DotA 2, a free multiplayer strategy game

This is kind of a shot in the dark, but this community definitely enjoys video games and a good challenge, so here's a topic about my favourite video game.

DotA 2 (Defence of the Ancients) is a completely free to play multiplayer game that plays similar to an RPG, but each session starts anew with Level 1 characters. Unlike other games with similar genres, all content is immediately available to all players the moment you're done installing.

Every player on each team of 5 chooses their own character class ("hero") out of a pool of 110, each with four unique abilities. You level up and acquire gold by killing enemy minions, monsters, other players, and buildings, and use the gold to acquire items - a common pool of stat boosts and extra abilities that you can use to complement your specific hero's strengths.

The end goal is to destroy the enemy ancient, the final building at the end of your opponent's defenses. It is a very strategic game with lots of depth, and has been likened to "real time chess" and football. Each game takes anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, though there are extreme cases of even less or more.

Like a complex board game, it is a good idea to learn the rules before starting, and there are extensive videos and guides detailing all the nuances of the game.

Available for download here.

Learning resources while you wait:

A four minute video on the absolute basics.

A one minute video on how to use Hero Guides, a tool for new players that makes suggestions on how to level up your hero and which items to buy.

A pretty comprehensive guide on the rules of the game.

This doesn't have anything to do with learning the game, but this documentary is about the professional scene. The first major Dota tournament had a $1 million prize pool. Every year it gets bigger - this year's tournament was $18.5 million!

If you'd like a teacher, you can add me on Steam through my profile and I'll coach your first few bot games.