Sixteen years have passed since the first clunky, non-descript and wildly incoherent version of Dota appeared as a faulty map modification for Warcraft 3. Clearly, a lot has passed since then. Gone is the clunkiness and the faults and in the stead of that map modification we have Dota 2, a fantastic, stand-alone game that has been in the habit of distributing millions of dollars every year.
The game’s popularity upsurge has been so massive that it has spawned a strong Dota 2 betting community with websites such as https://dota2-bet.com/, providing competitive markets to keen esports fans.
So, today, Dota or Dota 2 is still at it. The game is going strong as one of the most played games titles there is, and there are some very good reasons for its unflagging popularity.
Created by the Community
For the longest time, Dota 2 was successfully following community wisdom and building on it. People were gathering in forums and pitching detailed ideas about items, heroes and so much more. Players were keen on sharing their opinions and starting serious discussions about the so-called theory-crafting mechanics that go in the game.
But, what’s important here is that the community had a very strong, driving role in the entire creation of the game. Since it arrived as a map in 2004 until it became a standalone game in 2013, Dota has been developed by the community, at least when you think about the narrative, mechanics and how the general game felt and played.
Almost Free to Play
At a time when computers were expensive and games did cost a pretty penny, Dota was a great alternative to pretty much everything. It looked very poorly when it started, but it was a way to add to the already magnificent world of Warcraft and build on that, creating multiple different experiences.
Dota became a free to play game as soon as you purchased the main game, but more importantly, one single purchase guaranteed you over a decade of gaming fun, a small price to pay indeed. The financial accessibility of Dota was fantastic and that is what gave it a significant boost in players’ opinions
Competitive from the Start
Another massive reason for the game’s popularity was the fact that it felt and played very competitive from the start. The better you tried to be at the game, the more rewards you could reap. It felt fulfilling to play and enjoy this title and it has been so since the game launched. Of course, the game tends to be very punishing to novices. The community can be very hard-nosed and quite impolite on more than one occasion, but the thing is you will definitely get to benefit and enjoy yourself playing Dota.
After all, it’s been out there for over 16 years and you got to ask yourself – can another game repeat that and stay as competitive and popular for years to come? There is a lot of changes coming in the world, so any game that can live to over two decades and still be as vibrant as at its apex days is definitely worth exploring.