase.
Another concern brought up is that it will ruin the atmosphere of the game because people will contract "ladder anxiety" from the fear of losing and dropping in rating, or will become disinclined to play new heroes or try new styles. This seems to be a mental issue; since the game is already actively rating us and matching us accordingly, the problem is seeing exactly how our decisions affect our rating. What advice do you have for a player in this situation trying to motivate themselves to keep improving, even after suffering setbacks?
This is definitely a mental issue, but the tough crowd would say it's what separates the boys from the men. Survival of the fittest. Using that logic, if you're too worried about your stats to play, then my advice would be to get over yourself and either not compete or come to terms with the fact that this is how good you are and accept the system for what it is. I used to have this anxiety in both WC3 and SC2, and there were times where I didn't feel like playing simply because I could feel I didn't have the right mindset that particular hour or day. Other times though, it helped me concentrate and focus on the game at hand and made my will to win greater than if I had just been playing a game to pass time with nothing to actually gain from it.
Whenever I would go on losing streaks, I would always just tell myself that it could only get better. If I would then lose again, I would smirk and say to myself,"Okay, NOW it can't get any worse!". If I continued to lose, I would yell into a pillow and proceed to do something else. The latter being something that I outgrew once I realized how detrimental and ridiculous it was. People should use all of these things, both the good and the bad, to learn things about themselves and develop not only as a player but also as a human being. How do I deal with my rage? What kind of thoughts or exercises can make me less nervous? Can I get past the point of being disappointed about my losses and continue into the next match with a fresh start? I used to think that the most important thing that gaming taught me, that I could use in real life, was being adept at the English language compared to that of the majority of my countrymen. Later, I've come to realize that it might actually be my self-control and easygoing attitude that has been the most rewarding thing I acquired from gaming.
Whenever I would go on losing streaks, I would always just tell myself that it could only get better. If I would then lose again, I would smirk and say to myself,"Okay, NOW it can't get any worse!". If I continued to lose, I would yell into a pillow and proceed to do something else. The latter being something that I outgrew once I realized how detrimental and ridiculous it was. People should use all of these things, both the good and the bad, to learn things about themselves and develop not only as a player but also as a human being. How do I deal with my rage? What kind of thoughts or exercises can make me less nervous? Can I get past the point of being disappointed about my losses and continue into the next match with a fresh start? I used to think that the most important thing that gaming taught me, that I could use in real life, was being adept at the English language compared to that of the majority of my countrymen. Later, I've come to realize that it might actually be my self-control and easygoing attitude that has been the most rewarding thing I acquired from gaming.
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Read the complete interview here
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