WHAT Is ONLINE GAMES?

An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or
another computer network.[1] Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms,
including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, and span many genres, including first-person
shooters, strategy games and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG).[2]
The design of online games can range from simple text-based environments to the incorporation of
complex graphics and virtual worlds.[3]The existence of online components within a game can range
from being minor features, such as an online leaderboard, to being part of core gameplay, such as
directly playing against other players. Many online games create their own online communities, while
other games, especially social games, integrate the players' existing real-life communities.[4]
Online game culture sometimes faces criticisms for an environment that might
promote cyberbullying, violence, and xenophobia. Some gamers are also concerned about gaming
addiction or social stigma.[5] Online games have attracted players from a variety of ages,
nationalities, and occupations.[6][7][8] Online game content can also be studied in scientific field,
especially gamers' interactions within virtual societies in relation to the behavior and social
phenomena of everyday life.[6][7] It has been argued that, since the players of an online game are
strangers to each other and have limited communication, the individual player's experience in an
online game is not essentially different from playing with artificial intelligence players.[9] Online games
also have the problem of not being permanently playable, unlike purchased retail games, as they
require special servers in order to function.

First-person shooter game (FPS)

During the 1990s, online games started to move from a wide variety of LAN protocols (such as IPX)
and onto the Internet using the TCP/IP protocol. Doom popularized the concept of deathmatch,
where multiple players battle each other head-to-head, as a new form of online game. Since Doom,
many first-person shooter games contain online components to allow deathmatch or arena style
play. And by popularity, first person shooter games are becoming more and more widespread
around the world. The kind of games that are played at the more popular competitions are Counter-
Strike, Halo, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Quake Live and Unreal Tournament. Competitions
have a range of winnings from money to hardware.
Expansion of hero shooters, a subgenre of shooter games, happened in 2016 when
several developers released or announced their hero shooter multiplayer online
game (Battleborn, Overwatch, and Paladins).[17]

Real-time strategy game (RTS)[edit]

Early real-time strategy games often allowed multiplayer play over a modem or local network. As the
Internet started to grow during the 1990s, software was developed that would allow players to tunnel
the LAN protocols used by the games over the Internet. By the late 1990s, most RTS games had
native Internet support, allowing players from all over the globe to play with each other. Popular RTS
games with online communities have included Age of Empires, Sins of a Solar
Empire, StarCraft and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.

Multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA)[edit]

A specific subgenre of strategy video games referred to as multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA)
gained popularity in the 2010s as a form of electronic sports, encompassing games such as
the Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III, its Valve-developed sequel Dota 2, League of
Legends, Heroes of the Storm, and Smite.

Massively multiplayer online game (MMO)[edit]

Massively multiplayer online games were made possible with the growth of broadband Internet
access in many developed countries, using the Internet to allow hundreds of thousands of players to
play the same game together. Many different styles of massively multiplayer games are available,
such as:

MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game)

MMORTS (Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy)
MMOFPS (Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter)
MMOSG (Massively multiplayer online social game)
Console gaming[edit]
Xbox Live was launched in November 2002. Initially the console only used a feature called system
link, where players could connect two consoles using an Ethernet cable, or multiple consoles
through a router. With the original Xbox Microsoft launched Xbox Live, allowing shared play over the
internet. A similar feature exists on the PlayStation 3 in the form of the PlayStation Network, and
the Wii also supports a limited amount of online gaming. However, Nintendo has come with a new
network dubbed "Nintendo Network", and it now fully supports online gaming with the Wii U console.

Browser games[edit]
As the World Wide Web developed and browsers became more sophisticated, people started
creating browser games that used a web browser as a client. Simple single player games were
made that could be played using a web browser via HTML and HTML scripting technologies (most
commonly JavaScript, ASP, PHP and MySQL).
The development of web-based graphics technologies such as Flash and Java allowed browser
games to become more complex. These games, also known by their related technology as "Flash
games" or "Java games", became increasingly popular. Browser-based pet games are popular
amongst the younger generation of online gamers. These games range from gigantic games with
millions of users, such as Neopets, to smaller and more community-based pet games.
More recent browser-based games use web technologies like Ajax to make more complicated
multiplayer interactions possible and WebGL to generate hardware-accelerated 3D graphics without
the need for plugins.

MUD[edit]
MUD are a class of multi-user real-time virtual worlds, usually but not exclusively text-based, with a
history extending back to the creation of MUD1 by Richard Bartle in 1978. MUD were the direct
predecessors of MMORPG.[18]

Online game governance[edit]

Online gamer must agree to an End-user license agreement (EULA) when they first install the game
application or an update. EULA is a legal contract between the producer or distributor and the end-
user of an application or software, which is to prevent the program from being copied, redistributed
or hacked.[19] The consequences of breaking the agreement vary according to the contract. Players
could receive warnings to termination, or direct termination without warning. In the 3D immersive
world Second Life where a breach of contract will append the player warnings, suspension and
termination depending on the offense.[20]
Where online games supports an in-game chat feature, it is not uncommon to encounter hate
speech, sexual harassment and cyberbullying.[21][22] Players, developers, gaming companies, and
professional observers are discussing and developing tools which discourage antisocial
behavior.[23] There are also sometimes Moderators present, who attempt to prevent Anti-Social
behaviour.
Recent development of gaming governance requires all video games (including online games) to
hold a rating label. The voluntary rating system was established by the Entertainment Software
Rating Board (ESRB). A scale can range from "E" (stands for Everyone) inferring games that are
suitable for both children and adults, to "M" (stands for Mature) recommending games that are
restricted to age above 17. Some explicit online game can be rated "AO" (stands for Adult Only),
identifying games that have content suitable for only adults over the age of 18. Furthermore, online
games must also carry an ESRB notice that warns that any "online interactions are not rated by the
ESRB".