Playing a new game isn’t always the easiest or best experience for many, especially if it is an online game which is very competitive in nature, like Valve’s DotA 2. This is made worse by the fact that you might come across teammates who might scold you for making the wrong move, or taunted by the enemy because of your newbie mistakes.These are just some of the barriers to entry that prevent newbies from picking up the game, but that’s something that Valve wants to address. In an update to the game, Valve writes, “To help new players, we are now restricting hero selection to a curated group of twenty heroes for their first twenty-five games. This introductory group consists of heroes that we’ve learned are very successful in helping new players learn and enjoy the game.”
The developer also reveals that they will pair newbies with other players who have a high behavior score, meaning that these aren’t toxic players with bad attitudes, and who have generally been found to be “nice” people to play with. This helps newbies get better acquainted with the game, as well as make sure that their first few experiences are good ones.
Of course Valve can’t possibly protect newbies from toxic players forever, but hopefully by then players will have learnt enough and understood enough about the game to better handle themselves.