What type of game is League of Legends?

Though each video game is unique in its own way, all titles belong to genres that make them easier to categorize. While some genres date back to the ‘60s and ‘70s, many more were invented and improved upon down the line. 

The invention of new genres depends on developers’ imagination and what they can create with the resources available to them. League of Legends’ roots date back to a Warcraft III mod called Dota. Featuring two teams of five, Dota was a breath of fresh air when it came out. The character pool grew larger by the day, and the gameplay was more accessible than Warcraft III and StarCraft, thanks to its streamlined controls.

As Dota grew into a phenomenon, larger developers couldn’t help but notice the game was a simple mod that reduced the overall design space for developers. In Dota’s earlier stages, many developers volunteered to work on the game, giving them the knowledge needed to create similar games for larger developers. Aside from S2 Games, Riot Games was one of the first studios to snatch a developer who previously worked on Dota to make its own version of the mod called League of Legends. With the help of Steve “Guinsoo” Feak, League of Legends hit the market as a better-looking alternative to Dota with more design space and features.

What kind of game is League of Legends?

League is a member of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre. Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, and SMITE are other notable MOBAs trying to improve upon the successful formula of the original Dota. MOBA is technically a subgenre of classic real-time strategy (RTS) games with a single prime objective of taking down the opposing team’s base.

Regardless of the fundamental changes and different character pools, all MOBAs feature the same core ideas. In League, players choose their champion from a variety of options and go head-to-head against the enemy squad with the help of their teammates.

While League seems quite complicated at first, the game also features a robust new player experience to help new players get up-to-speed with the existing player base.