MOBA games are super popular in China right now. Sure, they’re super popular everywhere, but they are particularly popular in China—that's why, when a netizen asked online what China does better than the US, the most popular answer was Defense of the Ancients.
Earlier this year, a question appeared on China’s answer to Quora, Zhihu.com, asking Chinese netizens what China does better than the United States:
今天中国什么比美国好?
Today, What is China better at than the United States?不谈历史,可谈文化。
History is off limits, culture isn’t.这些年读大学负能量太多,一时想找点正能量突然发现找不到。
These years, studying at college has used up a lot of energy, and when I turned to find some positive energy, I couldn’t find any.请勿调侃或高级黑
Please don’t ridicule or blacklist this.
The most up voted answer to date, with 2269 votes, is DotA. The answer was posted anonymously, saying that Chinese DotA is number one in the world. The anonymous poster also referenced China’s wins over the US from 2009's to 2012's WCGs to make their point. (The US did better than China in the 2010 WCG, though. China was also outdone at the International 2011 and 2013.)
The poster also explained why he picked DotA over something that China’s historically known to kick ass in, Ping Pong, citing that Ping Pong excellency in China can be attributed to a myriad of factors, whereas DotA is something that Chinese players excel at even though society and the government looks down on it.
The responses to this answer have even warranted an op-ed piece by Tencent’s gaming portal that supports the claim that China’s DotA skills are number one in the world. On top of that, the op-ed also proposed that China’s DotA skills can be an example of China’s national strength. A poll was included, and over 86% agreed that DotA abilities are representative of China’s skills as a whole.
So the gauntlet is thrown, international players. China claims to be the best at DotA, will there be a country that can take them down?
Top Photo: Dota 2 Wiki
中国DotA实力世界第一![Tencent]
今天的中国有什么比美国好 [Zhihu.com]
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian Internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Eric is a Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @FatAsianTechie@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie.