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MOBA games: A literature review

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 Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Entertainment Computing
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/entcom

MOBA games: A literature review T

⁎
Marçal Mora-Cantallops , Miguel-Ángel Sicilia
University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This article aims to perform a literature review of the available research that focuses strictly on MOBA (mul-
MOBA tiplayer online battle arena) games. First, a review identifying the relevant papers published since 2011 is
Multiplayer online battle arena conducted, exploring them systematically to extract similarities, gaps and main findings. Results show how
Literature review League of Legends is the most explored game, with player experience and toxic behaviour as popular topics for
League of Legends
research. Second, as MOBA games remain underexplored by researchers despite their vast, enthusiast commu-
LOL
DotA
nity, as well as projection and influence on contemporary game designers, a proposal on future lines for research
is provided.

1. Introduction
Some 205 million people watched or played eSports in 2014 [3].
Among them, MOBA games are in the lead, both in players and
watchers. The League of Legends Championship sold out Staples Center
in 2013, then sold out the 40,000-seat World Cup Stadium in Seoul a
year later while drawing an online audience of 27 million. However,
even though many players are drawn every day to MOBA games, re-
search on the subject is still at an early stage. This paper aims to reflect
the current research landscape focused strictly on MOBA games, in
order to provide a summary of the topics covered and to open venues
for new lines of investigation.
Existing studies acknowledge the early stage of current research on
MOBA games. “Despite its vast, enthusiast community and influence on
contemporary game designers, the MOBA remains under-explored by
academics” [9]. But few games exhibit a greater need for socially-aware
services than this relatively new genre [17] which brings new ways of
collaboration and competition on the table, gender and cultural chal-
lenges and even new social networks which need to deal with the in-
herent toxic behaviour that arises in these contexts.
In essence, MOBA games are a subgenre of real-time strategy games
in which two teams, typically consisting of five players each, compete
against each other with each player controlling a single character.
Contrary to real-time strategy games, there is no unit or building con-
struction in a MOBA game, so “much of the strategy revolves around
individual character development and cooperative team play in
combat” [33].
Two of the three most played PC games are MOBA games: League of
Legends and DOTA 2 [5]. And yet, it all started from a small and niche
fan-made custom map for Blizzard’s real-time strategy (RTS) game
StarCraft, Aeon of Strife (AoS), back in 1998, by a modder (an in-
dividual who deliberately modifies games to his advantage or for fun)
called Aeon64. While AoS set the basics, it wasn’t until Defense of the
Ancients (DOTA) when the MOBA genre was born as we know it today.
In 2009, Riot Games released League of Legends (LoL) with a com-
pletely different pricing approach: it was free to play. Anyone could
download it and play with a rotating selection of heroes and some
limitations – extra content could be purchased in-game, though.
Besides LoL, the second most popular MOBA game as of today (with
more than 11 million unique players per month according to their
website) is DOTA 2, which was released in 2013 through Valve’s
STEAM digital store. Both games are similar in concept but they differ
in execution; overall, League of Legends simplified DOTA while DOTA 2
is often considered more demanding and strategically complex than
LoL. Moreover, both feature a massive number of players, although LoL
has a significantly larger player base.
However, they are not alone: a myriad of other titles such as Smite
[30], Heroes of Newerth and Heroes of the Storm, the recent entry from
Blizzard itself, are also played by millions of players every month.
Mobile MOBAs do exist too, with titles such as Vainglory.
MOBAs provide an unprecedented research opportunity due to the
combination of two factors: the huge number of players (and eSports
viewers) they attract and how easy it is to access part of the generated
and recorded in-game data. APIs (functions allowing the creation of
applications which access such applications’ data and retrieve it) are
available and even officially supported. There are, however, some
problematic features too: MOBA games are often patched, so the game
changes regularly. Professional teams are unstable, frequently

