The Long History of Dota 2 and The International: Starting from a Mod to a Subscription to the World’s Biggest Esports Tournament Prize Record
In Indonesia, the esports scene from Dota 2 may already be recognized, living reluctantly and unwillingly. This is because in Indonesia, the most popular esports games are indeed mobile games. Therefore, don’t be surprised if not many esports organizations have Dota 2 teams or other PC games at the moment. Even so, it cannot be denied that Dota 2 is still one of the most successful esports games in the world. The proof, The International forever broke the record for the largest number of prizes in the world every year. Not only that, even though it was officially launched eight years. then, Dota 2 forever has monthly active players up to hundreds of thousands of people. The following is the web dota2navigation.com for history of Dota 2 and how The International was able to become a world tournament that is held every year.
History of Dota 2
It all started with Aeon of Strife, which is acclaimed as the first MOBA “game”. Aeon of Strife is a fan made mod for StarCraft: Brood War. The mod became too popular for Blizzard to include it in Warcraft 3. The experience of playing Aeon of Strife is indeed not exactly the same as the MOBA games currently available. However, subsequent games will always have the same basic gameplay as most MOBAs. For example, the player’s goal in Aeon of Strife is still destroying the enemy base. Apart from that, the map in the game also has three lines, just like maps in other MOBA games. It’s just that, in Aeon of Strife, a team consists of four people instead of five. In addition, the enemy that players have to face is AI and not other players, as we mentioned.
If Aeon of Strife became the forerunner of the MOBA genre, Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was the beginning of Dota 2. Just like Aeon of Strife, DotA is also a mod. DotA was made by modder Kyle “Eul” Sommer for Warcraft 3. The DotA mod is very similar to the Dota 2 game available now. In DotA, five players will fight against five other players. The winning team is the team that can destroy the enemy base first. Even though the DotA mod was popular, Eul decided to leave it behind. He actually tried to make a sequel from DotA. However, the next project failed. Ultimately, Eul would hand over his ownership of DotA to Valve.
The success of the DotA mod inspired many people to create similar games. Of all the games that appeared, only DotA: Allstars was successful. DotA: Allstars was also made by a modder, namely Steve “Guinsoo” Feak. Later, this game became the basis for Dota 2 as we know it today. In fact, Allstars is also often recognized as the original DotA. The reason is, the game is not only the basis of Dota 2, but is also used in professional matches.
After their success with Allstars, Guinsoo and Steve “Pendragon” Mescon — who created the DotA community hub — decided to sign on to Riot Games and help them grow League of Legends. They left DotA: Allstars in the hands of IceFrog. In the history of Dota 2, IceFrog has an important role. Granted, he didn’t create Allstars from scratch or overhaul the game, rather, he was the one who created new content for Allstars after Guinsoo and Mescon left. Not only that, he also ensures that the Allstars gameplay is always the same and there are no overpowered characters.
At that time, DotA’s success was purely thanks to the fans. The next game was made by fans and became big because of fans. However, conditions changed when League of Legends was launched in 2009 and Heroes of Newerth in 2010. The launch of the two games stated that the MOBA genre had great potential. If DotA wants to exist forever and be able to compete with other MOBA games, that game needs support from big game companies.