Betting on DOTA 2’s Battle Pass: Gamblification and productivity in play

Abstract

The transformation of games with the advent of platformized distribution systems continues to produce new and agile forms of consumption and exploitation. Valve Corporation’s DOTA 2 is a key example of a gaming space that is constantly atomized and rebuilt with the aim of optimizing player participation. This participatory form is ever-more gamblified and framed by systems designed to habituate players to a new form of consumption. This article explores how DOTA 2 transforms every year with the advent of a yearly Battle Pass, brimming with gambling systems aimed at eliciting specific forms of user participation. We catalog and schematize these systems with the aim of shedding light on the inner workings of DOTA 2 during this season. The purpose of our work is to move the discussion beyond a regulatory focus on symptomatic loot boxes and toward a deeper understanding of the rhetorical systems hiding beneath game systems.