History Analysis / MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena

As a result, a great deal of the interplay between the players and the teams comes from risk and reward; being more aggressive may make it easier to kill lots of enemy units, drive off enemy heroes, accumulate money more quickly, and damage enemy towers, but it also may leave you more vulnerable to counterattacks from enemy heroes, whether they be in the lane with you or ambushing you from the jungle (or both!). It should also be pointed out that the InstantWinCondition involves demolishing the enemy's central building; killing enemy heroes will help you do this by giving you EXP, Gold and the freedom to roam around the map in safety (at least, until those enemies respawn), but that's ''all'' it does. These games {{subvert}} "MurderIsTheBestSolution", which can lure enemy players into a false sense of complacency and BloodKnight-itis. Sure, killing the enemy players is fun... But is it ''necessary''? It's entirely possible to "backdoor" a base by dodging the enemy team entirely and going straight to their core; likewise, it's possible to "team-wipe" the opposition, killing all five of them with no losses to your own side, but then not accomplish anything useful while they're dead.

UnstableEquilibrium is a big factor in [=MOBAs=]. Early-game mistakes can result in one team or another gaining an early advantage, which makes it easier for them to win later confrontations, giving them a larger advantage with every victory. There are plenty of ways to hand your opponent advantages too, from [[LeeroyJenkins starting a fight you can't win]] to [[LazyBackup failing to show up at a fight you could've won]], from [[SkewedPriorities being at the wrong place at the wrong time]] to [[HowDoIShotWeb being at the right place at the wrong time]]. The end result is that matches can often be decided long before either base is in even remote danger of destruction. Numbers are also critically important; at competitive levels of play, teams will often disengage after losing only ''one'' of their members, because their absence is already enough to virtually guarantee victory to the enemy team. NeverSplitTheParty in a MOBA, unless you all agreed to execute the strategy of 'split push'[[note]]A strategy to actually do a minor "LetsSplitUpGang" thing, but instead of everyone going solo, it's usually just one person sneaking away from the team and pushing an uncontested lane, while the rest of the team minus that hero engage in a team fight against 5 people, without fully committing to wipe out the other team and being on the defensive. Even if they may lose the team fight, this will most likely distract the grouped enemy team, thinking that losing towers will be more disastrous than wiping out the enemy at the moment (even moreso if the split-pusher has somehow breached their inner tower and core, which means they have to absolutely come back and defend the base or else they lose the game). With that at least one or two heroes will pull back and decrease their own manpower in teamfight. The split-pusher, if they're good, will detect of an incoming enemy and run away before things go south for them, if they're good, they would have snatched an objective while the others are busy team-fighting.[[/note]], and even that can be easily screwed up[[note]]A great split-pusher needs to be a hero with specific conditions: They need to be either good at obliterating towers or other objectives, or are very slippery, so they can easily escape before the whole enemy team comes to gang up on them to death. And even then, the player still needs a good map awareness to make the strategy work[[/note]]. Finally, because hero characters are (deliberately) limited in what they can bring to the table, a lack of teamwork can spell disaster. You might play a perfect game, execute everything correctly, avoid needless damage, get a ton of kills... and still lose, because someone on your team dropped their responsibilities. Even worse, if your team doesn’t plan to do what you want them to, you might not be able to play your game ''at all''; you may be forced to use your character to do things s/he isn’t good at or even ''is designed to be bad at'', leaving a sour taste in one’s mouth—even if said non-cooperative teammates go on to win the game (''especially'' if).

This conflict is accentuated by three additional factors. First, killing an enemy hero provides large amounts of money and experience. In the original ''[=DotA=]'', this is doubly harmful as the hero who is killed outright ''loses'' money, though many other games have dropped this penalty because it's too harsh. Secondly, if an enemy hero is killed or forced to retreat, there is no opposition while you kill enemy minions, racking up money and experience. This also denies the enemy hero the opportunity to do the same, damaging their ability to accumulate power and resources. Thirdly, if a lane is left undefended, it is easier to "push" the lane: leading allied minions in an attack on an enemy tower, which is typically programmed to prioritize killing minions, allowing ''you'' to damage it in relative impunity.\\

