A multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA has been a core member of the online gaming community for a long while. It all began with a Warcraft III mod known as Defense of The Ancients or simply known as DOTA. DOTA had been an incredibly unique game for the time because it took the mechanics of a real time strategy game and had shrunk it down to the player and their teammates only having to manage one unit who a variety of spells and skills.

We wouldn't see the MOBA genre really explode until the release of League of Legends by Riot Games in 2009. Here the MOBA was no longer just a mod for a highly successful RTS but instead now it's own standalone experience.

In the next part I will be going over League of Legends and what had made it so popular among the online gaming community.

This is part of a greater series of how I will be discussing the histories of gaming genres.