Back Pain

When we refer to online games we are normally referring to video type games that we play on a computer via the internet. Some video games are played over the internet using mobile phones and video consoles, but generally speaking online games means computer games that need an internet connection to be played. Simple text-based multiplayer games were the first of these types of games as internet connections were slow and expensive when these games were first introduced in the 1980s. Gradually these games became popular in the 1990s, with today’s online games featuring virtual communities, realistic graphics and multiplayer games where people can even play one to one or in knock out tournaments for cash prizes. We all know that the internet is the fastest growing market place in the history of the world but did you know that there is an online games sector that is growing 4 times faster than the internet overall! Yes! and it’s the “Online Skill Games” market.

There are many styles of Online Games

Some of the different types of online games that exist:

1. Real time strategy games: This type of game is all about strategy where, for your army to fight successfully against the other internet players you need to develop a game plan by building lots of resources

2. First person shooter: Here the players compete with each other one to one. In most first-person type games, the online game allows the death match or arena style of play. In this style of game play the view you see is the one seen from your character’s eyes.

3. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG): In this type of game each person has to keep trying to reach the next highest level until he has reached the top one written for that game and these online games can have, simultaneously, thousands of players from every part of the globe, playing in a giant virtual world interacting against or with each other. Gamers can keep playing these types of games for months or even years!

4. Browser type games: These are pastime games that are quick, simple and small that are played in your browser. The popular Java and Shockwave technologies are used to develop these games.

5. Online skill games: An online skill based game is a web game played in tournament format or one to one. Each player pays a cash entry fee to play with a cash or merchandise prize going to the winner or winners. The outcome of each competition is based on the player’s ability and performance not luck.

How Do Online Game Companies Make Money

All games today, are playable online. How do we make money? This is the question that companies making the online games have to ask themselves. The majority of companies make single-player games that are played at home and in this the player has to beat the artificial intelligence of the enemy. Today these games normally include an online multiplayer version which can be played against or with other Internet players. By selling their game DVD/CDs is how these companies earn their profit e.g. Warcraft 3 and Counter Strike. Advertising and promotions is how browser game companies make their money. MMORPG companies generally charge their players a monthly fee and continue to add content by programming new scenarios etc in their games e.g. Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft. Some don’t, but survive because their DVD/CD sales are high e.g. Guild Wars.

What is the future of online games?

Soon there will be a new entry into the online skill games market. According to their Free Online Games Market Report they will be the first company with their new online skill games platform, to launch a business that encapsulates three of the newest phenomena on the internet today. Online Games Entertainment, Social Networking using web 2.0 and a new way of marketing which has been described as Social Marketing 2.0. One of the core differences with this new platform over the conventional models is that we the players can if we want share in the profits while we play our games. With the market today (2007) worth approximately $5.2 billion USD and predicted to rise in the next 3 years to over $13 billion USD that’s $412 per second and with social networking sites already reaching 45% of web users and the 4 major Instant Messengers having more than 400 million users between them this potentially could be a whole lot of money.

Now we see thousands of people playing online games such as tetris, ping pong, mario bros, super mario etc for free but despite its history dating back to 1970s, for most people online gaming began with the explosion of Internet in 1993 and with the advent of Doom and Warcraft sometime in 1994 or 1995. This got further boost with publishers starting to add Internet connectivity to computer games in 1994-95.

The media, in fact, have themselves been ignorant about online games history. As far as they are concerned, online gaming just coincidentally happened when their advertisers started producing Internet-capable games. But it isn’t so…

Early Years of development

In early 1950’s a college student created a game much like Tic-Tac-Toe for a class project to be played on dinosaur computers of those days complete with cathode ray tubes for the screen display. The 1960’s had MIT students programming a game called “Space war” that could be played with two people over a primitive network. The late 1960’s brought the first “real” video games like table tennis and shooter games.

The 70s – the game begins

Serious online gaming began with the first interactive online game called ADVENT. In fact networked gaming got conceptualized with ADVENT. Networked gaming had users playing against each other within an online fantasy world. The first networked game was called Mazewar, a game which involved networked players traveling through a maze and attempting to kill one another.

Next came the interpersonal interaction in a multi-player environment. The first such game was called DUNGEN. DUNGEN had players competing against one another to complete a series of quests. DUNGEN provided with new settings and players each time the user logged on.

The late 1970’s saw the start of video game craze with more and more households getting computer savvy. As a natural corollary, people started writing their own games for the home computers. These programming hobbyists traded and sold these home-grown games in local markets.

Other changes in the 1970’s were home gaming consoles which used game cartridges. That meant the people could collect games cartridges for one base unit instead of having bulky game console systems.

The 80s – some pause before the storm

1980’s saw growing craze for the video and computer game craze, but online gaming wasn’t on the horizon yet. New games with better sound and graphics were introduced and gained popularity. Pole Position and Pac-man were two that achieved big popularity. It was during 1980’s when Nintendo introduced its first gaming system.

The 90s – revolution begins

The 1990’s saw the phenomenal growth in both popularity and technology mostly because of the rise of 3-D and multimedia.

Myst, the intellectual adventure game introduced gaming on the CD-ROM format. Fancier 3-D graphics hardware made FPS (first person shooter) games such as Quake possible.

The late 1990’s saw the exponential growth of the Internet, MUDs (multi-user dungeons) which made online games wildly popular. New and improved graphical interfaces had people all over the world playing against each other not only in FPS games but also in real time strategy games (RTS games) as well as third person games like Grand Theft Auto.

This was also the period when websites started offering online games such as tetris, ping pong, mario bros, super Mario, and other free online flash games and non-flash based games free for playing after registering with them. This really pushed online gaming into the popular psyche.

The 21st Century – world is just a playground

Early years of the 21st century were dominated by the DVD-CD-ROM. It has changed the way online games are played. The latest gaming systems such as Sony’s play station and Microsoft’s X-box have networking capabilities to enable people play with each other in real time from all over the world. Exponentially growing broadband internet services have made playing these online games possible in true sense of the word.

The only drawback to the constantly evolving technology for online games is that what you buy today might become obsolete by the next year. Luckily, for the serious gamers, the resale industry for these online games is huge. This resale industry is just another element to the ever-changing history of online game.