My first experience with DOTA 2 was one of being a spectator. Being a popular MOBA game, DOTA 2 has a huge following across the globe, but my first glimpse into it's world of non-stop competitive action came when I started watching my friend play during my Junior year at Austin College. After a year plus of watching my friend I decided to give it a whirl for myself. Here are my experiences:
Defense of the Ancients 2 Experiences
Along with my experiences in DOTA 2, I also endeavored to play League of Legends to get a feel for that fan community as well. While I have had no real prior experience with LOL, I found that with friends, the experience of competing in the online MOBA space is a thoroughly exhilarating experience.
League of Legends Experiences
Relation to Study:
All in all my experiences with both titles helped to inform my conclusions as to how their rivalry manifests itself. The suspicions of my interviewees were confirmed about DOTA 2 in that it is a very hardcore competitive scene that chews up casual players and spits them out. The emphasis on team play in each title is daunting just based on the number of heroes each one has alone, but I have to say that DOTA 2 is the more intimidating of the two. Everything from its higher level of graphical fidelity to its complex interface screams, "Take me seriously!" League of Legends on the other hand has a much lighter tone, thanks in no small part to its simpler graphics and overall its less busied animations. Friends helped to mitigate the difficulty of the games learning curve, and I found the team based strategy among people I knew to be even more rewarding than with those players I played with at random. Where League finds itself clashing against its own machinations is in the balancing act of the friendly nature of its competition and the need for understanding that it can be just as unforgiving at time as DOTA 2. My friends, though often times forgiving of my inexperience, definitely grew more flustered overtime. I can see these as being prime factor in how each title both distinguishes itself from the other and creates tensions that become points of contention between fan communities.