When I first started playing DotA 2, I had no idea what a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) was. I had never played any Warcraft and I definitely wasn't analyzing the game design of it back then. Now, I often think about how certain genres of games came about. Naturally, I think about the game type I play the most, MOBAs. I realized that they have another name, ARTS (Action Real-Time Strategy) games. Of course that means that they were sprung off from the RTS genre, but who came up with the idea and why is it so successful?
In 1998, the year I was born, a Starcraft player created the first MOBA in his game Aeon of Strife, a modded Starcraft map. Then in 2002 following the release of Warcraft 3, a map that was based off of Aeon of Strife was created and called Defense of the Ancients. Eventually other modders started inheriting DotA when the first modders left, and as time passed DotA ended up in the hands of a modder named IceFrog. IceFrog added a lot of new mechanics and created a much more complex game than before. During IceFrog's time modding DotA, the player base reached as high as 1 million, and this was in the year 2005.
When I think about it, the idea that players can choose one of their favorite heroes and battle other players is an amazing idea. Whenever some popular movie, book or TV show is around, the fans often create fiction like what if "Who would win if X fought Y?". A MOBA allows the players to choose to be one of their favorite characters (In DotA, these are their favorite Warcraft characters), and in a way simulate these fantasies they have. It is my opinion that ideas like that were what founded the first MOBA Aeon of Strife.
Today, the MOBAs are a lot more complex than just being able to be your favorite characters. Many players don't even know the lore behind the heroes (or champions for you LoL players). I think this transition came about when IceFrog made the game more about the mechanics and gameplay than about the actual characters. Now most if not all MOBAs are all modeled around the orignal Warcraft 3 mod of DotA. But why are MOBAs so appealing and why are they most popular game genre today?
There are many factors that motivate people to play MOBAs. People enjoy playing with their friends, and considering MOBAs are free to play (for the most part), this allows for easy access for a group of friends to play together. Even when you are playing a terrible game (and MOBAs are by no means terrible), when you're with friends everything seems fun. Another thing is that MOBAs can be extremely competitive due to the very high skill ceiling. This allows for professional electronic sports (e-sports) competitions to arise. Knowing how many people watch professional football or soccer or whatever sport they like, people who play games can now share the same fandom, but with their favorite video game team. If you imagine how many people play sports, it's no surprise that there are that many people that play MOBAs. It's fun to play and easy to get into. Very low machine specifications, being free to play and also highly competitive are very desirable game qualities, and this is what the MOBA genre excels at.
However, like any game genre, the MOBA phase will eventually pass. The most important thing now is to analyze the past and try to create a new game genre that can be as successful as the MOBA genre. It's not an easy task, but the gaming industry will only grow, and the rewards are there for the reaping.
