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and it runs on Linux natively. http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/

Obviously if his friends are already playing LoL it might be difficult to switch.

The essence of these MOBA games is that they're a top down version of Doom-with-towers. 2 teams of 5 players each play a different hero, typically in 3 lanes. The heroes scale dramatically with XP and gold, both of which come from killing.

They are much more of a team-dependent game than BF 3 or similar. Teams typically have:
1. An initiator. Somebody who jumps in and hopefully temporarily disables the opposing team.
2. A carry. This is the guy who farms all game so he can one shot everybody by the end.
3. A support. Creeps and towers give vision, but since the game is so dependent on killing each other (ganking), support buy temporary vision items called wards and then go around the map placing them. Support heroes often have healing powers.
4 & 5 are more variable. You can have pushers (who try to take down towers), stunners, gankers and even old fashioned tanks.

The games are seriously competitive, and that's before the $1m prizes come in.

The graphics are quite good in both HoN and DotA2. The debates rage on as to whether DotA2 is better than HoN. I personally prefer HoN. Unlike DotA2, it has a player-friendly F2P model and can be downloaded here.

You also want to read this guide before playing.

The essence of these MOBA games is that they're a top down version of Doom-with-towers. 2 teams of 5 players each play a different hero, typically in 3 lanes. The heroes scale dramatically with XP and gold, both of which come from killing.

They are much more of a team-dependent game than BF 3 or similar. Teams typically have:
1. An initiator. Somebody who jumps in and hopefully temporarily disables the opposing team.
2. A carry. This is the guy who farms all game so he can one shot everybody by the end.
3. A support. Creeps and towers give vision, but since the game is so dependent on killing each other (ganking), support buy temporary vision items called wards and then go around the map placing them. Support heroes often have healing powers.
4 & 5 are more variable. You can have pushers (who try to take down towers), stunners, gankers and even old fashioned tanks.

The games are seriously competitive, and that's before the $1m prizes come in.

The graphics are quite good in both HoN and DotA2. The debates rage on as to whether DotA2 is better than HoN. I personally prefer HoN. Unlike DotA2, it has a player-friendly F2P model and can be downloaded here.

You also want to read this guide before playing.

or other games being developed for Linux.

Hereos Of Newerth has been well received.

One can only wonder how this affects Heroes of Newerth, which has enjoyed popularity among DotA players. The company behind it, S2, has recently released the game as a pay-once model (similar to Warcraft 3, where you pay for the game once and can play online indefinitely without charge) and the game-play, multi-player aspect, and graphics are impressive to say the least.

you can sort teams and communicate between your team easier, which I find gives a much better gaming experience. It's much more fun than sitting alone in front of your computer talking into a headset.

Amen. Gamers that don't understand this boggle my mind.

I play DotA and Heroes of Newerth with my friends, and I can't even begin to describe how much our gameplay improves when we're in the same room (sometimes arguing very fiercely) vs. only communicating via PTT VoIP. The plays are more precise, the teamwork is tighter, and the overall level of enjoyment is much higher.

Over the period of about a year, I converted the unused master bedroom in my house into my office/computer room, complete with enterprise-level computer tables (the lab-surface type made from solid wood and steel frames with built in cable management) that I acquired from the CompUSA closing and two other business-type desks and comfy desk chairs that were getting tossed when my employer moved locations. A few older Intel P4's and AMD 939 machines with $50 video cards, and a few low-pro Dell boxes with the same combined with flat panels and gaming mice all acquired on sale or just over time, and I've managed to build an 8-player LAN room which doubles as a home lab for all of my IT self-learning trickery (which, imho, is an absolutely fantastic thing to have as an IT pro) for about $2k. I was kind of amazed when I totaled everything up and realized I've spent more on a single desktop in the past.

However, my Friday nights kick ass. My friends come by, bring no equipment, and we have a blast.... that is, when my girlfriend doesn't con me into doing something else :P

Give Heroes of Newerth a try. It's a dota clone++ that runs on linux/osx/windows. Was released today publicly iirc.

There is a new game in Beta now called "Heroes of Newerth" done by S2 Games. It's basically a port of DotA, it has Windows, Mac and Linux versions. I can't believe no one mentioned this before, but I couldn't go through all the posts. DotA is a 5v5 Warcraft III map, so this game is a 5v5 FPS game where you control one hero, leveling up over the course of the half hour to hour and a half game, leveling your four skills, trying to kill you opponents with the ultimate goal of destroying a building in their base. I love the team aspect of this game and I really really appreciate them taking the time to offer linux support. I hope more games companies do this in the future. It runs beautifully. http://beta.heroesofnewerth.com/