I started playing Dota 2 in an earnest effort to learn more about a MOBAs, a genre representing a serious gap in my gaming knowledge. I hated it more than I have hated almost any video game in my life. I would have lost a lot had I given up on it.

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“ Some friends spend entire Sundays watching NFL games; I throw on Twitch to catch Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses.

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“ It's easier to hate, write-off, or slander something than to let it challenge your assumptions.

I’ve spent 864 hours online in the Dota 2 game client. This represents 600 matchmaking games, queue times, matches played in a recreational league I organized, and spectating friends’ and tournament games to learn more about Dota 2’s limitless tactical possibilities. 864 hours, for those keeping score, is 36 days -- nearly 10 percent of a full year. Unanimously, coworkers, friends, and loved ones hear this and stare in disbelief, take the lord’s name in vain, and shake their heads.Part of me understands I should feel some sense of shame for wasting 36 entire days on a game I didn’t even like. I don’t regret any of it, and I certainly don't feel like I lost anything in the process. Dota 2 is where I spend the most time with my dearest friends, and I wouldn’t give those 36 days back for anything.Playing Dota has let me stay in touch with friends who’ve moved away. When I attended The International 4, Valve’s annual Dota 2 tournament, I met more than 20 of my Dota Friends -- all of whom are now Real Friends who happen to play Dota 2. A decade ago, I mocked the notion of meeting Guildmates at an MMO convention. I get it now. Video games are remarkably powerful social connectivity tools. Dota 2 is as much a game I enjoy playing as it is a means to enjoy the company of my friends.This is to say nothing legitimately of other games’ quality. I adore what I’ve played of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, but when I boot up a console to play it, text messages inevitably roll in asking if I want to jump into some Dota 2 Ranked Matchmaking in 10 minutes.Yes, I do. Xbox, turn off.I look around my apartment and see Dota 2 concept art posters I still need to frame. A dozen or more Dota Heroes sit pinned or mounted to my work desk. For Christmas, I asked my girlfriend to buy me three pairs of socks that look like Power Treads -- a favorite set of stylish boots for stronger Dota Heroes. [Ed note: She bought the socks.]We all have our passions. It’s dangerous to judge each other for them because it’s even more dangerous to feel badly about what you love.My first year of Dota 2 taught me a lot of things, but the most valuable is that you should own what you’re into. It doesn’t matter what someone else thinks about your interest in what you love, because they aren’t getting the emotional, physical, or mental satisfaction from it that you are -- and they can never take that joy away from you. This applies to everything, not just games.This mindset makes me love, respect, or understand my loved ones' interests even more. It's easier to hate, write-off, or slander something than to let it challenge your assumptions. It takes time, effort, and endurance to fall in love with something, let it grab hold of you, and share it with other people. Dota 2 has opened my mind, made me more receptive to new and unfamiliar things. I will never again dismiss something I don't understand as a waste of time.When I go home and play Dota tonight, I am missing out on a lot of other amazing games from 2014, a new Netflix series, and Oscar-nominated films I could consume. I’d like to have it all, and maybe I will eventually. But for now, I choose to enjoy the hobby that’s made me the happiest for 36 days of my year. I choose the positive force of nature that has completely changed the way I think about games, my friends, and how I enjoy everything around me.Mitch Dyer is an Editor at IGN. He hosts IGN Arena , a podcast about MOBAs, and is trying to read more. Here's his reading list . Talk to Mitch about books, Dota 2, and other stuff on Twitter at @MitchyD and subscribe to MitchyD on Twitch