Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Games: Everything Experts And Rookies Alike Need To Know

 

MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena or sometimes referred to as Massive Online Battle Arena) is a game genre known for a majority of games to have a top view perspective (top-down perspective) of controlling characters and defeating enemy characters or teams in various game modes. Some popular games like League of Legends (LoL), Mobile Legends (ML), DotA 2 and more games are observed to have an almost similar type of game structure or modes of 5v5 battles on a predefined battlefield. 

The map structure

This battlefield is said to have a jungle with various creeps or monsters with special powers that need to be obtained by the characters after defeating these monsters, any of the 5 teammates can roam in the jungles and defeat the monsters to gain an upper hand in battles against the other team. The jungle also has three lanes; Top-lane that sits at the left-most corner of the jungle, a mid lane that separates the jungle into two halves and the bottom lane that sits on the right-most corner of the jungle.

Amidst these lanes are towers set up with a gem that shoots beams at enemies that enter the circular area of the towers (often referred to as turrets). Two teams (blue and red team) are said to have a goal to defeat their opponent’s main tower structure that is situated on both ends of the map with the jungle in between them and a partially dried-up river that horizontally separates the whole map into two halves.

The gameplay

These MOBA games have a common objective that allows players to team up and have complex strategizing, teamwork tactics, coordinating and communication in-game to destroy the enemy turrets gradually reaching towards their main turret i.e Enemies’ Nexus and protect your Nexus. It may seem simple, but your enemies comprise five other characters known as Legends or Champions and a bunch of minions supposedly a miniature form of three warrior units that spawn in all three lanes from their respective bases.

To have an advantage over the other one must roam the jungle and destroy monsters and obtain their powers while some should kill enemy warrior units which rewards you with money that will be needed to upgrade the prowess of the legend/champion. Over time, the game becomes intense with either of the teams trying to devise strategies and actions of penetrating offence or resistive defence. There are distinct types of Legend classes that play an important role in the game under which there are various legends that suit their role. Some come under the Marksmen class, Mage class, Assassin class, Tanks class, Fighter class and Controller class and all of these legends have their pros and cons equally balanced to promote fairness.

The rise and origin of the genre

Several sources mention the chronological launch of games that has a cycle of copying and improvising their ideas one over the other (some copied the other game entirely in rare cases with no improvisation). But here is a very likely source of origin most talk about.

It was said that a game by Blizzard named World of Warcraft III an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) had a mod called Defense of the Ancients (DotA) which was another game mode for Warcraft. This was then created by another Developer called Valve Corporation made it a separate entity now famously known as DotA 2. DOTA 2 had made their own set of champions, some being fictional characters, some having mythology/godlore Eg characters like the monkey king in Chinese Mythology while some arcane typical characters and beasts. 

Evolution into other created games over time

Since DotA 2 was a very heavy game which needed a high-end computer to support the game, League of Legends came to birth to provide a similar experience with less intense gameplays to players who started to give a liking to this genre but could not play DotA on their mid-ranged or low-ranged computers. LoL is a lighter form of DotA and often there is a large gap that differentiates them. Although there may have been a copy of some characters from DotA, LoL hitherto has its improvisations and optimised gameplay experience that works quite well on low-end PCs. 

Many other games after League of Legends started working on this concept and trying to make slight differences for PCs. Games like Smite, Vainglory and several others. Some considered making a mobile version of the game since LoL was only available on PC such that it copied more than 75% of LoL and that’s where Mobile Legends comes into the picture.

Mobile Legends was released in 2016 and was developed by Moonton games a subsidiary of ByteDance the developer behind the famous app TikTok. At first, it seemed like it had created a decent number in its fan base, but it gained popularity in the following years through advertising and updates. At first, some players would perceive it as a mobile version of LoL and easier gameplay compared to LoL’s level of intensity. Many other game developers started working on this concept and created mobile versions of League.

Nevertheless, at some point in time, Riot Games came across the game and was found to have astonishingly and shamelessly copied LoL without their consent and therefore led to Moonton getting sued for copyright infringement. There needed to be more than just vague similarities between the two games to get Moonton to court and indeed there were a lot of distinct similarities.

Ripping off the famous old PC game (current large scenario)

ML copied the map designs, champions and their abilities and mechanics. What’s worse, they went to an extent of copying LoL’S Logo font. In 2017, Riot filed a lawsuit in California against Moonton for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and false designation of origin.

It seemed that Riot discovered ML while they were working to remove another of Moonton’s games called Magic Rush from the Google App and Apple Store since they alleged that Magic Rush had copied dozens of LoL’s Champions. It seemed that Moonton operates one step behind Riot, Another instance was when League of Legends introduced an auto chess mode and so did Mobile Legends. It does not end that way, keep observing and you will find numerous other assets copied shamelessly.

However, Mobile Legends has to face off with a contender and as the number one MOBA in position came under threat. It is not any other unpopular MOBA for mobile. Riot decided to work on a mobile version, naming it League of Legends: Wild Rift. It was released in beta in October 2020 on the iOS platform and became successful just three days after its release.

To date, an Indian server has not been established and Indian players wait patiently or impatiently for the arrival of the game in India since Riot claims that India is a very active environment and a suitable market as it is obvious that many gamers hail from India. For the creation of Riot to act as a hostile competitor to MLBB, many around the world are boycotting Moonton’s creation for cheating. Most of us perceive copying ideas as fraud and would empathize with Riot as we would not like someone copying our brainstormed idea. Although Moonton subtly copies ideas, it still lacks the genius designs of League of Legends.

Written by: Kirsten Kenneth