World of Online Games

Games that can be played online, with the help of the internet are often touted as online games. These games are played with the help of a computer and will require a feasible internet connection. The arena of online games is quite vast and is largely beyond the scope of 500 words, yet the author intents to pen down some of the important aspects of online gaming. There are many reasons so as to why online games are much preferred to offline games, we shall be looking into some of them too in this article.

There is distinct difference between online and offline games. The world of online gaming is still new to many and many in the developing and under developed nations still resort to offline gaming. In offline gaming the gamer will be challenging the artificial intelligence which has been programmed into the game and in online games the players will be virtually challenging other players. This adds to the realism because other gamers are controlling the other characters and hence the whole procedure will be challenging. This is one of the advantages and this happens to be one of the pioneer reasons for online gaming being much preferred to offline gaming.

Online games are broadly classified into free and paid online games. Free games can be downloaded and played free, while paid games will require you to pay for the downloading and game play process. You will be able to play free in the various online servers that are catering to this niche. Online servers are set up either by the game company or by the players themselves. A good and a reliable internet connection are required for the game play and it is much preferred to have a wired internet connection than a wireless internet connection.

Like the advantages, there are many disadvantages associated with this form of gaming. The main factor that comes into play in here is the addiction problems. Multiplayer online games are addictive in nature, because you are playing with other like humans. Some of the online games will require you t spend money for upgrading in-game activities and you might end up paying for more on those days. These simple marketing tactics are intended to fleece gamers out of their hard-earned money. However, some people have made gaming as their livelihood. They earn money developing and acting as a beta tester for game companies.

Online gaming is not allowed at work places all over the world. People tend to concentrate on such games during their work hours and this should be largely discouraged. Usually there are strict policies with the help of which such activities are always kept under control. Making use of precious bandwidth of the company is not tolerable and various firms resort to laying off such employees. The same can be applicable to children also who are hooked up in online gaming activities, they might ignore their studies and will end up hurting their future.

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The Extremes on Online Gaming

With the advent of the internet, more and more opportunities have come up in many areas such as finance, fashion, marketing, business, design as well as entertainment. In the entertainment sector, not only has it helped media marketing, it has also helped the gaming industry, or specifically the online gaming industry. Online games are played over the internet from single players all the way to multi players. With Flash and Java installed in practically all well known web browsers, websites now can use video, audio and other user interactivity in their online content.

Some of the very well known online games that has an established reputation and a loyal following of fans include WarCraft, Red Alert, Counter Strike, Final Fantasy series, Diner Dash and a whole lot more. These online games fall into different categories that gamers identify with. For example, Action and adventure Games are type of games that involve very elaborate and detailed setting, with fighting, wars and a quest. Arcade Games are of course found in your friendly neighborhoods where you put in coins or tokens to play. Strategy games are identified by stages whereby the player needs to cleverly strategies his/her games to reach the final episode. Strategy games take a while to complete. There are also shooting games and sports games that use football, basketball, golf, tennis and skiing.

With the internet, a new genre of games has emerged. These new hybrids are called online RPG games or role playing games as well as free multiplayer online games. In online role-playing games, it is a game where the players take on a role of a fictional character. Role playing games concentrate more on social interaction and collaboration rather than on competition. this is what sets them apart from conventional games. This type of games are designed centered around scenarios such as mafia games and gangster games where there is a game master who actually is the head honcho, the mafia boss or a drug lord and the other players are considered his allies, his 'men'. Some of the popular RPG mafia games are such as The Mafia Boss. The Mafia Boss is actually a free Multiplayer Online Game, based on the Real Mafia Life so called "La Cosa Nostra". Players get into the role of being Mafia Don like Al Capone or John Gotti. Other popular games are such as Fazconi, The Real Mafia Game.

Apart from mafia games, gangster games are also popular in the online RPG circuit. In gangster games, it's the survival of the fittest where strategies, wit and intelligent alliances can win you the game. Gangster games revolve around steal a nice shiny new Cadillac, shipping some bootleg booze and getting your gangster buddies together to rob the local bank. Some examples of gangster online games are such as Omerta, Lady Gangster, and American Gangster.

Online games are very popular because they are highly interactive, some are free, you join in a virtual setting where you can call the shots, you get to live up to your fantasies and best of all, you meet new people with the same similar interests as you. Online games, though exciting, can be very addictive as well.