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: marcal.mora@edu.uah.es (M. Mora-Cantallops).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2018.02.005
Received 19 February 2017; Received in revised form 14 February 2018; Accepted 19 February 2018
Available online 21 February 2018
1875-9521/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia
appearing and disappearing before relevant conclusions can be drawn.
Users are everywhere and they play a lot, so wide datasets become
unmanageable.
Metagaming is also vital in MOBA games. Metagaming is hard to
define, but it basically involves everything that happens regarding the
game outside the game. Community talk, professional spectatorship,
webpages with statistics… they all shape the way the game is played.
The reason for the significance of the metagame in League of Legends
and other multiplayer games can be related to the principles of ludus
and paidia, proposed by Caillois [2], which form a central part of play
theory. The League of Legends metagame and the process of meta-
gaming is such a major part of competitive play that, while it may not
be required to participate, it is certainly required to be effective in the
competitive environment, especially at higher levels [6].
Although the interest in MOBA games for research increases in
parallel to the genre’s popularity, existing research often lacks a mul-
tidisciplinary approach and is confined to a single field of study (such as
Information Systems, Psychology or Sociology). This motivates us to
systematically evaluate the status of the field of MOBA games from an
empirical perspective, and to provide guidance for future progress. To
the best of our knowledge this represents the first attempt to do so.
Literature reviews aim first to collect and critically analyse multiple
research studies in a structured methodology and, afterwards, to in-
vestigate the gaps, needs and opportunities for future research.
Although systematic reviews are typical in Medicine, they are also
often applied to Information Systems (IS). Šmite, Wohlin, Gorschek and
Feldt [30] conducted a systematic review in order to evaluate the status
of the field of global software engineering from an empirical perspec-
tive which has been used as the basic raw model for the current lit-
erature review on MOBA games. The current review also draws from
Lugmayr and Grueblbauer [18], who used advanced text-mining
methods to investigate the gap between IS research and typical issues
discussed in media industries. Both are good examples of what the
purpose of this review of literature is: to evaluate the status of the field
and to investigate its gaps.
After this introduction, the rest of this paper is structured as follows:
Section 2 introduces the Research Questions and the motivation behind
each of them. Section 3 outlines the principles of the review conducted.
Section 4 presents the results of the study from all the available angles.
Last, Section 5 draws conclusions on the previous sections.
2. Research questions
To understand the current literature around MOBA game studies,
the following two general research questions were formulated.
The main driver for conducting this review was to categorize and
summarize all the work that has been done around MOBA games, to
identify gaps and commonalities in current research and to point to the
main questions on the subject – thus forming a baseline, a stepping-
stone, for both present use by academics and future research. Therefore,
our first question is as follows:
RQ.1: Regarding MOBA games, what aspects have been explored so
far in the available literature?
RQ.1 is divided into four subordinate questions:
RQ.1.1: Which games and subjects are used for MOBA research?
RQ.1.2: When were studies published?
RQ.1.3: Where is the data obtained from?
RQ.1.4: What topics are covered?
Moreover, the second aim was to understand the existing research
directions within MOBA studies and assess which topics have been
covered and which remain under-explored. Among other reasons (such
as impact on well-being or benefits and risks of game-play) researchers
129
Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138
pay attention to online games because actions are quantifiable. A wide
range of predefined actions for supporting social interaction (e.g.,
friendship, communication, trade, enmity, aggression, and punishment)
reflect either positive or negative connotations among game players,
and they are unobtrusively recorded by game servers [16]. As more and
more human activities are moving to the Web, the Web has become a
reflection of modern society. Data is easily available and can be used to
study human relations and behavioural patterns. Thus, the Web pro-
vides an unprecedented opportunity to observe social interaction on the
large scale [24]. MOBA games provide all that is needed to take ad-
vantage of this opportunity: scale, data and relevancy. Furthermore,
they are closely linked with a related phenomenon, eSports, which is
not only significant from viewers’ point of view but also getting more
commercial and marketing attention than many traditional broadcasted
sports. “Video games have reached a level of sophistication and com-
petitiveness that not only can gamers make a living playing them, they
can make quite a comfortable living” [16]. All these topics create new
requirements on current research and bring us to the second research
question, which is:
RQ.2: What topics have already been covered in literature but need
further development and research?
3. Review outline
The present literature review has followed the raw model used by
Šmite et al. [30]. The review process also complied with the guidelines
and procedures described in Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A
practical guide [22]. It is worth mentioning that no previous reviews on
MOBA games have been found.
An extensive search for research papers and articles was conducted
in the data retrieval phase. The main keyword (which was expected to
be prevalent in the relevant papers) was “MOBA”, although it was
found that, in test searches, that terminology was not yet in use by some
early studies and settled for words such as “DOTA-like” or simply re-
ferred to “DOTA”, the first representative of the genre. Therefore,
“DOTA” was added as an independent term. Other game titles, such as
“LOL” or “DOTA2” were not included as the term “MOBA” was already
established by the time they became popular. It has been checked,
however, that excluding these terms doesn’t change the articles found.
The keywords were rather broad terms and the search was on full text,
the aim being to obtain as many articles as possible. In some engines,
“game” was treated differently than its plural, “games”, so both options
were included. The final search string was a Boolean expression con-
sisting of ((A1 OR A2) AND (B1 OR B2)) OR C1, where:
A1- Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
A2- MOBA
B1- game
B2- games
C1- DOTA
The search strategy contained the following design decisions:
Searched databases: Springer Link, Wiley Online Library, Science
Direct, IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.
Searched items: Journal articles, conference papers, workshop
papers, technical reports and books.
Search applied on: Full text, to avoid exclusion of papers not in-
cluding searched keywords in abstracts or titles, or those using a
different variant of the terms but which were relevant for the re-
view.
Language: The search was limited to papers written in English. An
additional test was conducted in Spanish and no relevant papers
were found.
Publication period: Since 2011.
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia
