Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a multiplayer online battle arena mod, or game modification, created for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. First released in 2003, it is based on StarCraft custom map "Aeon of Strife". Each team of up to five players attempts to destroy the opponents' Ancient, a heavily guarded structure at a far corner of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters. As in role-playing games, players level up their heroes and use gold to buy items and equipment during the game. DotA became a feature at several worldwide tournaments, including Blizzard Entertainment's BlizzCon, and was featured at the Asian World Cyber Games and in the Cyberathlete Amateur League. Valve Corporation acquired the intellectual property rights to DotA to develop a stand-alone sequel, Dota 2, released in July 2013.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_the_Ancients
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
Louis XV of France survived an assassination attempt by Robert- François Damiens, who later became the last person to be executed in the country by drawing and quartering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Damiens
1919:
The German Workers' Party, the forerunner to the Nazi Party, was founded by Anton Drexler. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Workers%27_Party
1949:
In his State of the Union speech, U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced, "Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Deal
1991:
Georgian troops attacked Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, opening the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991%E2%80%931992_South_Ossetia_War
2003:
London police arrested six people in conjunction with an alleged terrorist plot to release ricin on the London Underground, although no ricin was actually found. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Green_ricin_plot
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
king cake: A decorative cake distributed among friends or visitors on Epiphany. In many traditions it contains a pea, a trinket or some other small object which entitles its finder to be the "king" for one day. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/king_cake
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Not long ago, if you wanted to seize political power in a country you had merely to control the army and the police. Today it is only in the most backward countries that fascist generals, in carrying out a coup d'état, still use tanks. If a country has reached a high degree of industrialization the whole scene changes. The day after the fall of Khrushchev, the editors of Pravda, Izvestiia, the heads of the radio and television were replaced; the army wasn't called out. Today a country belongs to the person who controls communications. --Umberto Eco https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco