Online Games The Evolution
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 new settings and players each time the
user logged on.
The late 1970s saw the
start of the video game craze with more and more households getting computer
savvy. As a natural corollary, people started writing their own games for home
computers. These programming hobbyists traded and sold these home-grown games
in local markets.
Other changes in the The 1970s were home gaming consoles that used game cartridges. That meant the
people could collect game cartridges for one base unit instead of having bulky
game console systems.
The 80s – some pause
before the storm
The 1980s 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 the 1980s when Nintendo introduced its first gaming
system.
The 90s – revolution
begins
The 1990s saw 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 1990s 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 – the world is just a playground
The 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 has networking capabilities to enable people to 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
the 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 of the ever-changing history of online games.
Word count: 465

Comments
Post a Comment