Table 1
The four steps followed for filtering, reducing the number of studies from 84 to 23 in the
final selection.
Relevance analysis Inclusion criteria
phase
1. Search results - only English
- date: 2011 to present
- contains the search strings
2. Removal of non - not editorials, master’s thesis, prefaces,
peer-reviewed discussions, comments, summaries, panels or
articles duplicates
3. Screening: - added references to studies that were
internal referenced as previous work in the 49 papers
references left and had not appeared in the search
results
4. Focus exclusion - main focus on MOBA games
upon full text - internal validity assessed
- originality of the study (newer studies over
the same data take priority)
MOBA games started to receive commercial attention by late 2008
[32]. League of Legends was launched by the end of 2009 and Season 1
(the official kick-off for competitive play) took place from July 2010 to
August 2011. A test search with publication before 2011 didn’t produce
relevant results. Therefore, the chosen publication period was from
2011 onwards.
The outcome of the search resulted in a total of 49 papers. After this,
a comprehensive review was conducted on the results, with special
attention to their bibliographies. This resulted in 10 additional articles
obtained from the references found inside the original search that didn’t
emerge in the first search. This second iteration of articles was also
included bringing the total up to 59 articles for revision and selection.
The objective of the study selection that followed was to identify
those papers relevant to the objectives of the literature review, ac-
cording to the agreed scope. It is worth stating that the relevance
analysis performed was not focused on evaluating the quality of the
paper as such; it was instead conducted to make sure that the studies
included were relevant to the field of MOBA games.
The study selection is summarized in Table 1.
In order to make the process of synthesizing the gathered data ea-
sier, a template for data extraction was designed. The extraction form is
presented in Appendix A.
The form responses were uploaded to a centralized spreadsheet that
was further used in the data synthesis phase.
The first objective in this last phase was to summarize the main
areas of research related to MOBA games using quantitative methods.
These quantitative summaries have been included in the results section,
illustrated with diagrams that are supplemented by references to the
papers included.
In a second place, the need for a narrative synthesis of the studies
found was identified. Multiple perspectives were used to highlight in-
teresting relationships and trends within the reviewed articles, but due
to the very limited amount of data, statistical analysis was not feasible.
On top, a relevant number of studies are currently opening new re-
search paths, pointing to very interesting questions and lines of research
but still lacking depth. Therefore, the second part was limited to dis-
cussion about the results of the included studies, identification of gaps
and opportunities for future research.
4. Results
In this section, the results of the literature review are presented,
based on the 23 papers that were finally selected (Table 2 is presented
as a summary).
In order to answer RQ.1, an analysis based on four perspectives of
the current literature in the MOBA games field is presented. The
Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138
following information represents all four perspectives to answer the
which, when, where and what of MOBA game related research:
Papers left • Games analysed and subjects used for the investigation (which);
• Year published (when);
• Geographical location of the studies (where);
84
• Topics addressed in the studies (what);
49 RQ.1.1 Which games and subjects are used for MOBA related
research?
The first question we aim to answer is which are the subjects used in
59
current research, which games are used the most and whether profes-
sional, amateur or non-experienced users take part in the existing
documentation, in order to understand what the arrangements with
23 respect to the objects of investigation are.
First, an overview of the games that are used as sources or as sub-
jects in the studies included (Fig. 1) is presented. A few articles [11,21]
have more than one game included. The study by Schlauch and Zweig
[28] was excluded as its general approach impacts all MOBAs without
mentioning or focusing on one of them alone. Being the “genre’s most
popular member” [9], it’s not unexpected to find League of Legends as
the game with the most appearances in the studies included, doing so in
more than 52%. Together with DOTA 2 (30.4%), that takes from the
popularity of the game that started it all, DOTA (13%), they make up
for basically all the relevant studies found. They have the largest player
communities and have powerful APIs (Application Programming In-
terfaces, tools that allow programmers to access and download data
generated by the game), which can explain their popularity among
researchers. The single appearances of SMITE (once) and HoN (once in
a shared paper with DOTA) are testimonial and in the case of SMITE
due to its particular religious and mythological theme. No other games
have been found in references.
On the other hand, what are the subjects used in the investigations
included? There are two studies that fit in more than one category
[15,29] but there is a clear leading category: studies that focus in what
happens in matches (e.g. for outcome prediction or modelling) and how
players interact with the game (e.g. toxic behaviour or player churn)
using downloaded datasets account for more than half of the total
studies (56.5%). Amateur players or university students take the second
spot as most survey-related studies use them for their investigation
(34.7%). In this case, for broadly conducted surveys (for example, such
as the one conducted in [12], we consider the average will be an
amateur player, as the percentage of professional ranked players is near
to zero in comparison. Three studies focus on the game itself, as Do-
naldson [6] does regarding mechanics and metagame in LoL, Ferrari [9]
does studying how MOBA games evolved from generative to conven-
tional play or Heidbrink et al. [10] does analysing religious elements in
SMITE. As before, this makes sense overall, as most of the data used for
the first category can be easily accessed via API calls and game logs,
which make empirical and quantitative analysis more straightforward.
Moreover, amateur players are the vast majority of players in MOBA
games and are the most targetable public for studies that need to un-
derstand players. On top, if an average user was to exist, it would in-
deed be an amateur player, so it makes sense again to focus most in-
vestigations on understanding the impact of MOBA games on amateur
players and vice versa.
However, the first relevant research gaps are identified in Fig. 2.
• None of the selected studies is focused specifically on or includes
professional players (defining professional players as players that
play in professional eSports teams). In that respect, it’s true that
Drachen et al. [7] attempt to relate player skill to spatio-temporal
behaviour in order to understand the differences in behaviour be-
tween amateur and professional players during a match, but doesn’t
involve these players personally to understand their perspective on
these differences.
130
 Table 2
An overview of the data extracted from the papers in the systematic review, highlighting method used, subject game, research questions, themes and sample sizes.

