LoL!!

So, for all of my blog posts, I'll be following a particular format. First, I'll link to my favorite video of the week/one I discovered recently. Next,I'll post a synopsis of my article, and then I'll have the article. Afterwards, I'll put anything else in that may be of interest/related to my post.

Video of the Week: Darth Vader vs. Hitler. Epic Rap Battles of History 2

Synopsis: A discussion on the DotA genre, League of Legends, other DotA games, and what the definition of a "hardcore" gamer is.

So, a couple of the (former) blog authors on this site, including myself, have recently gotten into a game called League of Legends. It is essentially a DotA clone. Basic gameplay includes 2 teams of 3/5 champions that go around the map, level up, kill people on the other team, and ultimately try to destroy the other team's base. The premise is trite, but the delivery is fresh and unique which makes it a very enjoyable game. So, for this post, I'm going to talk about the DotA genre of games.

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was a very unique mod of Warcraft III. Unlike the lackluster RTS that it was attached to, DotA focused on simply building your hero's stats and abilities and buying items instead of commanding armies and other typical RTS elements. Each hero has their own unique skills that they can learn. At level 6, they can learn their ultimate (or "ult" for short) that is insanely powerful/useful but has high costs.

Specifically, League of Legends builds off of this but adds a few new elements. Most champions go off of the typical mana system (each ability has a cost and a cooldown, or wait time), but some of their new areas go off of unique systems. 3 characters, Kennen, Shen, and Akali, all of which are ninjas, go off of an energy system. It works very similarly to mana, but it has a fast regeneration rate and cannot be replenished by items. Mordekaiser is unique because he doesn't even have mana. Instead, he charge a shield by using his abilities which allows him to tank damage very well.

On a side note, Heroes of Newerth is another game that plays similarly to DotA. It bears more similarities to DotA and takes less chances than League of Legends, but it is still a great game. However, there are quite a few differences. Without going into a lot of detail, basically, here's the bottom line. League of Legends is a fun game that isn't as challenging to learn as HoN, but if you're a gamer who plays competitively, then you'll want to go with HoN.

Before I go, I feel compelled to explain what a hardcore gamer exactly is. A hardcore gamer is not necessarily someone who plays in every video game tournament. A hardcore gamer is one who spends a majority of his time playing video games. Here's a good definition from Urban Dictionary:

Someone who plays video games as a primary hobby. They tend to spend large amounts of time playing games, often in excess of two or three hours a day. Hardcore gamers tend to care less about graphics then casual gamers. While some specialize in a single genre, they typically have fairly diverse taste in games, frequently playing a wide variety of games from different genres. They'll often seek out obscure and older games, based on word of mouth or positive critical reception. Hardcore gamers put good gameplay above all else, and don't mind if a good game has poor (or even nonexistent) graphics, sound, characters and plot. The stereotypical hardcore gamer is out of shape, and has poor hygene. They spend a lot of their disposable income on video games, consoles, or PC upgrades, and a large percentage of their free time either playing video games or discussing them, online and off. They wear either black clothing, or T-shirts with geeky pop-culture references, often to video games. Their social skills may be sub-par, and they may be less likely than others their age to have many friends, a jobs and a girlfriend/boyfriend. Some of these stereotypes are negative, and they certainly don't apply to all hardcore gamers, but there's a fair amount of truth to them.

 Essentially, competitive gamers are hardcore, but a hardcore gamer doesn't necessarily play games competitively.

I hope I've enlightened you to a new genre of games, and I encourage anyone who has not played any of the games mentioned to try one of them out. They're all great, and it is definitely a great genre.

Heroes of Newerth
League of Legends
Defense of the Ancients

Signing off,
ACRONYM of the Blog