Valve Files Trademark for ... DotA?

[KCL]

So the original is coming out to play ha?

DotA: Allstars isn't the original.

Should be interesting to see if the clones can hold up to the real deal now that daddies come to play.

League of Legends was created by the original creator of DotA: Allstars. Valve's DotA is the clone.

Also, they hired the creator of DOTA.

Actually, they just hired IceFrog. He didn't create DotA or DotA: Allstars.

They also trademarked DOTA.

No they didn't. They're attempting to register the trademark. They don't have the trademark.

Note DOTA, not DotA. Puncuation can make all the difference in trademarking. Espically if the guy who made DotA is now working for valve, and has no interest in pursuing a suit against them for trading marking something so close to his own free content published game.

Neither of the guys who made DotA works for Valve.

 

[Arisato-kun]

Here's how it went down.

The small number of casual DOTA players (myself included) migrated over to LoL.

The asshat majority of the community currently resides on Heroes of Newerth. It's your first game? They don't care. You should've been reading character guides months in advance.

Hi, regular HoN player here.

I believe the main reason for the intolerance of "noobs" in HoN is due to, unlike LoL, it costs 30$ for an account to play the game, that coupled with the stat tracking makes people really angry when one person brings down the entire team by "feeding" (repeatedly dying) the enemy team, resulting in them getting both an exp and gold advantage, while the other team is stuck with a guy who can't play. Now they've removed the normal vote-kick feature (which only worked when you wanted to kick someone who actually did good since the other team has to agree on the vote as well, but being pretty much useless anyhow...).

HoN is a more complicated game than LoL, in part due to the addition of "denies" (killing your own 'creeps' when they are low on HP to prevent the other team from getting gold and reducing the exp they receive) and because sometimes you need complete reliance on your team to manage in larger battles. For instance, most "carry" heroes (Hero characters who usually starts out weak but scale with both passive skills, stats and items really well, thus becoming very powerful with good farm toward the later stages of the game) do not have reliable disable skills, thus they often need other heroes to help them lest they get pounded into the ground by the other teams disable skills.

It's really the collection of all this that adds to players frustration toward newbies, because they simply can't rely on them to do their "job", and for anyone who tries Heroes of Newerth it is highly advisable to play no stat games or join a "teaching" clan, there are people who are helpful toward new players though admittedly they are scarce...

In the end, LoL is more casual while HoN is more competetive. In HoN the only thing that differs between players are their skill(And there is a lot to this... I've played since November 09 in closed beta and I'm only a 1600~ PSR player, where the actual pro's are at 1800-2000, with 1700 players able to completely dominate me and my friends I usually play with), while in LoL you either need to cash up to get the best characters or play for some time to get it for free.

That may be so and I see where you're coming from. For his needs though LoL would be the best.

I rolled with HoN for a while on the F2P week and just couldn't get over the majority of the community's attitude. Sure I was competent enough and they left me alone but some were brutal towards newbies. Didn't know about denies when I started but I was well aware of what a carry is considering my friend is our carry in LoL (he plays Ezreal which I respect since all of his moves are skill shots) and I played DOTA previously.

I'm glad you enjoy HoN and I'm glad at least some of the community tries to help newbies. But in the end the hostility I experienced just ensured that it's not my cup of tea and certainly wouldn't be enjoyable for any newbie to the DOTA scene.

 

[Zechnophobe]

So, what Blizzard owns is the MAP, I think it is important that that is covered. You could not make any claims that any DOTA maps for WC3 aren't owned by blizzard.

HOWEVER, I would think that the BRAND NAME for 'dota' or 'defense of the ancients' is NOT owned by blizzard. In fact, what Valve has done pretty much proves that, by getting a trademark for it.

So 'dota' the wc3 map? Owned by blizzard. DOTA trademark? Owned by valve. The game they make may need to have some differences from the map to not infringe on anything, but I think that won't be hard to pull off.

 

[Nouw]

I smell a large wave of Blizzard fans coming...

 

[Credge]

This shouldn't be a surprise to anybody at all.

Icefrog being a part of Valve wasn't a rumor. Valve working with Icefrog to develop DOTA wasn't a rumor either. When Icefrog says "DOTA fans rejoice! I will have good news from Valve soon! Also, I am part of their team." Icefrog means it.

Icefrog has made several mistakes.

 

[z3rostr1fe]

"Heroes of Newell"

LOL! Made of win!!!

 

[Yureina]

I didn't like DOTA in Warcraft III, so this isnt exactly thrilling news. Still, I wonder what they will do with it...

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

Why is this so surprising? Hasn't Valve always been about taking Mods and turning them into fully fledged games? I mean, Team Fortress, Counter Strike, and even Portal to a degree (the "Still Alive" expansion defiently). Why is it such a shock to see them try their hands at DotA when Alien Swarm shows they are fully able to make top down shooters well?

 

[Lake Deuteronomy]

Valve making Duke Nukem? Well, guess we can rest assured that's not coming out for another twelve years...

So... nothing changes?