Document Main Method Game RQs/Aim Themes Sample size

Batsford [1] Simulation DOTA 2 RQ1. To find an optimal path around the jungle MOBA Community –
Competition
Donaldson [6] Qualitative Review LOL RQ1. This article analyzes play in League of Legends through the lens of a binary model of expertise MOBA Community –
Competition
Drachen et al. [7] Controlled Experiment DOTA 2 RQ1. A method for extracting precise spatio-temporal information from DotA 2 replay files Behaviours 50 games
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia

RQ2. Are there any differences in the behaviour of teams across skill tiers for the investigated features? Motivation
Engagement
Edge [8] Controlled Experiment DOTA 2 RQ1. Predict when players will leave Dota2 games early Prediction 50.000 games
Ferrari [9] Qualitative Review LOL RQ1. How did League of Legends emerge from a community of player-modders? MOBA Community –
RQ2. What are the rules and community conventions in LoL? Competition
Heidbrink et al. [10] Case Study SMITE RQ1. Introduction into method and methodology from the perspective of cultural studies Religion –
Johnson et al. [11] Survey DOTA 2 RQ1. How does PX (Player Experiences) differ between videogame genres? Behaviours 573 responses
Interviews LOL RQ2. What is the motivation for playing MOBA games and what is the PX during MOBA gameplay? Motivation 6 interviews
Engagement
Kahn et al. [12] Survey LOL RQ1. To create and validate a general scale to measure distinct dimensions of player motivation Behaviours 18.627 responses
Motivation
Engagement
Kou and Gui [13] Interviews LOL RQ1. How do strangers interact and collaborate in temporary teams? Collaboration 30 interviews
Ethnographic Fieldwork Teams 200 chat logs
Kou and Nardi [14] Case Study LOL RQ1. How does Riot Games deal with Anti-Social Behaviour? Behaviours 100 game logs
Interviews Motivation 10 interviews
Data analysis Engagement
Ethnographic Fieldwork
Kou and Nardi [15] Case Study LOL RQ1. Ethnographic study of governance in the League of Legends community Behaviours 1.200 cases
Interviews Motivation

131
Data analysis Engagement
Ethnographic Fieldwork
Kwak et al. [16] Controlled Experiment LOL RQ1a. How active are players in reporting toxic behavior? Behaviours ∼11 million player reports
RQ1b. How does the vague nature of toxic playing affect tribunal decisions? Motivation
RQ2. What is the difference between reporting behavior of the toxic player’s teammates and that of his Engagement
opponents?
RQ3. What is the impact of socio-political factors on toxic behavior?
RQ4. What is the relationship between toxic behavior, player reports, and team performance?
Losup et al. [17] Data analysis DOTA RQ1. Are the relationships we identify the result of players being simultaneously online by chance? MOBA Community > 2 million games
Qualitative Review RQ2. Are players (nodes) preserving their high-degree property over time? Competition
RQ3. Are the mappings we propose meaningful for MOBAs?
Mylak and Deja [20] Data analysis LOL RQ1. Is matchmaking in LoL fair? Matchmaking > 200.000 games
Qualitative Review RQ2. Develop a new matchmaking system for LoL
Nuangjumnonga and Mitomo Survey DOTA RQ1. To examine the correlation that exists between character roles in games and leadership in Behaviours 3.197 responses
[21] Heroes of everyday life Motivation
Newerth Engagement
Pobiedina et al. [23] Data analysis DOTA 2 RQ1. To investigate the influence of several factors on teams’ success Collaboration 872.040 data points
RQ2. To rank the importance of these factors according to their influence on the teams’ success Teams 10 players in 87.204
matches
Pobiedina et al. [24] Data analysis DOTA 2 RQ1. To examine cooperation within teams and success of teams Collaboration 872.040 data points
Teams 10 players in 87.204
matches
(continued on next page)
Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138

• There are no studies on non-experienced players. What happens in

the first contact with a MOBA game, within an established com-

18.25 million matches

munity? What motivates a player to get into MOBA games? What

2.5 million players

are the differences between a new player and an experienced one? A
16.821 responses

28 million games
zero reference point is needed to validate the findings on more ex-

407 game logs

15 interviews

1120 games
Sample size

perienced buckets.
• Last but not least, the industry as a whole remains as a black spot
overall. The MOBA game market has had a rocket growth in the last

–
few years, and companies, games and eSports that didn’t exist four

MOBA Community
or five years ago are dominating the market today in a very singular
Violence studies

phenomenon that deserves to be researched with as much involve-

Matchmaking
Competition

Engagement
Behaviours
Motivation
Prediction

Prediction
ment from the industry as possible.
Themes

Gender

RQ.1.2 When were studies published?

Taking into account how recent the MOBA genre is, the results on
RQ5. Is (a) there a larger proportion of females who play with a romantic partner than those who do not

RQ6. Do (a) females play Support more than males, and specifically, (b) the more frequently a female

RQ7. Do (a) females who play with a romantic partner more frequently (as a proportion of total play)
RQ1. Exploratory investigation of mentorship and the development of expertise among League players

RQ3. Is (a) male players’ average level of skill higher than that of female players, (b) even for females

plays with a romantic partner (as a proportion of her total play), the more likely she is to play a Support

have weaker competitive abilities, while (b) males who play with a romantic partner more frequently

this view came as expected. Studies from 2011 were included in the
initial selection but there were no relevant studies found from 2011.
There is a single representative [21] from 2012. It is relevant enough,
though, that the game roles defined in Nuangjumnonga and Mitomo’s
RQ2. Do male players have a higher average number of matches played than females?

work are obsolete as of the time of writing because of metagame

changes, illustrating how the field quickly changes with time. “The
League of Legends being played at this moment by millions of players is
RQ4. Are females less confident in their ability to kill opponents than males?

and (b) are females more likely to play with a romantic partner than males?

not the same League of Legends that existed just 2 months ago” [6].
Are there any patterns that are predictive of successful outcomes?

