Top Reasons To Start Playing MOBA Games

Why you need to Start playing MOBA games: Especially Dota 2 and League of Legends

Hey, I'm an online gamer who has spent the past 7 years playing the genre of MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games. I can say without a doubt that one of the biggest reasons why I would recommend anyone to start playing the genre of MOBA is due to the fact that trends indicate that this type of game will lead the gaming industry in the near future. To those who don't know what MOBA games are, a quick search on youtube will tell you how these games are played. Common titles in this genre include Dota 2, League of Legends (LOL) and Heroes of Newerth. 

The major factor that defines "MOBA" is the tremendous amount of replay value the game gives to players. Just like chess, the game resets for a new round after it ends resulting in an exponentially increasing player pool as the game never loses its novelty. The images in the next section will reinforce this point. Given that big companies such as Blizzard are scrambling to get into the MOBA genre with their up and coming game "Heroes of the Storm", it only proves to show just how important gaming companies value MOBA games. To accentuate this point, just look at the vast amount of law suits that have been targeted at Valve by Blizzard in the hopes of stealing the franchise Dota 2.

Credit: Google trends

Considering that MOBA is one of the later genres to make its debut, its popularity seems to be increasing quite exponentially

Credit: http://caas.raptr.com/most-played-pc-games-june-2014-wildstar-on-the-rise-steam-summer-sale-aftermath/

As can be seen, the top two titles hold an impressive 25% market share of the entire gaming industry. A quick visit to raptr's blog will show that Dota 2 and League of Legends consistently claim the top spots.

Still not convinced? Then here are some of the many big positives of joining the big MOBA titles such as Dota 2 or LoL:

1) They are free to play and always will be 

As far as I know, every MOBA is free and can be downloaded and played at any instant for no cost

2) Have the biggest player pools

Knowing how to play these games will be likely help you find common ground with a vast amount of gamers. If 25% of players play either Dota 2 or LoL, there's a good chance learning one of these two will set you in good stead to interact with a sizable amount of people.

3) Competitive  gameplay with some of the biggest prize pools

"The International" , the biggest tournament in Dota 2 has the highest prize money in the history in competitive gaming. The international of 2014 had a prize pool of 11 million, offering each member of the winning team close to 1 million in prize money. In fact, Dota 2 was such a popular and profitable game for the competitive teams in China that certain universities offer a degree in competitive Dota 2.

4) Never gets boring

Possibly the strongest selling point of MOBA games are the unlimited novelty they provide. With an infinite amount of permutations between characters in the game and different play styles incorporated by gamers, MOBA games provide an unending source of entertainment.

Of course, as with every genre of gaming there are negatives as well. MOBA games are most notorious for having some of the most unfriendly communities. Due to its nature as a competitive team game, the weakest link will often be the subject of verbal abuse. Therefore, I would suggest playing with a group of friends instead of going solo. It's much more exciting playing in a group and also brings out some of the best qualities of the game.

After all, there are a limited number of fast paced team games with unlimited replay value for 5 people, where the contribution of each member is absolutely integral to victory. Thus, if you can overcome the negatives I wholeheartedly will recommend the genre of MOBA as it is truly skill based (unlike some pay to win games) and rewards players who take time to master the game. In the foreseeable future, this is the genre that can be expected to overtake all others.