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How to Find the Best Free Online Games

Online games are very interesting to play. When they are available for free, no one can resist playing them. Many people encounter the problem of finding sources for the best free online games. Even so, it is not very tough. Those who regularly play online games don't have a problem finding interesting and suitable games.

There are free online games available on almost every game website. Certain websites are especially geared towards the game maniacs, and on these websites, many can easily log in and search for their favorite games. If you are looking for a specific game, you can type the name of the game in the search box, and then you will have it right in front of you. For example, if you are interested in a special kind of game, like war games, simply click on that option, or type "war games" in the search box. All of these sources for the best free online games are loaded with games for all kinds of players from kids to adults.

There are even certain websites particularly designed that specially serve specific groups of players. For kids of a very young age, the games have a very colorful design, and they rules are not difficult to follow. There is usually less competition and stress involved with these games.

The sources for the best free online games for teenagers and adults will tend to have games that are more complex, romantic in nature, fast, and tricky. There is more alertness required of the players of these games. Some of these online games charge for playing, while some of them are completely free. Therefore, one should keep in mind that it is a benefit to be able to play these games without spending a penny. The sources for free online games are visited and used the most.

You can find a variety of websites that are regarded the best websites for buying and selling video and computer games. On some of these websites, you can find things that are generally related to video games. They offer video game based greeting cards, video games wallpaper, and other things. There are many free online games that are available, and they can be shooting games, adventure games, sports, animated games, 3D games, cool games, hot games, fast games, flashing games, dragon games, war games, street racer, make up games, fear factor games, heart breaker games and more. Accessing these games is simple. All it takes is one click of a mouse.

The internet is a great source for free games that you can play for hours.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for computers, laptops and software. When shopping for used computers, used laptops and used software, we recommend you shop at only the best online stores for used computer online games, used laptop online games, usedb the uses of best free online games software.

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Online Gaming Popularity Contest - and The Winner is

When internet first arrived, people anticipated and thought we would find purposes in education and news, but the influence on our daily lives would be small, the opposite is the truth. Internet is a huge resource these days and not only in education and news but it has become extremely big in the world of entertainment. Online gaming is one of those extremely popular internet entertainment forms. If you are not familiar in the world of online gaming this article might give you a quick introduction to the world of online gaming.

Online gaming

Online games are games played over the Internet or an equivalent technology. Online games can range from simple text based games to games that incorporate complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players at the same time. Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) are being played all around the world via the internet.

Many of these online games have online communities, which makes the online games also a social activity.

A game for every interest

In the world of online gaming there are so many different kind of games that it doesn't matter what your personal interests are, there will always be a online game that you will like. If you like science fiction, there are too many games to be counted. With fantasy games it is the same thing, the amount is staggering. But there are community games, games for kids, puzzle games, adventures, gambling you name it and it exist. The most popular games from 2007 give a wide variety of online games to choose from.

Top 10 online games (2007)

1. World of Warcraft 8.5 million subscribers. WoW as the biggest MMO in the world.

2. Habbo Hotel 7.5 million active users. Social game MMO popular with teens and growing fast

3. RuneScape 5 million active users. MMORPG

4. Club Penguin 4 million active users. MMO for the kiddies social environments like Habbo Hotel.

5. Webkinz 3.8 million active users.

6. Gaia Online 2 million active users

7. Guild Wars 2 million active users. MMORPG

8. Puzzle Pirates 1.5 million active users

9. Lineage I/II 1 million subscribers MMO

10. Second Life 500,000 active users

Top 10 MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games):

1. World of Warcraft

2. EVE online

3. Final Fantasy XI

4. City of Heroes / City of Villain

5. Dark Age of Camelot

6. Dungeons & Dragons

7. EverQuest

8. ROSE Online

9. Saga of Ryzom

10. Vanguard:Saga of Heroes

Create your own personality

The great popularity of some online games can be explained by the fact that players can create a character, a new persona for themselves with which they can play a role. Some people find this dangerous and are afraid that players lose control of reality and lose their own personality in the process. In fact role playing doesn't create a variety of split personalities, it is just a very enjoyable distraction from day to day live. And yes, there are people who take online gaming too seriously and even can get addicted but their numbers are minuscule compared to the people who just have found a healthy and enjoyable hobby in playing these games.

Online gaming is extremely popular and will remain popular for a long time, because it has so much variety to it and it is also a way to meet people around the world. In the near future there will be no shortage of persons who enjoy spending time playing such games, and online gaming will continue to grow and grow in popularity.

