Summary
Gamers can often tell at a glance what genre a game belongs to, since there are quite a few visual tells that can set games apart. Yet, with genres likeMOBA and RTS, spotting the difference isn’t so easy since, at a glance, you’re often seeing characters from an isometric point of view.
In reality, MOBA and RTS games are incredibly different, even if their roots are very similar. While the most popular of the two nowadays is definitely the MOBA, that genre used to be just a modified version of an RTS game, hence why they often share design elements and perspectives.
What’s The Difference Between MOBA And RTS Games?
Broadly speaking,an RTS is a game where you manage multiple units and resources, whilea MOBA is a competitive player vs. player game where you often control only one unit.They both share an isometric view with mouse-targeting, but beyond that,they aren’t too similar.
What Is An RTS?
RTS stands for Real Time Strategy, since games in this genre have youcontrol entire armies without taking turns.The Age of Empires series of games are some of the most well-known RTS games, while the Total War series uses a mix of turn-based decision-making with RTS-styled battles.
The isometric view works best for these gamessince it allows you to keep track of the action while still being able to discern one unit from another.A lot of these games can be played against other players, but they also have single-player campaigns where you face off against computer-controlled enemies.
What Is A MOBA?
MOBA stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, and it often involvestwo teams of five players fighting each otheras they try to destroy the main building of their opponent. The biggest games in this genre are DOTA and League of Legends, and they are also the first games to be classified as MOBA.
They both originated as modified versions of Warcraft III, a widely popular RTS game. Warcraft III had Hero units with special abilities, and the modders made versions of the game where you only control a Hero unit instead of an entire army.
Those modified games became so popular thatthey outgrew Warcraft itself, branching off to become their own games. This is whymost MOBA games look so similar to RTS games, since they share a lot of mechanical roots, but games like SMITE have shown that you can have a MOBA without relying on the isometric perspective.
