The guild system in Dota 2 is a fun addition to the game, bringing with it a new twist on the daily hero challenge system and new ways to find party members. It also brings with it new moderation issues that Valve may not ever properly address.
Dota 2 caster Michelle “Moxxi” Song took to Twitter to discuss a negative experience she had stemming from the new guild system.
During a stream, a Dota 2 player sent her explicit photos by setting their guild’s avatar to a picture of their genitals and sending her an invitation to join. The guild also had a racist name. Because there are no restrictions in terms of who players can send guild invitations to, the picture appeared during the stream. Moxxi then called on Valve to add options for preventing unwanted guild invitations:
Hey @valvesoftware ? Can we please implement a way to block @Dota2 guild invites from non-friends or something? I don’t appreciate getting sent photos of dicks disguised as guild invites while I’m streaming.
— Moxxi (@MoxxiCasts) May 26, 2020
Moxxi later noted that Team Secret staffer Matt Bailey had discovered a console command, dota_guild_ignore_invites 1, that should prevent this issue in the future. But it’s easy to see how this oversight with guilds could be used to bombard other individuals who aren’t aware of the console workaround.
TI10 Battle Pass guilds have same problems as old guilds
Though guilds were labeled as an all-new addition to the TI10 Battle Pass, longtime Dota 2 fans know that isn’t quite true.
Guilds were a part of Dota 2 back in the game’s early days, when it was still technically in its “early access” stage. The functionality was relatively limited, with its only features being a chat and the ability to form parties. Guilds in the TI10 Battle Pass have integration into Steam’s larger community functions as well as alternatives to the battle pass’ daily and weekly hero challenges.
The function was well-received, but became less popular as Valve allowed it to fall into disrepair. It was removed from the game entirely in the Dota 2 Reborn update in 2015. The original version of guilds were also sometimes used for harassing others, as players could be members of multiple guilds, or create a guild with an offensive name for the sole purpose of sending invitations to players they wanted to harass.
Whether Valve will implement any greater tools for preventing harassment through the use of guilds is unknown.
