The Addictive Nature of the MOBA

Most gamers will fess up when it comes to MMO's: most of us have played at least one (or more, as the case may be).  MMO's are designed so that they are, by nature, unbeatable, and unconquerable without pumping in thousands upon thousands of hours into them.  Doesn't really matter what kind of MMO it is; if it is massive, multiplayer, and online, it will be extremely difficult to master because you're already competing with millions of others to become the best (or close to it).  The shooter genre alone has pulled millions of gamers into its claws and is actively searching for the best fragger who doesn't lose his shit every time he gets "accidentally" KO'd.

...What?  Lag.

Shooters are made for reflexes and muscle memory: if you've got a fast trigger finger and remember how to get to that sniper post as fast as possible, you'll be pretty much set to kill the unaware.  However, the problem with shooters is that, by definition, everyone must be on a relatively equal level.  Even pro-players who have had their eyes implanted in their targeting reticles will still be susceptible to the average shooting fanatic who picked up the game a cool hour ago.  Shooters aren't the only ones that have made the decision to stick with the equal players, equal opportunities philsophy: fighting games have taken this approach to an extreme.

It's plain to anyone who's ever gone online to play some Street Fighter or Marvel that no other player has a specific advantage over anyone else.  It's completely skill based.  The only things stopping any noob from getting good at Mortal Kombat are a learning curve, practice against actual players, and maybe a little bit of touching up on frames.  Fighting games are like chess: the players are given equal opportunities to succeed, but any one player could have figured out the backdoor strategy to winning against an overly defensive player.  The only difference is that you can narrow down what your opponent will do in a fighting game by the character they choose.

Oh, and lag.  Don't forget the lag.

The funny thing about all this is that when the average avid gamer hears MMO, they don't think a console game.  They think the grind-fest RPG's that most 14-year-old's pump all their free time (because, hell, there's going to be a lot of it) into.  That's not to say they aren't fun, enjoyable, or deep; games like guild wars and world of warcraft have proven to be some of the most immersive MMO's on the market.  People have actually forgotten to eat, sleep, or even go to the freaking bathroom while playing some of these popular RPG's.  There's no science here: make a game that cannot be beaten, and someone will attempt to beat it no matter how impossible the task already seems at the start.  Getting the best equipment, beating every side boss, finishing every quest, starting a successful guild, leveling, getting gold...

These tasks essentially amount to one thing: a grindhouse.  Grindhouses like Maple Story, with its insane level cap of 200, will never be truly beaten.  Content can be added at a moments notice, and every single player will scramble to be the first to get there.  So why do people waste away at these titles?  What makes these grindhouses so addictive in comparison to fighting MMO's or shooters?  Simple: RPG's feed off of those who want to collect every item, those who want to enjoy social interaction with equally lonely individuals, and those who, fuck it, just want to waste an inordinate amount of time before the pizza gets here.

Can you tell which one of these MapleStory players are the ones spoken about above?

Hint: None of them are girls in real life.

In order to fully examine why the average MMORPG is so successful, you'd have to examine the type of people who play the games, not to mention the community involved, as well as how many hours it takes to finish every quest and level all the way up.  All of this content makes these games absolutely silly to attempt to finish, even though it can be done.  That's why so many people flock to these games: they want to have the accomplishment of being the best at something so huge.  It's the easiest way to get famous on the internet without actually being famous or talented first.

Now--as I'm sure many of you are yelling at me to get to the point--I'll try my best to describe the newest platform in the MMO genre, and why they're so addictive.  MOBA games.  If you're reading this article, you probably already know or have already played one of them without even knowing it.  MOBA games are, at their core, tower defense games that put you and, usually, four others in the defensive position.  They usually have three lanes, a large maze of trees in between called a "jungle", and the people you get to control, aptly named "heroes" or "champions".  The goal, of course, is a combination of things: get the best items, kill as many people as you can, take down towers, invade the enemy jungle and steal all of their buffs, and, inevitably, take down the final nexus.  These games take an average of 30 minutes to finish, and afterwards, all of your levels, items, and accomplishments are completely wiped out.  There aren't any absurd level caps, grindfests, or achievements to unlock.  No, these games last about as long as a chess game, and are about as difficult to master.

You are a worthy adversary.

However, you forgot about my "sleep on the board" strategy.

The addictiveness of these games is, strangely enough, an amalgamation of every kind of MMO there is.  You may not believe me, as that seems far fetched, but rest assured, it's very easy to trace the roots of this game back to all of its roots.  The core of the game comes from one of the most addictive kinds of games out there, the Tower Defense Game (a genre which I have avoided for about 8 years until I accidentally stumbled upon these damn games).  Add into that formula the ability to customize your heroes to suit thousands of situations, as well as giving them crazy abilities and animations that even the odds when it comes to fighting your opponents, and you've got the RPG aspect down: grind to get better than the other guys, pick up the best items you can with your hard-earned gold, and fight tough monsters to gain even better rewards.

But the last parts are the kickers: MOBA games borrow from shooters in that they ask you to actively seek out other players to kill them.  Just like shooters, you can hide in certain areas to kill someone, or just go in guns blazing to nab the kills.  These games, much like shooters, are so balanced that even if you attempt to take someone who is a level below you, it'll still be a challenge.  Adding onto all this the fact that team placement and the duration of these games is much like chess (the fighting game formula), and you've got the answer to why these games are so fucking addictive: They're short, fun, nigh impossible to be the best at, and have combined the best aspects of other types of games to give you something really, really mind-blowing.