As a result, a great deal of the interplay between the players and the teams comes from risk and reward; being more aggressive may make it easier to kill lots of enemy units, drive off enemy heroes, accumulate money more quickly, and damage enemy towers, but it also may leave you more vulnerable to counterattacks from enemy heroes, whether they be in the lane with you or ambushing you from the jungle (or both!). It should also be pointed out that the InstantWinCondition involves demolishing the enemy’s central building; killing enemy heroes will help you do this by giving you EXP, Gold and the freedom to roam around the map in safety (at least, until those enemies respawn), but that's ''all'' it does. It's entirely possible to "backdoor" a base by dodging the enemy team entirely and going straight to their core; likewise, it's possible to "team-wipe" the opposition, killing all five of them with no losses to your own side, but then not accomplish any useful demolition while they're dead.

While enemy heroes may have their own HitPoints, the health of your team as a whole is measured in its buildings. The core building, remember, is the InstantWinCondition, and destroying it by any means, at any time, results in victory. Additionally, as you lose your outer towers, you lose map control; the FogOfWar spreads, giving the enemy team more opportunities to ambush you. Finally, within your base are typically important buildings which, if destroyed, actually unlock ''extra {{mook}}s for the enemy team'', tilting the game further in their favor.

While games may provide an optional means of a player selecting a specific player they want to play the most common match type will have players of both teams selecting a character to play one at a time; this is sometimes referred to the drafting phase. The goal here is for your team to pick characters that will work together as a team, as team synergy is critical in higher level gameplay. For example a team of all carries and/or casters may be able to do a large amount of damage, but without a Tank to set up the team fight and/or a support to help protect the GlassCannon damage dealers they will likely lose against a more well rounded team. Counter picking, ie intentionally picking a character who's skillset works well against an already selected enemy's hero in the Metagame is another important part of drafting a team. It's entirely possible for a team to be doomed from the start if they do not draft wisely and don't have the right skills available to counter their enemy. In games that offer the ability to select the hero you want to play before being automatically added to a team then there is always a danger of the automatically created team to lack synergy and will struggle to work well together, despite most games placing rules designed to ensure a team be at least somewhat viable.

|| ''VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth'' examples || ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}'' examples || ''VideoGame/{{Vainglory}}'' examples || ''VideoGame/{{Paragon}}'' examples ||||||

|| ''VideoGame/ArenaOfValor'' examples[[note]]In several sections, especially when it comes to appearances, some of them may appear ''italicized''. This will represent the archetype appearance which applies in ''Honor of Kings'', but did not apply for ''Arena of Valor''. It doesn't have to be the hero counterpart from each other either.[[/note]] || ''VideoGame/MobileLegendsBangBang'' examples || ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperWar'' examples || ''VideoGame/PokemonUnite'' examples ||||||

UnstableEquilibrium is a big factor in [=MOBAs=]. Early-game mistakes can result in one team or another gaining an early advantage, which makes it easier for them to win later confrontations, giving them a larger advantage with every victory. There are plenty of ways to hand your opponent advantages too, from [[LeeroyJenkins starting a fight you can't win]] to [[LazyBackup failing to show up at a fight you could've won]], from [[SkewedPriorities being at the wrong place at the wrong time]] to [[HowDoIShotWeb being at the right place at the wrong time]]. The end result is that matches can often be decided long before either base is in even remote danger of destruction. Numbers are also critically important; at competitive levels of play, teams will often disengage after losing only ''one'' of their members, because their absence is already enough to virtually guarantee victory to the enemy team. NeverSplitTheParty in a MOBA. Finally, because hero characters are (deliberately) limited in what they can bring to the table, a lack of teamwork can spell disaster. You might play a perfect game, execute everything correctly, avoid needless damage, get a ton of kills... and still lose, because someone on your team dropped their responsibilities. Even worse, if your team doesn’t plan to do what you want them to, you might not be able to play your game ''at all''; you may be forced to use your character to do things s/he isn’t good at or even ''is designed to be bad at'', leaving a sour taste in one’s mouth—even if said non-cooperative teammates go on to win the game (''especially'' if).