Back in the day, when computer gamers wanted to entertain themselves, they turned on the computer, inserted a floppy disk (or soon to be 3.5″ floppy and eventually a CD-ROM) into their computer or simply played their video game console either with a friend or by themselves. The point being that regardless of how many people were playing, they all basically needed to be in the same physical location.
However, thanks to the wonderful world of the Internet, this is no longer applicable. Your “friend” doesn’t need to be in the same physical location nor do they need to be in the same continent. Online gaming has grown leaps and bounds over the past few years and with the growing market, it’s no surprise why. Just imagine how many ways you can play against an unknown competitor as opposed to artificial intelligence. X-Box and Playstation will allow you to play some of the most hard-hitting, action packed games against random opponents using a high-speed broadband connector. Blizzard, the creator of the Warcraft and Starcraft series, has created a mythical world online that is a evolved version of MUDD (or Multi-user Dungeon and Dragons) – which was a text-based game.
According to a ClickZ article, 56% of the estimated 117 million “active gamers” that spend approximately an hour playing games each week, wind up playing games online, with 64% of this group made up of women. Could online gaming be considered a new evolution or a subset of a social network? According to Emily Maggiora, SVP of Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, “We see every day how important online gaming is in terms of connecting people and bringing communities of gamers together…“
The only thing missing is setting up a profile online and allowing your “friends” to post comments. Nevertheless, online gaming is growing increasingly popular. So, never get bored again…just start playing.
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