About Online Gaming
Online games are those that are played over a computer network. Typically, this is the Internet. Unlike usual computer games, where players interact solely with the computer, online games link multiple players to a single world. This allows players to play with and against each other anywhere in the world where people have access to the game. There are various types of online games available, some of which are free and others that have monthly fees.
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History
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The first online games came with the popularity of the personal computer in the 1980s. These were simple text-based games, called MUDs. They were mainly based in fantasy settings that were popular among people who enjoyed role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Online games evolved in the 1990s to include first-person shooter games, and they continued to include multi-player games and MMORPGs. Today, games such as World of Warcraft link thousands of players all over the world in the same game, creating rich and detailed environments to play in.
Types
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There are three main types of online games, which encompass a variety of smaller types. The first are text-based games. These create worlds through descriptions written by players and are like one continuous storybook. Some of the acronyms for these games include MUDs, MOOs, and MUSHs. Games that include graphics are first-person games and MMORPGs. First-person games include both one player and multi-player modes. MMORPGs are popular today and include one world that all players are a part of.
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Significance
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Online games have made impacts on gaming as a whole ever since they were created. In the 1980s, text-based games were all the rage as it was the first time that someone could play the same game along with more than one other person on a computer. This also started community gaming. Most online games today have forums or chat rooms for gamers that make them more social than one-player games. Today, online games represent some of the most inventive game functions in existence, as they combine realistic graphics with real-world gaming systems and make them available to thousands of players at once.
Considerations
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While online games in modern times give players quite a bit of freedom as far as what they can do and how they can roam virtual worlds, there are always limits to what players can do. This is usually governed by a game's End User License Agreement, or EULA. This is basically a set of rules that says what players can do that will cross a line in the game that will lead to breaking of game rules. The consequences of violating the EULA, which is a type of contract, include warnings to being banned from the game indefinitely.
Potential
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With the way online games are going today, the future for gaming appears to be complex and will likely involve the combination of real-world and game-world features. This is already seen in some games, such as Second Life, where people can actually earn real-world money by playing the game. Future online games may make it possible for people to buy and sell products or perform various social functions such as marriage or divorce, which is also being considered currently in the Second Life game. New game technologies will also likely to be tacked onto online games, such as virtual reality, to better involve the player in the virtual game world.
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