The History ofVideo GamesBY CRIȘAN ALEXANDRU, ILIE VLAD & TOMA CRISTIAN

The Early State of Gaming The first interactive computer game is “Spacewar”. It was created in 1961 by Steve Russell, a student at MIT. The game have graphics made of ASCII text (letters, numbers and other symbols).

In 1970, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney begin their attempt to create an arcade version of Spacewar, calling it Computer Space. Computer Space becomes first video arcade game ever released. 1500 copies are distributed. Public opinion is that it is too difficult to play.

The first video game console was as a rectangular brown wooden box with two attached controllers, named "Brown Box". Invented by Ralph H. Baer, in 1967, also known as "The Father of Video Games", he developed the brown video game console such that it can be hooked up with any ordinary TV sets. There were only six simple games for the console, namely ping-pong, tennis, handball, volleyball, chase games and a light-gun game.

With progressively advanced gaming technology, the 1980s was a period of genre innovation when the industry began experimenting with non-Pong games like fighting, platform, adventure and RPG games. It is also this era that we saw the release of all-time classic games such as Pac-man (1980), Mario Bros (1983), The Legend of Zelda (1986), Final Fantasy (1987), Golden Axe (1988) etc.

In 1994, Sony finally made its entrance with the leading PlayStation. Sega with its immense success of its Genesis system, went on to expand it into a series, with the Genesis 2 (1994) and Genesis 3 (1997). It also developed an entirely new console, Saturn, to rival against the rest of the CD-based consoles. Nintendo, on the other hand, stuck to its cartridge system for its new Nintendo 64.

MOBA GamesMultiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), also known as action real-time strategy (ARTS), originated as a subgenre of the real-time strategy (RTS) genre of video games, in which a player controls a single character in one of two teams. The objective is to destroy the opposing team's main structure with the assistance of periodically spawned computer-controlled units that march forward along set paths. Player characters typically have various abilities and advantages that improve over the course of a game and that contribute to a team's overall strategy. Some examples of MOBA games are: League of Legends, DotA 2 and SMITE.

A lot of us spend our free time to play video games. In this sea of games the video game industry gives there are two great names who fight over the title “Best MOBA”. In the following text we will try to compare them without any prejudice and without stating which one of them is better, knowing the fact we have played both games for a long period of time. But before we start let’s understand what’s the purpose of a game like these. There are 2 teams who are fighting with each other to destroy the other team’s central building, tower… whatever you want to call it. Each team is composed from 3 to 5 players and each player can choose to play from a big list of heroes who are specialized on different role’s.

A Brief Description Each player makes gold from killing minions, structures, monsters, enemy players, which is used in buying different item’s making the respective hero stronger. Each hero levels up by gaining experience, which is earned by killing minions, monsters, enemies. What is the purpose of the experience system? Upon reaching a certain number of experience points the hero will level up improving one of his skill’s or learning a new one, up to a total of 4 skill’s the hero can have. The team that overpowers the other team or makes a mistake will usually win or lose the game. Now that everyone knows what we’re talking about let’s compare these 2 game’s over the following criterias.

Comparing the Two Main Titles of MOBA Accessibility Let’s get this out of the way, the answer is known by most people anyway: LoL is more accessible than DotA 2. Dying is less punishing because you don't lose that much gold and even if you get beaten two or three times during the game you still won't be that much behind if known how to comeback. If you get killed or are forced to run back to your base two or three times during a DotA game you will be several levels and a lot of gold behind and it will be very tough for you to get back into the game. Also LoL has easy-to-understand tutorials on almost everything, including video tutorials for every skill, etc. That is what makes it a lot more accessible.

Difficulty Difficulty of both games depends on the skill of your opponents. DotA 2 is a bit tougher to get into (because there are some items that gives the hero new skills, therefore making the gameplay more challenging by using the right item at the right time) , but that is a matter of accessibility, not a matter of difficulty.

Hero Design I don’t aim to measure the artistic stylization of hero design, because its a matter of personal preference. I personally like both ways. I like the wild colorful comics style of LoL just as much as I like the darker, more fairy tale-like approach of DotA 2. I want to focus more on character development, variability, etc. Part of the hero’s design aspect is the option to modify your character’s aspect before the game starts by selecting a skin in League of Legends or sets in DotA 2. This, however, costs real money and is the reason why League of Legends is the #1 free-to-play game.

Character variety This is where DotA 2 shines. Despite having less characters than LoL, the roster actually gives you more options. Every single hero in DotA 2 is highly specialized in certain ways and lacking in others and each one has very unique play style. LoL has its greats too, but many of LoL champions feel a bit generic compared to the distinguished personality of DotA 2 heroes (I mean personality through skills and in gameplay).

Character development (through levels and items)

In both games, characters gain power through levels and through items. Level cap of champions in LoL is 18 and level cap of heroes in DotA 2 is 25. After the level cap is reached both games have their characters fully developed (for example you can’t have the same max level character with different skills). Level cap is a bit higher in DotA 2 not only by the numbers, it actually takes longer to reach it in-game. Thats why many DotA 2 players feel like they were stopped from growing just when they started to be a bit ahead of their enemies. Its also less punishing if you stay a few levels behind in LoL, because you will equate your opponents sooner thanks to the lower cap.

In terms of items, the difference is even bigger. It is almost impossible to max out on items in DotA 2 (for example get into a situation when you have plenty of gold and no idea what to buy to make your char better), while its quite common in LoL.

Its a tough call whether the overall lower power cap of characters in LoL is a bad thing. It allows for some nice comebacks of a team that slipped behind earlier in the game.

Skills Both games are heavily based on using hero skills. Some skills are very similar. Im not going to argue about who copies who. Its pointless and although all those skills were first used in DotA, some of them were designed by Guinsoo who later just used his own ideas again in LoL.

It’s a matter of fact that overall skills are bigger in DotA 2. They cost more mana, have longer range, more damage, longer stuns or silence effects, etc. There are things like permanent invisibility, 5 seconds stuns, etc. Therefore it is more important to use them right. Missed a skill? You are out of mana and will be for some time unless you buy some mana regeneration items or go back to your base!

On the other hand, it is more satisfying to score a kill in DotA 2, because not only it matters more (kills make more difference in DotA 2 than in LoL), but it also comes with a bigger bang!

The Maps The only real big difference here is about the use of the high terrain. While there are some ranged characters that can climb in DotA and never miss an attack or try to attack from the base of a hill to someone who is up on it and miss half the attacks; in LoL there is no such thing. Visually, I could say the same thing about the maps, like I said about the “Hero Design”. The LoL map has been updated pretty recently, keeping is cartoonish theme while the DotA map has a more darker tone overall.

Our Conclusion Both games are great at what they are doing. LoL is more accessible, while DotA 2 is more punishing, but also more rewarding. LoL is easier to learn, DotA 2 is a deeper and more complex experience. If you want just to have fun and relax in a game of this genre, go for LoL, you will have tons of fun. If you have group of 5 people with similar mindset - thats even better, you're gonna have even more fun! If you want a game that you need to put a lot of effort into to really master, if you have 4 reliable friends to make a team with and if you want to be rewarded for your hard work by real excitement of well deserved victory, go for DotA 2. It will take you on a journey through hell, you will be owned hard by teams that play tighter, fight better, and every little mistake will cost you the game. But beating the other team, punishing their own mistakes and breaking through their base will be huge satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment!