Popular Streamer Grubby Quits Dota 2 Due To Toxicity

Grubby, one of the greatest Warcraft 3 players in the world, took a dive into the popular MOBA game Dota 2 and streamed his entire journey playing the game. Despite reaching the top 0.01 percentile, he decided to quit Dota 2 due to the toxicity that resides in the community.

Who Is Grubby?

Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen, a 37-year old professional gamer, had an eleven-year career and is known for his time competing in Starcraft and Warcraft 3. In August 2022, the Dutch announced that he would begin trying out Dota 2 and stream his gameplay on his Twitch channel.

Grubby was welcomed by the Dota 2 community, with professional players and personalities taking time off their days to coach and help him get a groove of the game. He managed to create a close relationship with two-time TI winner Sébastien “Ceb” Debs from OG Esports and other huge names in the scene.

How Was Grubby’s Journey In Dota 2?

At first, Grubby’s initial rank calibration placed him in Herald, the lowest rank in the game. His community would constantly provide him with advice to help him improve, which he gladly considered. At this point, he was averaging thousands of viewers and seemed like he was building a positive and helpful viewer base.

However, Grubby, being the professional gamer he is, continued receiving coaching sessions from seasoned Dota 2 veterans. He really took time to learn and improve, and began climbing the ranks at a rapid pace, and fans closely followed his journey and supported him.

Though Grubby already had a decent following prior to his time in Dota 2, the streamer managed to amass a following of 624,000 followers on Twitch and 316,000 YouTube subscribers with the help of the Dota 2 community.

Fast-forward a year later, after a little over 400 days, Grubby reached the Immortal rank, the highest medal in Dota 2. Most Dota players take at least five years to reach the milestone, most taking over seven. Being an Immortal player meant you were in the top 0.01% of players. Mathematically, Grubby was higher-ranked than the majority of his thousands of viewers. 

Toxicity Ensues

Despite being more capable than most of his Twitch chat, his viewers would often “backseat” his gameplay, telling him not to do this and that, and often calling Grubby out for “griefing” games due to a lack of skill and not deserving his high rank. 

The Dota 2 community is notoriously known for being one of the most toxic in the esports space. Especially in the Immortal bracket, players often give up early when one thing goes wrong, reducing the quality of games. Combined with hundreds of backseaters from his Twitch chat, Grubby realized he was no longer enjoying the game anymore. 

Grubby Reveals Disappointment In Dota 2 Community

During a live stream on March 13, 2024, the former Warcraft 3 player announced he would take a step back from Dota 2. 

In the announcement, Grubby praised the Dota 2 game and its welcoming community:

“Dota 2 has the best client that I’ve ever played with. The gameplay is insanely good and it’s very satisfying when you win. Dota 2 changed my life for the better. It was super hype to start playing Dota 2 and the community was very welcoming.”

Despite the praise, Grubby expressed his exhaustion from the toxic players in his games:

“There’s just one little problem. Some members of the community, I’m not going to generalize and say it’s everybody, but there are too many people that are either watching or that you’re playing with, in solo queue ranked, that just don’t know how to have a good time. 

I just feel like I don’t want them to win when they’re acting like a toxic a**hole and I don’t feel like they deserve the win even if we still might.”

Additional disappointment came from Grubby’s own community, where a small percentage of viewers would often criticize him for underperforming and “not deserving his rank” when he is trying to practice a new hero. He cannot learn new heroes without getting called out by people in his chat.

Grubby Quits – What’s Next?

As a result, Grubby has announced an indefinite break from Dota 2:

“That’s it for now for me with my thoughts on Dota 2 and its community. I hope you understand a little bit more about where I’m coming from and I’ll see you guys around with all the different games I’ll be playing. Thanks for watching.”

The 37-year-old hinted at a possible return to the game, but nothing is set in stone. 

Grubby is looking to explore new games to play on stream, and has also been playing Dota 2’s rival game, League of Legends. In Riot’s leading title, Grubby has been receiving coaching from notable names like he did in Dota 2.