Global Trends in Gaming

Over the past ten years, many different games have risen within the same genres. Soe genres growing in number more than others. The main two I have seen are MOBA's and Hero Shooters. Although both have been around for a long time, they have been growing most rapidly as of recently.

"Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), also known as action real-time strategy (ARTS), is a subgenre of strategy video games that originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, in which a player controls a single character in a team who compete versus another team of players. 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. MOBA games are a fusion of action games, role-playing games and real-time strategy games, in which players usually do not construct either buildings or units.

The genre largely began with Aeon of Strife (AoS), a custom map for StarCraft where four players each controlling a single powerful unit and aided by weak computer-controlled units were put against a stronger computer. Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a map based on Aeon of Strife for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne, was one of the first major titles of its genre and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments have been held. It was followed by the two spiritual successors, League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, and eventually a sequel, Dota 2, as well as numerous other games in the genre such as Heroes of the Storm and Smite. By the early 2010s, the genre had become a staple of the emerging eSports scene." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplayer_online_battle_arena 

"Hero shooters are a variation of multiplayer first- or third-person arena-based shooters, where players, split among two or more teams, select from pre-designed "hero" characters that each possess unique attributes, skills, weapons, and other activated abilities; players may gain abilities to customize the appearance of these characters, but these changes are usually cosmetic only and do not alter the game's balance. Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match. Such games are inspired by multiplayer online battle arena games. A popular team-based shooter that is considered one of the first Hero Shooters is Team Fortress 2. Other examples of hero shooters include Overwatch, Gigantic, Paladins and Quake Champions. Hero Shooters are considered to have strong potential as eSports competitive titles." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooter_game#Hero_shooters

Although some people might be at a loss for why these genres have been growing, if you watch the eSports scene, it is very clear why they are. With how competitive professional and collegiate eSports are, and these being some of the main games being played, everyone wants a piece of the pie. You can see this in tournaments like Heroes of the Dorm and Overwatch League, which I previously mentioned in my article on Programming Trends http://joshturnersaudirectedstudytwo.blogspot.com/2018/01/programming-trends.html . You might wonder why these are popular, and part of it may be that they work really well for eSports, this is due to the high paced action that happens very often throughout the game. It makes you both want to keep playing and also makes viewers want to keep watching. https://www.redbull.com/int-en/genetically-engineered-how-mobas-invaded-esports  Although you might not be into eSports and gaming, this is very exciting to many gamers and is seen similarly to how a basketball or football game is seen by sports fans. I recommend having a look at eSports as we need to know about it as journalists and media curators.