Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a custom scenario for real-time strategy video game Warcraft 3, based on the “Aeon of Strife” map for Starcraft. According to Wikipedia, compiled at Tinkrbox, the objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents’ Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called “creeps”. As in role-playing games, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission.
DotA is developed by IceFrog together with his team. IceFrog has been employed by Valve in 2009 and is now leading a team in developing a game for valve. As he says, “My goal and top priority in the future is to solve the surrounding issues that affect the DotA experience in order to allow it to reach new heights”. He also adds “I’m very excited about DotA’s future!”
The popularity DotA has been increasing over time. It became an important tournament scenario, starting with its prominence at the debut of Blizzard BlizzCon convention in 2005. It was also featured in Malaysia and Singapore World Cyber Games starting in 2005, and the Word Cyber Games Asian Championships beginning with the 2006 season. DotA was included in the game lineup for the internationally recognized Cyberathlete Amateur League and CyberEvolution leagues.
According to another website compiled at Tinkrbox, DotA is the most popular and most-discussed free, non-supported game mod in the world. The DotA community has expanded a lot and continues to grow all the time. Leagues and tournaments are played. Many professional gamers have formed teams and started devoting their time to DotA.