Five articles date from 2013 and double that figure are found from the
RQ1. Are there topological clues that can predict the match outcome?

following year, 2014. 2015 so far (including only the first half of the
What are the main issues of the game's matchmaking system?
RQ2. What factors predict quitting or continuing to play the game?
(as a proportion of total play) have stronger competitive abilities?

year) already sits at seven included reports and is projecting to surpass

2014. Underexplored as it might be, more researchers are getting at-
and males who have played the same number of matches?

tracted to this field every day, as shown in Fig. 3.

RQ1. What is the state of the art for SNA in Gaming?

How can combat be modelled in MOBA games?

RQ.1.3 Where is the data obtained from?

When looking (Fig. 4) at the data or subjects used (where applic-
RQ1. What factors predict a high toxicity index?

able), it’s positive to see that most (64.7%) of the studies include in-
How can data be gathered from LoL?

formation from more than one geography, which goes in favour of their
validity. A few papers include data from a single region only.
RQ.1.4 What topics are covered?
To answer this question, during the qualitative analysis the topics of
investigation and major focus of each study were captured. The iden-
tified topics were classified under broader categories and each paper
was assigned to one of them, the one that represented it best. While the
topics covered are pretty extensive, there are only a few representatives
in each, as will be shown in the following summary, in no particular
RQs/Aim

order.
RQ1.
RQ2.
RQ1.
RQ2.
role?

4.1. Modelling and prediction

One of the main lines in research on MOBA games tries to under-

stand how to predict the outcome of games and what the best tactics
DOTA 2
General

and strategies to use are. In this sense, two main sub-lines have been
DOTA
Game

LOL

LOL

LOL

found: tactics modelling and strategy modelling, which are slightly

different. Strategy modelling usually involves trying to achieve the
Controlled Experiment

more general goal of determining the best way to spend resources.

Qualitative Review

Tactics modelling consists of trying to model how individual units

should be used and how combats can be won. In Yang et al. [33],
Main Method

Data analysis

Data analysis

Data analysis

combat is modelled using sequences of graphs and patterns are ex-

Case Study

Case Study
Interviews

tracted that are predictive of successful outcomes (both of combat and

Survey

Survey

of the entire game) with 80% accuracy.

Three articles have been found to fall on the strategy side, all with
different approaches. In Rioult et al. [27], an exercise of prediction
using topological measures on the team – area of the polygon described
by the players, inertia, diameter or distance to the base – is conducted,
Schlauch and Zweig [28]

highlighting its potential for a strategic analysis of team play. Work by

Drachen et al. [7] points in the same direction but making use of spatio-
Shores et al. [29]
Table 2 (continued)

Rioult et al. [27]

Véron et al. [31]

Ratan et al. [25]

Yang et al. [33]

temporal behaviours of the team. It also brings an additional and re-

levant variable to the mix: skill level. On the other hand, Batsford [1]
Document

leaves players aside and aims to calculate an optimal jungling route in

DOTA2 using various algorithms and looking at the experience ob-
tained over time. It is a different approach that fits into the same idea as

132
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138

Fig. 1. MOBA games present in the included studies. League of Legends is the most explored game followed by DOTA 2.

Fig. 2. Subjects of study. Most studies are based on datasets extracted from the game or amateur players, while there are no studies on professional ones.

Fig. 3. Papers by year. Graph shows the growth of the interest in the field of MOBA games in the 2012–2015 period.

133
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia
Fig. 4. Geographies present in the included studies. Most studies are global in scope.
the previous two examined papers [7,27]: what should players do to
play optimally in a match?
4.2. Behaviour/motivation
Things get diverse when analysing the most discussed topic so far:
ten papers fall into this broad category, more than 43% of all studies.
How do players behave and what motivates them to play (or leave)?
Four subcategories have been identified.
4.2.1. Toxic behaviour
Due to the amount of players and young people in MOBA games,
toxic behaviour stands out as the main worry among scientists. Even
developers (such as LoL developer Riot) are focused on fighting against
toxic behaviour, with dedicated teams of staff [19]. In Kou and Nardi
[14–15], the effort of Riot Games to deal with it is first discussed via an
ethnographic study on anti-social behaviour and the Tribunal system is
presented, followed in the second paper with an investigation on the
hybrid governance system that evolves within the ambiguity of LoL’s
rules. The Tribunal was a system introduced in May 2011 by Riot
Games to manage player behaviour and to address the problem of
toxicity.
An article by Kwak et al. [16] goes a step beyond and explores toxic
behaviour across different cultures (EU, NA, Korea) while trying to
connect it with several compelling theories from sociology and psy-
chology. On top, it explores how group setting – in-group favouritism
and out-group hostility – impacts on reporting other players that engage
in undesired behaviours.
Last, Shores et al. [29] examine deviance and develop a metric,
toxicity index, to identify toxic players, while looking at the effects that
interacting with them has on retention. Relationships between toxicity
and role, playing experience or number of friends in a team are also
covered in an attempt to understand what variables are indicative of
deviance.
4.2.2. Player experience
Focusing on the player experience (or PX) over different videogame
genres, Johnson et al. [11] found that MOBA games stand out as of-
fering the most distinct PX, complementing their research with six in-
terviews to MOBA players. Although a limited sample, it provides im-
portant initial understanding of the nature of the PX in MOBA games.
In Khan et al. [12], a large scale survey was conducted in North
American servers for LoL, in order to classify player motivations, and
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Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138
six buckets were identified, extending previous scales and linking mo-
tivation type to in-game behaviours.
Between player experience and motivation to play, an online vi-
deogame issue appears: matchmaking. Especially critical in MOBA
games, as it impacts in balance, fairness and retention, Véron et al. [31]
conducted a deep analysis on millions of game sessions to understand
the weaknesses of LoL’s matchmaking system and proposed new
courses of action to improve it. Likewise, Mylak and Deja [20] showed
how LoL’s current matchmaking system is built on a base of conditions
that do not hold true in the presence of empirical data and proposed a
new ranking system that would potentially improve user experience.
4.2.3. Player churn
Almost as important as understanding toxic behaviour, player churn
is a relevant problem for MOBA games. When players leave a game
early (mostly because they feel frustrated) it impacts the rest of the
team’s player experience. In Edge [8], a model for how a player frus-
tration builds in response to relative control over the game’s outcome
was built, based on new motivation theory ideas, aiming to predict
churning.
4.2.4. Leadership style
How does the two worlds of computer games and reality bridge
together to impact human lives? How does having two parallel worlds
effect the development of an individual’s characteristics? The urge to
discover such profound relationships changing our society today is the
motivation behind the paper by Nuangjumnonga and Mitomo [21], as it
aims to examine the correlation that exists between character roles in
games and leadership in everyday life. Using a survey, the relationship
between the respondent’s leadership style (authoritarian, democratic or
laissez-faire) and game role (carry, support or ganker) is explored. It
can be concluded that, although outdated versus current metagame –
roles have evolved – show how MOBA games can also be a useful tool to
bring together the world of videogames and reality, as well as to
measure their impact on human lives.
4.3. Community/competition
According to Schlauch and Zweig [28], there have not been many
in-depth analyses of social network in massive multiplayer online
games (MMOG) and even less in multiplayer online battle arena games
(MOBA) that stem from classic one-vs-one games. Social Network
Analysis (SNA) is the application of network theory and metrics to data
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia
that contains actors and connections between them. The article is a
state-of-the-art for SNA in gaming, with a special focus in the case of
MOBA games. In the same line, Losup et al. [17] use a general form-
alism to extract social relationships from the interactions that occur
between networked-game players. Few games exhibit a greater need for
socially-aware services than the relatively new genre of multiplayer
online battle arenas (MOBAs).
One of the most unique aspects of MOBA games is the so-called
metagame, which is of vital importance for understanding the game.
Donaldson [6] analyses play in League of Legends through a binary
model of expertise (mechanical and metagame), combining the in-game
and the out-game practices that could lead to competitive success.
MOBA may represent the first videogame genre co-created entirely
by a play community [9]. And because of that, Ferrari looks back to
how MOBA games in general and League of Legends in particular reflect
the “rhetoric of the imaginary” in play theory applied to popular game
design, from a handful modders to the mainstream public.
4.4. Teams / collaboration
MOBA games have a particular aspect that is potentially fascinating:
temporary teams are formed by complete strangers to fulfil relatively
complex tasks in a short time. Kou and Gui [13] conducted an ethno-
graphic study via semi-structured interviews that aimed to answer how
players interacted and collaborated with their teammates in temporary
teams.
On the other hand, two complimentary works: Pobiedina et al. [24]
worked towards understanding how an effective team could be formed
and, to that interest, ran a statistical approach to identify factors that
were related to the chance of a team to win a match. Afterwards, Po-
biedina et al. [23] ranked these factors according to their influence on
team success.
4.5. Gender and cultural studies
Since videogames became of interest to researchers, gender, vio-
lence and cultural studies have been linked to them. Since the early
days, violence and videogames have always been in the public agenda
and gender studies took the baton in the recent years.
Ratan et al. [25] combined the results of a qualitative study with a
quantitative complement. It examined the barriers that female players
experience and, while extensive, it acknowledges that it only represents
one first step in that direction and more research is required. Only two
female players (of quite similar demographics) took part in the quali-
tative interviews, a factor that could be seen as a threat to internal
validity.
On the cultural side, a unique article by Heidbrink et al. [10] was
found; it gives a practical and basic introduction into methods applic-
able for researching different aspects and occurrences of religion in
digital games, gamers and the practice of digital gaming, illustrated via
a case study of the MOBA game Smite – with a religious themed
background -, in the only reference that uses that game as a subject of
study.
Although often found in videogame-related research, no studies that
focus on violence in MOBA games were found.
5. Topics for further development and research
As part of the literature review for MOBA games, the second ob-
jective (RQ.2) consisted in identifying future research lines and the
existing gaps that would need to be addressed in order to understand
the field in a broader sense.
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Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138
The identified topics come as a result of the current review and also
draw many ideas, as cited, from each paper’s future research section,
which show that researchers are aware of the current early stage of
MOBA studies.
On modelling and prediction “current work has only begun to tap
into the rich and varied behavioural data available from MOBAs”[7].
However, tactical and strategy analysis has been almost exclusively
been data-based, without including a qualitative complement from
players that could help understand the variables that predict most of the
variance related to success in matches.
• Tactical gameplay analysis using encounter detection: team fights
are, most probably, the most decisive encounters in a MOBA match.
A deeper understanding of how these encounters should be managed
optimally would be required, together with validation using insights
from professional players.
• Tactical behaviour changes and shifts in professional teams and
their impact in the rest of players: metagame shifts happen over time
in MOBA games that change the champions that are played and the
strategies and tactics that are used. What’s the impact of a champion
selection in a professional competition that is seen by millions of
