MOBAs vs MMOs: Which kind of game is for you?

For many geek gamers out there, MMORPGs (MMOs for short) such as World of Warcraft would be crème de la crème of the gaming world. And you can’t blame them really; MMOs are fun to play because players experience growth and progression. But it all comes down to personal preferences. Some may prefer console games, some PC games, some handheld, and yet some more prefer MOBAs.

Massive online battle arena (MOBAs) include games like League of Legends and DoTA 2 wherein the goal of the game is to destroy the opposing side’s base by using your character. They are fun in their own right and they are, in some aspects, similar to an MMO. In a nutshell, it’s like a combination of an MMO and a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game. But what separates these game from one another?

MMOs are very time-consuming; MOBAs are not

Notably however, MMOs are not for people who don’t have a lot of time in their hands. Normally, to be able to remain competitive in an MMO game, you’d have to shell out a lot of cash not the in-game currency but rather real money. Most of the enjoyment in MMOs come from being competitive and being competitive is near impossible without spending hours and hours on end to train your character that is unless you pay to win. If you only play more or less an hour in a day, you shouldn’t even be thinking of playing MMOs. In a MOBA, you can play one match which will typically last you 30 minutes to an hour and that’s about it. If you think you’ve had enough, you can stop.

MMOs can be pay to win; MOBAs are not

Many MMOs are free-to-play and currently MOBAs like League of Legends and DoTA are also free-to-play. However, MOBA games don’t tend to become pay to win. MOBA game publishers would get their income from selling in game stuff such as character skins and costumes which don’t affect gameplay; whereas in MMOs, you can usually get the most powerful gear from cash shops.

MMOs require strategy, teamwork, and skill; MOBAs more so

MMOs do require strategizing and teamwork within a group of players, and just a little bit of skill. In MMOs you strategize and work as a team when you go raiding but when it comes to skill, there is not much for skills which only require you to point and click and press shortcut keys to activate skills and use items unless maybe youíre playing an action-oriented MMO.

MOBAs on the other hand require a lot of strategy, much more teamwork and a lot of skill. In MOBAs, skills are paramount and it just as important as teamwork and strategy. In a real competitive MOBA match, you’ll need all three to win.

MOBAs can turn you into a professional gamer; MMOs can’t

When you play an MMO, you just play it for your own accomplishment and it’s not really much of a competition. MOBAs, on the other hand, lean more toward the competitive side. So competitive in fact that many international tournaments offer cash prizes amounting up to $11 million. The players participating in the tournaments have been considered as official athletes and are being given athletes visas so they can fly to the US to compete. Who would have thought video games would ever be considered a real sport?

The bad side of MOBAs

If the bad side of an MMOs is that they tend to become pay-to-win or require a lot of time to play, the bad side to MOBAs is its community. When playing MOBA games, it is a normal occurrence to get matched with players that troll, talk thrash, leave games and even throw games entirely. When this happens, it can be a real pain especially since winning will depend largely on how you strategize and communicate with your teammates. When one player throws or leaves the game, that can negatively affect the experience of the other four members of the team. Those who talk trash are easy to deal with. You can simply mute them, but when players start to throw games, that’s a real problem. Negative behavior however is harshly penalized but obviously, as toxic as the communities are currently, penalties don’t do much.

 

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