What does "King of the Hill" mean in Overwatch?
According to this thread, Timmy Jim's comment is correct that Control is what people refer to as King of the Hill.
Control is KOTH
Control
KOTH is King Of The Hill, so it's control.
The term is defined here as the following:
King of the Hill is a popular game mode where the players have to stay in a designated area of a map to gain points. This mode is becoming increasingly popular in shooters.
In terms of Overwatch, Control is described here:
Once the match has started and both teams have left the spawn, the control point takes 30 seconds to unlock. Once it unlocks, the objective area can be captured by either team. To capture the checkpoint, members of only one team must stand on the point for a given time, speed increasing with the number of teammates present. Once captured, the team must defend the point, while the other must gain control of the area by driving the enemies out and capturing it themselves.
Thus, Control very much fits into the King of the Hill definition. The maps used for this game mode are Nepal, Lijang Tower, Ilios, and Oasis.
As for where this term came from, Wikipedia says it is a children's game, including an excerpt from this panel created in 1560. Thus, "King of the Hill" is quite an old term.
As Timmy Jim mentioned, it is related to the control modes. It's any of the maps where it is a best of 3/5 (depending on competitive vs quick play) and the objective is to hold a point to 100% each round, without allowing the opposing team on the point. Hence, being "king of the hill" (hill being the control point).
- Some maps that use this are Nepal and Illios.
It's a common game term that's been used countless times in other big games such as Halo.
You can argue it was coined by games but there was also a kid's game referred to as King of the Hill where one person would try to stay at the top of a large hill (as King) and prevent others from getting to the top. (Usually shoving kids back down the hill).
The game is also sometimes referred to as King of the Castle or Control.
King of The Hill is a type of gameplay where your objective is to control a defined section of the map while not allowing your enemy to overtake and control said section themselves.
In Overwatch, King of the Hill is called Control. This is due to the style that Blizzard uses. If you've watched some of their most recent Developer Updates, you'll hear Jeff say "we at Blizzard like to call things a little differently" While talking about their "Capture the Flag" game mode, which they called "Capture the Rooster".
Most content creators are old school gamers and are very familiar with the "King of the Hill" games. That's why this term is so widely used, while referring to the Control game mode.