players (e.g. in the LCS - League of Legends Championship Series)
and how does this propagate into the thousands of matches played
every day?
• Mining eSport’s tracks is opening interest in further application of
these tools for analysing real time sport [27]. APIs ease the process
of getting quantitative and empirical results from data extracted
from servers. This information can be used to predict the outcome of
a match or improve a team performance. If that’s so, why couldn’t it
be an open door to reapply it to real sports? And the other way
round? Traditional sport could benefit from what is learned in vir-
tual venues in an unprecedented way in history, especially in terms
of collaboration and competition in team-based sports. We can
imagine a MOBA match as a basketball match with a variation of the
rules that puts three balls (lanes) in the field, where each player
takes his or her role while playing together to win the game. Team
formation and team success should be linked closely with modelling
and prediction to have a global picture that brings a better under-
standing.
Future research should also get closer to the players in order to
understand their experience playing MOBA games and what’s the im-
pact on wellbeing. It is suggested that measures related to competition,
teamwork and sense of mastery [11], not so present across most of the
genres, should be incorporated and further investigated in studies on
player experience in MOBA games. It is in this line where the need to
include the MOBA industry is identified: matchmaking, player churn
and toxic behaviour cannot be accurately researched without involving
all parties and sharing their findings. For example, League of Legends
developer, Riot, has a large Game User Research group that focuses on
their own game. Their research, however, is undisclosed and rarely
emerges as it’s considered strategic and, therefore, confidential. And
while matchmaking and player churn are relevant topics for the in-
dustry, mainly related to player retention, both could be left in a second
plane when toxic behaviour is present. Toxic players affect negatively
on the development of online communities and represent a social pro-
blem that could even lead to the undesired cyberbullying or gender and
cultural discrimination. Designers should take an active role in teaching
and encouraging positive community norms, especially when inter-
acting with newer players and researchers could help by defining and
testing what these norms should be in order to be effective. Further-
more, a deeper understanding of the factors that can be used to identify
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia
toxic players is needed as variables in [29] were not experimentally
manipulated and this causal inferences are limited.
• Beyond gaming, toxic behaviour studies have great potential be-
cause teams are an essential building block of modern organizations.
Also, in the current globally distributed workspace, collaboration
through an electronic channel is pervasive. This often results in a
goal-oriented group that lacks social connections. Such settings can
accelerate the tendency to blame others, further escalated by the
individuals’ unfamiliarity with remote partners [4]. Competitive
games in general, and the LoL Tribunal in particular, are thus a
valuable asset to capture group conflicts in the virtual space and test
effective treatments for them. Solutions for toxic play in team
competition online games could have huge impact for real-world
scenarios, and not just virtual spaces [16].
The field of social-networks research applied to networked games is
rich and could lead to important improvements in gameplay, with di-
rect repercussions to networked-resource consumption and quality-of-
experience [17]. This same study identifies the need to complement this
work with other theories, mainly social and psychological.
Two very promising research lines appear close to the border be-
tween the virtual and the real world, as these are topics omnipresent in
forums and wikis related to the genre, and so of utmost relevancy to
their users and players:
• Understanding the metagame: the world formed around MOBA
games is way bigger than the games themselves. Of special interest
is to look at the effects of unconventional forms of play.
• Temporary teams: more research needs to be done to uncover player
experience of playing with strangers and dynamics within tem-
porary teams. For example, to what extent do players enjoy playing
with strangers? How much does the temporary team setting con-
tribute to LoL’s enormous popularity? Since being successful in LoL
requires not only competent in-game skill but also necessary social
skills, how do players learn these skills? How do Riot Games’ efforts,
such as the Tribunal and the Honor systems, affect players’ in-game
interaction? [13].
Related to this last point, learning seems to be an underexplored
topic as no research has been found that works on the subject. The main
question would be to understand what the learning path of a player is.
This could bring valuable insights for other topics outside of the game,
e.g. on personal development or learning style of the subject player.
• Learning: what does a player learn when levelling up? What does an
experienced player that is different than a low level or new entry
player? How does the community shape the player? What factors
distinguish a professional player from an amateur one? What’s the
style of the learning curve?
• Teaching: YouTube and its tutorial videos are seen by millions of
players to help on their builds and game improvement. Do “youtu-
bers” (internet celebrities who are popular because of their videos)
act as teachers? What is their impact on players and on the meta-
game?
Gender, violence and cultural studies on MOBA games have also a
long way to go. In some cases they should also be linked closely with
toxic behaviour – as one could relate to the other -, but a deeper un-
derstanding of the MOBA player is also needed. Why is competition
largely and disproportionally male dominated? This was examined in
[25] but additional research targeting female players needs to be
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Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138
carried out, as two interviews and a survey with only 4.1% female
participation might fall short as a sample.
Last but not least, an idea drawn from a thesis opens an interesting
dilemma regarding gaming and free labour exploitation. This represents
a potential breaking line of research.
• To explore the way in which free labour and user–generated content
are part of the current structure and business model of the e-Sports
industry. Specifically the competitive industry of League of Legends
helps us to understand the nature and growth of e-Sports as well as
the way in which business that are founded by models of the free to
play variety have continuously subjected gamers to exploitation.
Through the fantasy of professionalization, the gamer is propelled
into a market in which such exploitation is necessary to the potential
of becoming a celebrity within the wider gaming community. To
make it so that gamers are more willing to participate in such a
culture of free labour, professional and competitive league play is
had, as well as actual money [26].
Since research within immature disciplines tends to be more ex-
ploratory in nature than research in mature fields that focus more on
testing hypothesis, methods or tools, most of the studies found re-
cognize this nature by themselves and agree in the early stages of
MOBA game research.
6. Validity threats
The idea behind the present review is to capture the current status
of the MOBA research in a systematic way, showing how the review was
conducted. The external validity (regarding the possibility to generalize
the findings) and construct validity (obtaining the right measure) are
moderately strong: the search aimed to find as much as possible of the
available literature. This came as a requirement to eliminate all sorts of
bias. Bias, however, can’t be ruled out as literature is as scarce as to
have single papers in some categories, therefore keeping its inherent
bias. Limitation in literature is also a factor for reliability, as the same
findings could be replicated should the same study be repeated, but
these might be heavily impacted in case of new articles as they would
account for a high relevancy with such a low base.
It’s worth mentioning that related work (for example, in RTS) that
could be of application to MOBA games has been excluded. In any case,
the openness in a review when it comes to search strategy, criteria and
so forth allows other researchers to judge the trustworthiness of the
results more objectively.
7. Conclusions
The interest in MOBA games for research started with this decade
and continues to increase in parallel to the genre’s popularity. In this
article, the results of the literature review have been shown, with the
following main findings:
• MOBA games provide a research opportunity due to their large
player base and accessibility of their APIs. Improving APIs or pro-
viding relevant datasets could be of help for future research.
• The present literature review shows how MOBA games are largely
underexplored; several areas (if not all) show a requirement for
further or new research.
• Player experience and toxic behaviour draws the most interest in
current research, together with model prediction and community/
collaboration.
• No relevant research on professional players has been found,
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia Entertainment Computing 26 (2018) 128–138

the game (linked to the metagame) should also be a focus area for
future research.
• The MOBA games and the eSports business models need to be ex-
plored to understand the role (and dangers) of free labour and
user–generated content in their structure.
• The scale of games such as League of Legends requires future research
to include innovative approaches that combine the traditional and
common surveys and interviews with data and computer science
techniques.

The Venn diagram in Fig. 5 illustrates the identified gaps in research

Fig. 5. Venn diagram. Identified topics for further exploration and research about MOBA
games.
although MOBA games are leading the eSports scene.
• Learning and creative processes taking place both inside and outside
Appendix A. Data extraction form
in relation to players, MOBA games and their industry.
Additionally, one of the difficulties found during the analysis is the
different terminology used across the literature. While it’s usual that in
the early stage terminology is mixed (such as MOBA vs DOTA-like
game), attention should be paid in the future to harmonize the termi-
nology.
In summary, this is nothing but the start. MOBA games need more
manpower and research if we wish to extract as many learnings as
possible from the field, to better understand motivation, behaviour,
player experience and so on. The average LoL player, mostly adoles-
cents and young players, already spent nearly 1000 h in the game
(http://wasted-on-lol.com/). It’s on our hands to make them count.

General information

ID
Title
Author(s)
Year
Source
Keywords
Abstract
Relevance
Is this paper relevant to the MOBA field? Highly Relevant/Relevant/Irrelevant
Does this paper repeat already reviewed Yes/No. If “yes”, what IDs?
paper(s)?
Background
Main Method Survey, Case Study, Interviews, Data Analysis, Qualitative Review, Other.
Subject Game DOTA, DOTA 2, LOL, Heroes of the Storm, Heroes of Newerth, SMITE, Other
Subjects of investigation Professional Players, Amateur Players/Students, Non-Experienced, Game, Game datasets, Other
Background Laboratory, Gaming community, Other
Study
Objective
Main focus Collaboration/Teams, MOBA Community/Competition, Behaviours/Motivation/Engagement,
Prediction, Gender/Violence studies, Other
Dependent Variables (if applies)
Independent Variables (if applies)
Inclusion of sufficient data to assess validity
of conclusions?
Size of the sample
Length of the study (time)
Geography (main)
Qualitative Evaluation
Claims
Overall impression on internal validity
Personal reflection
Recommendations for future research

137
M. Mora-Cantallops, M.-Á. Sicilia
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