Born in the Editor

It wasn't a game made by a studio. It was a messy, unbalanced map made by a teenager in a level editor. "e;Defense of the Ancients"e; (DotA) was a custom map for Warcraft III that stripped away the base building and focused on heroes. Blizzard ignored it. But the players didn't. This book traces the chaotic lineage of the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre. From the anonymous creator Eul to the mysterious IceFrog, from the theft of ideas that led to "e;League of Legends"e; to Valve's corporate maneuvering to secure "e;Dota 2"e;. It is a story of how the community built a genre that generates billions today, while the company that owned the engine (Blizzard) watched from the sidelines and missed the biggest opportunity in gaming history.