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

DotA is an awful, boring game that killed off most of the innovative maps on Battlenet, because you had to sift through millions of DotA games to play a TD or an RPG or whatever. Plus, it turns people into assholes. I think it's the intensity of the competition: I had a friend I made through work who suggested we play DotA together sometime, and even he would yell at me through chat for doing everything wrong. One time an enemy hero was taken down next to me and dropped an item. Suddenly I had people screaming at me in chat because I was I didn't destroy the item. Then most of them ragequit, including my friend. I'm sorry, who in their right mind would think that destroying dropped items was the normal strategy if they'd never played before?

The game is basically Counterstrike for Warcraft III. It's horribly imbalanced, yet everyone who has played it long enough to know how to take advantage of said imbalances will insist that they're just 'skilled' when they're using it, while complaining bitterly about it when it's being used against them. Personally I find it deplorable that asshole-inducing gameplay is rewarded by success such as this, but it's the way of the world.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

Yes, they do own DotA

No they do not.

They own the maps it's played on. But they do not own the style of the game. otherwise LoL and newerth and Demigod would not exist.

Get your facts straight

Dude they own DotA, which is all I say. How could they possible own the "style" of the game? In that case any Diablo clone wouldn't exist either and there are tons of them.
For fucks sake, every map made with their Editor is OWNED by Blizzard. DotA IS a map -> it's Blizzards intellectual right. Also what you refer to as "style" is known as AoS -> Aeon of Strife which is a Starcraft map.
And IceFrog didn't create DotA, no. But he's the one that did make it famous and what it is now.

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Yes, they do own DotA

No they do not.

They own the maps it's played on. But they do not own the style of the game. otherwise LoL and newerth and Demigod would not exist.

Get your facts straight

Dude they own DotA, which is all I say. How could they possible own the "style" of the game? In that case any Diablo clone wouldn't exist either and there are tons of them.
For fucks sake, every map made with their Editor is OWNED by Blizzard. DotA IS a map -> it's Blizzards intellectual right. Also what you refer to as "style" is known as AoS -> Aeon of Strife which is a Starcraft map.
And IceFrog didn't create DotA, no. But he's the one that did make it famous and what it is now.

If Valve copyrighted Dota........doesn't that mean valve owns dota?

 

[Goldeneye1989]

Interesting stuff. Well, kind of, it has Valve in it. Hopefully it won't just be like what they did with Alien Swarm, hire people who made a previous game, and then let them release a version of that game which is boring and has practically no content to play.

You do know thats what made portal..... right?

Edit: Also, if Blizzard own he rights to every custom map they also then own the rights to
Enfo's
Sex with a horse
Jurassic Park
Pokemon
The theory of Darwinism
and anything you can find on this website
http://www.epicwar.com/maps/

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Interesting stuff. Well, kind of, it has Valve in it. Hopefully it won't just be like what they did with Alien Swarm, hire people who made a previous game, and then let them release a version of that game which is boring and has practically no content to play.

BAD! BAD BAD BAD!

Its free, its highly moddable. Quite whining. it cost you nothing but a somethinggb download

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Did not like DotA, was very overrated, elitists and made things much harder for the mod community. That said, this is Valve...if anyone's going to make me want to pay for it, it's them.

Also I don't believe Icefrog made DotA. I think he's just the most recent one in the chain of people maintaining it; meaning a few steps down from the person who made it originally.

 

[Credge]

DotA is an awful, boring game that killed off most of the innovative maps on Battlenet, because you had to sift through millions of DotA games to play a TD or an RPG or whatever.

Sounds more like you hate the game because you don't understand it rather than it being an 'awful, boring game'. It's a game of nuance and not paying attention or knowing those nuances (for example, destroying the item that was dropped).

It's like complaining about a fireball spamming Ryu and saying that the game is repetitive and one minded.

 

[lukey94]

I think that Valve could probably trademark DOTA because they have Icefrog, without any legal concern because the Blizzard map editor only says that Blizzard owns the map, it says nothing about the game itself, to be honest I doubt Blizzard would care if Valve trademarked the name DOTA anyways.

Couldn't it just mean they are trademarking the name and not neccessarily the genre? as that sounds a lot more logical, because DOTA and Tower Defence are both genres that have evolved from custom maps (although Tower Defence was around before WC3 and Starcraft, but Warcraft 3 did certainly help make it as big as it is today, with DukeWintermaul creating what is essentially the modern TD )

 

[KCL]

HOWEVER, I would think that the BRAND NAME for 'dota' or 'defense of the ancients' is NOT owned by blizzard. In fact, what Valve has done pretty much proves that, by getting a trademark for it.

Two things:

1. Valve has applied for the trademark. They haven't received it.

2. Trademarks can be challenged at any time. Blizzard or either of DotA's two previous developers may challenge it. Even a third party could challenge it on the basis of Eul releasing DotA to the public, making "DotA" public domain.

 

[Sebenko]

DOTA = Duke of the Ancients.

Valve making Duke Nukem? Well, guess we can rest assured that's not coming out for another twelve years...

OT, I'm intrigued.

Oh god, what's twelve years in Valve time?

Is it like dividing by zero?