Defense of the Ancients (
DotA) is a
multiplayer online battle arena mod for the video game
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion,
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the "Aeon of Strife" map for
StarCraft.
The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the
opponents' Ancient, 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. As in
role-playing games, players
level up their heroes and use gold to buy equipment during the mission.
[1]
The scenario was developed with the
"World Editor" of
Reign of Chaos, and was updated upon the release of its expansion,
The Frozen Throne. There have been many variations of the original concept; the most popular being
DotA Allstars, which eventually was simplified to
DotA with the release of version 6.68.
[2]
This specific scenario has been maintained by several authors during
development, the latest of whom being the anonymous developer known as "
IceFrog" developing the game since 2005.
Since its original release,
DotA has become a feature at several worldwide tournaments, including
Blizzard Entertainment's
BlizzCon and the Asian
World Cyber Games, as well as the Cyberathlete Amateur and CyberEvolution leagues; in a 2008 article of video game industry website
Gamasutra, the article's author claimed that "
DotA is likely the most popular and most-discussed free, non-supported game mod in the world".
[3] DotA is largely attributed to being the most significant inspiration for the multiplayer online battle arena genre.
[4] Valve Corporation acquired the intellectual property rights to
DotA to develop and release a stand-alone sequel,
Dota 2.
[5]