Feeling The Void Of Video Gaming, Yes Youve Been Missing Out

Well when I say moba, I am not talking about the Museum of Bad Art. I am talking about online Multiplayer Online Battle Arena’s. This genre of game is taking off drastically. One of the first Moba’s that went main stream was Defense of the Ancients (Dota). I personally didn’t get a chance to play the older moba’s but I know they have helped to create some of the more mainstream ones we know today. League of Legends has been a huge success, along with Heroes of New Earth (HoN) and Dota 2. This genre of gaming is growing at a rapid rate, and picking up the gaming industry even more. With the help of these games it has increased the overall publicity of gaming.

League of Legends as one of the most popular moba games, has almost 32 million players monthly. It also has almost 12 million players daily. Say what? A video game that attracts that much publicity is insane. Another interesting fact is Riot Games (founder of League of Legends [LoL]) hosted a “end of season tournament.” During the championship game between a Turkish team and a Korean team had over 200k viewers. I happened to be one of them, and learning from these pro teams is one way I have become better at the game. Not only do they play these tournaments for bragging rights, but also the 4 million dollar prize pull. Besides winning tournaments most of these pros live off their “streams”.

How Streaming works is they show their computer screen to the audience. The audience is the people like you and I that hover over our computers like we would while watching a Youtube video. So you watch the game through the players computer screen basically. The way they make money and can afford to practice this game for hours through the day is by playing ads. So they use a streaming service such as Own3d tv or Twitch. There are plenty more but those are the two I regularly tune into. The ads they play range from Gunnar Gaming Eyewear to the new Hobbit movie that came out. So it works like they are almost like sub contracted by Twitch or Own3d tv.

Now why to play a moba? Well it’s quite simple; moba’s are never ending in content, such as with DLC (downloadable content) for Xbox 360 or a PS3. Eventually though console games tend to get phased out and another replaces it. Now I have been playing LoL for about 2 years now. Yes, the same game for 2 years. The best thing about LoL is that it’s free to play. Now don’t get me wrong, you can buy stuff such as a champion you really like or a skin that just looks awesome. I mean I love being able to annihilate teams with Abraham Lincoln Ryze or the awesome stellar looking cop Caitlin. But to play, all you need is a decent computer and internet to run it. Becoming part of this community is pretty awesome and Riot is very passionate about their gamers

The forums are flooded with posts from Riot employees, from answering questions about gameplay to giving players updates on upcoming patches. It truly is a great game that takes a good bit of practice to get into. It can be time consuming but different game types help to make faster or slower games. They have a capture the hill game variant called Dominion which lasts 15-25 minutes. Also they have a 3v3 map called Twisted Treeline the games last normally 20-30 minutes. The most popular one though is Summoners Rift which is 5v5 pvp and the object of the game is to take the enemies base down. These last from 25-40 minutes.

I have played approximately 1500 or so games on this map and I have probably spent countless hours playing. I mean average game can be 30 minutes on Summoners Rift. So divide 1500 by 2 then divide 750 by 24 I have spent approximately 31 days playing League of Legends. The crazy part about it, is its still fun. Some pros have over 7000 games, but due to the constant updating and every time you play it’s a different game.

As humans we crave that natural need and desire for change, things just quite frankly get old. So if you always spice it or shake it up a bit, it can keep that fun factor tied to it. There is always a new enemy along with different team compositions. Not only that, the in game shop allows you to purchase items for the current champion you’re playing to make them stronger so you can win.

The hardest part to me about moba’s is they are very in depth usually. They take lots of practice and playing to get used to the way they function. I was so bad at LoL but I kept playing and eventually got a lot better. It was very discouraging at first, but I have adapted really well along with my skills. No one likes to be bad at something, so in the beginning of course it gets discouraging. I assure you you have never played a game like this and it will get frustrating. But you must focus on overcoming that frustration and filling that sense off completeness is when the fun begins.

When you win a game and finally take down other champions, and carry your team to victory. That’s when it becomes a true test, when you’re trying to climb ELO and get to the rankings of bronze, silver, gold and diamond. This all maybe overwhelming but you just have to play it. Once you do though, and get to level 5 summoner level, that’s when you will say “man I have been missing out.”