An online game is a game played over a computer network and nowadays online games are synonymous with games that can be played on the Internet. The development and explosion of the online gaming sector can be attributed to the rapid development of computer networks in general and the Internet in particular. As more and more people gain access to the Internet, the online gaming phenomenon keeps on growing. Online games vary from simple text based games to games with complex graphics and virtual reality that can accommodate more than one player at a time. A lot of online game enthusiasts have formed gaming communities, thereby making online games a kind of social pursuit beyond just games.
The ever increasing popularity of Java and Flash, which resulted in the rapid development of the Internet, thereby enabling websites to make use of streaming audio, video and a wide array of interactive applications; enabled the growth of online games significantly. As Internet Explorer, the web browser from the stables of Microsoft incorporated Flash as an in-built application, the Internet metamorphosed from a data intensive application to an on-demand entertainment platform. This revolution ushered in a new era that was brought on by online games such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Lineage II, Guild Wars, RuneScape, Artix Entertainment and Mabinogi. Some of these sites allowed free access to games while others charged a subscription fee.
After the burst of the dot-com bubble in 2001, may online gaming sites that relied exclusively on advertisement revenue faced severe cash crunch. Despite severe decrease in profitability some of the online gaming websites have survived and have been able to offset the revenue loss by promoting other websites owned by the same company and diverting the online traffic there, which in turn generated revenue in other ways. In the 1990s, online games transcended LAN protocols and became compatible with IPX and TCP/IP. One great innovation in the online gaming sector is the real time strategy game which allowed multiple players to play over a local network. With the growth of the Internet, innovative software allowed players to tunnel the LAN protocols. By the end of the 1990s most real time strategy games were supported by the Internet which enabled players from across the globe to play amongst themselves in real time scenarios.
With the rapid strides made by the online games, open source networks including Dreamcast, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo entered the online gaming arena armed with their own versions of PC games.
Massively multiplayer online games slowly entered the online gaming sphere with the rapid growth made by the broadband internet, thereby allowing hundreds of online players to play the same game on real time basis. Some important styles of massively multiplayer online games that evolved are:
- MMOSG (Massively multiplayer online social game)
- MMOFPS (Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter)
- MMORTS (Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy)
- MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game)
Most of the popular online games are governed by EULA (End User License Agreement), which defines the boundaries necessary to protect the rights of the creators of the games. Online games are a very popular mode of modern entertainment and are definitely here to stay. It will definitely witness a lot of innovations in the near future.