DOTA (Defense of the Ancients)

Dota is a multiplayer online battle arena mod for the video game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Dota pits two teams of players against each other: the Sentinel and the Scourge; normally it is a 5v5 game. The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents’ Ancients.

Each player controls one hero; there are more than one hundred heroes for player to choose, each with different skills and abilities. Most heroes have 4 skills. Players can gain experience points from killing enemies and neutral units. When player accumulate enough experience, he gains a level. Leveling up improves the hero’s HP and damage, and give hero a skill point to enhance one skill.

Cooperation:

Teamwork is the soul of Dota. There are 4 primary roles in Dota: carry, ganker, supporter, and initiator. Each role has different job. Without carry, it’s hard to fight with the enemies at later stage; without ganker, the carry of the enemy will grow up fast; without supporter, a team won’t have the essentials such like carrier, ward; without initiator, team battle may become messy. All of roles are important, and that’s why there is synergy when the players work together. Inside the game players can communicate to each other by typing, but friends or teams usually use network chatting software because sometime there is no time for players to type. Dota should has its own voice chatting system.

Competition:

Dota gives a fair measurement of player skill, which is well reflected in the ladders. The ranking is stable. For a senior player, his rank would be almost the same unless he improves his skill. Almost every player wants to win in a Dota game and winning in a Dota game can be something people can be proud of. Like most competitive games, winning makes people feel good because the struggle becomes the triumph. There are many famous Dota players around the world, which have a lot of fans. Normally, a novice cannot defeat an expert. Winning largely depend on experience and skill. I agree with this kind of setting.

Fairness:

Fairness manifests very well in Dota. In general, the map is symmetric. The computer controlled units of both sides have the same attributes. For the heroes, formal games use captain mode. The two captains will ban and pick the heroes in turns. There is no imbalanced hero in Dota, and every hero has shortage. Dota did well on this aspect.

Economy:

Dota has a combat-oriented money system. In addition to a small periodic income, players can get gold by killing hostile units. If a guard tower is destroyed, every enemy hero will get considerable revenue. Money is not always growing, because death will be punished. And in order to let the enemies earns less, players can deny their allies if there is no hope to rescue them. There are plenty of items for player to buy, which may be too complex for novice.

Meaningful choice:

Players have to make decisions very often in a Dota game. Players need to choose how to allocate their skill points when they reach every level. For example, if the enemies are very aggressive, players often add a survival skill, such like Blink and Invisible. Also, players need to decide when to buy which equipment. Usually, if the enemies dominates a game, players tend to buy cheaper items once the gold is enough because dying can take away some of the gold. Another important decision is deciding to attack or retreat, players must have an overall consideration including the time, terrain, HP, skill cooling down of the both side and so on. There is no dominant strategies in Dota, all the choices must base on the current circumstance. Usually a small decision can have a huge impact on the final result.

Game link: www.playdota.com