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Online Games - The Evolution

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.

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Fun Free Online Games & Social Networking

Computer and video games have become very popular. In particular the interest in playing fun free online games over the internet is increasing strongly.

Despite the growing popularity of YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, gaming remains the king of online entertainment, driven largely by casual gaming activities.

Sites like Yahoo Games and EA's Pogo.com offer users access to a wealth of advertisement supported free online games, where sponsors have options for branding opportunities, and display and banner ad placements.

Online games on the consoles could become a $10.5 billion business by 2011 from $981 million in 2007, according to market researcher IDC.

In 2007, online console revenue is at 2.5% of total global video game market revenue, including console and handheld hardware and software revenue. By 2011, revenue from connected consoles will represent 18.6% of total market revenue.

Although subscription revenue for premium online services and games will grow from $476 million in 2007 to over $2.4 billion in 2011, its share of online console revenue will decline from 48.5% in 2007 (already down from a high of 86.5% in 2006) to 23.2% by 2011.

Downloadable content (DLC) consisting of games and game-related items, which at $35 million in 2006 represented a 13.5% market share of online console revenue, will become connected consoles' primary revenue source in 2007, growing from $493 million in 2007 to $7.2 billion in 2011. In 2011, game-centric DLC will make up 68.6% of online revenue.

Advertising revenue from sponsored services, in-game ads, and product placement in connected consoles will reach $12 million in 2007, posting the first significant online console ad spend. Advertising revenue will grow to $858 million in 2011, with an 8.2% market share of online revenue.

Video game growth will be strongest in the Asia Pacific region, its largest market, with a 10% annual growth rate through 2011, but will increase in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region (10.2%), the U.S. (6.7%), Canada (9.4%), and Latin America (8.2%) as well.

Certain trends hold steady across most regions: For instance, driven by increased penetration of broadband access, online gaming is surging. In the U.S. and Europe/Middle East/Africa, online gaming represents the fastest-growing consumer segment (19.3% and 24.6%, respectively); in Asia Pacific and Canada, online growth came in second only to wireless (at 16.1% and 13.9%, respectively). Other trends are more regional. The in-game advertising market is expected to increase 64% in the U.S. And in China it is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 14.3% to $2 billion in 2011, most all of that growth will come in online games.

Spurred by the new generation of consoles and handhelds, and by increased penetration of broadband and wireless technologies, the video game industry is ripe with opportunity. "Growth in platforms allows you to hit new demographics," says Stefanie Kane, a partner with PwC's entertainment and media practice, noting that handheld game devices have brought more women into the market, and that the entrance of cable and on-demand TV channels will further widen the base. "There is a lot of unlocked potential."

You might think the face of one of the hottest areas in gaming right now is a young male in his 20s who owns the latest supercharged gaming system from Microsoft or Sony - or both.

But you'd be wrong.

Instead, the epitome of the new-era gamer is a woman in her late 30s or early 40s who plays on an average PC.

Yes, the video game industry seems to have been turned on its head.

For years, the dominant themes have been faster game machines, increasingly realistic graphics, more immersive play, as well as the old standbys - blood, guts and blowin' stuff up.

But that picture has begun to look increasingly outdated. While young men dominate the gaming industry as a whole, casual games are one of the fastest-growing parts of the industry and attracting a whole new demographic.

You can find signs of the revolution everywhere. One of the fastest-growing parts of the game industry is centred on so-called casual fun free online games, PC-based titles that users can generally start playing in minutes and usually don't require the mastery of some combination of multiple buttons to enjoy.

The upheaval has spread to the console market, as sales of Nintendo's Wii console and DS handheld, both of which stress fun-to-play games over powerful processors or realistic graphics, are far outstripping their supercharged competitors from Microsoft and Sony.

Revenue streams enabled by active online consoles in this cycle show the strongest growth in the sector and will not only determine the future success of the console vendors but also be crucial to the success of many third-party publishers.

Further information on fun free online games and business opportunities combining Online Games and Online Social Networking can be found at my blog.

Noel I Crowe

Skype: noel.crowe1

Noel Crowe is based in Sydney Australia and has full time interests in online home based businesses which include social networking sites involving online gaming and entertainment activities in new generation 3-D spatial virtual worlds.

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Online Games - Can We Make Money Playing Them?

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.

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