One thing I've noticed about Dota compared to other competitive games: Results don't feel... earned

Compared to every other competitive game I’ve played, Dota results feel so different.

In most games, when I lose/win, it feels earned: either I played bad/good, my team played bad/good, or the one team was simply better than the other. I can accept that, learn from it, and move on.

In Dota, almost every single loss feels like it comes down to something far more frustrating: we’re so close to winning that it feels like if even one of our five players had played semi-competently (not perfectly, just made the most basic of fundamental simple play), the game would have been over in our favour. Instead, we lose anyway.

Most of my wins have been for the exact same reason, just in the opposite direction. Rarely have I felt after a win "Hell the fuck yeah!!!!!". It's always been "What the hell was their carry thinking?" or something similar.

I don’t know if that’s an issue with matchmaking, Valve, or just sheer bad luck, but after playing the game over 12 years, it has been the exact same. In other games, I’m perfectly willing to accept being beaten by better players, or feeling vindicated when I win games. In Dota, it honestly feels like that’s happened to me maybe... 100 times in 7,000 games. It really feels like the vast majority of games are decided before the horn and you're just along for the ride. Very very rarely do you get a game where your impact genuinely matters.