And the best part about it all is that, much like fighting games, you can choose from over a hundred characters to play as!  This alone makes the game endlessly enjoyable, because you aren't boxed in to whatever character class you started with.  Do you want to play a mana-heavy support?  Go for it.  Do you want to play a DPS character who kill-steals like the grassy knoll shooter?  Run with it.

Behind those goggles lies a face full of regret.

Regret that YOU DIDN'T PICK UP THE KILL BEFORE I DID, SUCKA!

The moment of truth lies right here: should an avid gamer pick up a MOBA game?  The answer varies from person to person, but the general answer is that every gamer should at least try them.  They are literally the pop music genre for gamers, and they have been treating as such, what with several leagues and teams already lined up to face off for millions of dollars, it's safe to say that these games have retained quite a bit of popularity since their inception in 2003, with DotA.  However, truth be told, a note should be made that these games are technically MMO's and should be treated as such.  Don't expect to play the games for 40 hours and be the best at single player.  There isn't even a single player.  C'mon, get with the times!

You didn't know you could play League on your iPod?

I'm playing Teemo right now!  I can't even see him!  I LOVE THIS.

It's good to have these games as the back-up games that you'll play in case of emergency ("I'm so bored and Steam hasn't had a worthwhile sale in months).  However, don't get too sucked in.  They're fun, but there's so much more out there to explore and have fun with, and putting yourself in the MOBA box isn't necessarily a good idea solely because of just how impossible the learning curve is.  It's steep, steeper than any other game you've played up until this point, almost guaranteed.  Not only that, but the average player will end up losing games about as often as they'll win them, meaning that you can spend over 500 hours on these games just yelling at your teammates to do a better job as well as feeling bad that you didn't do your absolute best. The result can be extremely depressing, yet people keep coming back for more.  Are MOBA's a masochistic genre?  I think so.

I'm still calling lag on that one.

Just be careful out there, folks.  Always drive back to your base with a friend, and avoid ganks wherever possible.  Oh, and for you junglers out there, the weather is sunny right now with a 50% chance of your team winning based upon your first gank, so make that count!
~cascadakatana

P.S.- Just pre-ordered Borderlands 2.  The storm...she is coming.

The Steam Sale has Cometh, and I'm Back

So many of you might be wondering why the hell I disappeared from the blogosphere for a month-and-a-half.  Well, if you are wondering that, you probably shouldn't be worried about things like that.  There are a lot of other things you should be focusing your attention on, like, say, THE MOTHERFUCKING STEAM SALE!!!!1!!1!

Yay!  I spent all my hard earned cash on Peggle!  Again!

Honestly, I might be the only human being that has a working computer with a mouse and Steam that doesn't care about the Steam Summer Sale, or 'S3' as I'll call it affectionately.  Now, many of you might be thinking, "Okay, what the hell is the point of this crap?  The Steam Sale is the single best thing to happen to video game culture ever.  I can buy my favorite games for low prices, and my favorite online game provider gets cash.  The developers even score mega-cash out of my impulse buys and wishlist fillings, so there's really no way to lose on this one."

And, ever the perceptive one, you, Mr. Smartypants, are completely right.  There is literally no way to lose during S3.  You just can't.  Pretty much every game you've ever wanted, old or new, was under 30 dollars for the duration of this week-and-a-half.  That's right.  You could've received Skyrim for half of it's normal price.  However, even though video game sales are rare outside of Steam and should not be taken for granted, I'll say this much: the S3 also gives gamers something called "Overloaded Gaming Syndrome", or what I like to call "Why I still haven't played Sword and Sorcery".

This scene reminds me of this one time in Dark Souls...
...I should go play Dark Souls.

Now, most of us have probably been there: you've just seen a price that just can't be beat in any store outside of ThePirateBay, and you've been looking at videos for this game since it came out.  You've wanted to play it so much but you just didn't have the money to buy it.  Until now.  Now that it's 5 bucks, it's worth the purchase.  Now, normally during sales, that's okay, because the item you've bought is something that you feel attached to, as if you found it yourself at that low price.  Anyone in their right mind would want to play/wear/use that new item because it was a great purchase.

Now, enter the S3, a grab bag of 10-60 hour games that are all pretty much <20 dollars.  I won't speak for anyone but myself, but I've bought many games from each S3 in the past.  Right now, I've got The Ship, Max Payne 3, Recettear, Dungeon Defenders with all of the DLC, etc.  Essentially, there are so many games on top of the ones I was already playing (AKA, the important ones) that I've been on video game ADD mode since this week began.  I literally just got past Max Payne 3's fourth chapter when my eye caught the Recettear sale.

Which, by the way, was a hilarious transition from gritty, alcoholic Max Payne

to uber-moe, friendly Recette.

Now, I'm not going to mince words anymore or attempt to hide any sort of criticism I've got about S3.  I'll just end this by saying that S3 is detrimental to enjoying the games one has acquired by means of S3.  That's why I'm holding off on playing Max Payne 3 until I've completely gotten over Recettear, and so on and so forth.  Even though it's fun to have all the games you've wanted for low prices, it's easy to get caught up in the moment and buy something that, for all intents and purposes, you just aren't going to play at all.  It's really frustrating seeing someone buy a 60 dollar game and never play it.

I'm not sure whether she wants us to submit to her ideology of economics

or whether she's calling me a "ho".

S3 isn't a sale, it's one of those grab-bag bargain bins you'll find a bunch of weird Gamecube games in; and even though one of those is bound to be Tales of Symphonia, Paper Mario, or Pikmin, one is definitely bound to have at least 3 games out of all those that one is just not going to play.

And a world where I didn't play Tales of Symphonia is NOT a world I wish to be a part of.
~Cascadakatana

PS- I've recently played a lot of League of Legends, and I'm already wishing I had started with DotA.