Community Based Online Gaming...
by: Stebee
Today there are many websites supporting online games. A few good examples are Zapak (http://www.zapak.com) and Mecca Games (http://www.meccagames.com). Another factor contributing towards the improved availability of online games is the development of software packages to support them. Two of the most common examples of software used to support online games are Flash and Java. The rising popularity of Flash and Java led to an internet revolution where by websites could begin streaming audio and video, which led to a whole new dimension of user interactivity. When Microsoft began packaging Flash as a pre-installed component of their popular browser, Internet Explorer, the internet began to move away from being purely a data/information spectrum. Instead, the internet was starting to be seen as a portal for on-demand entertainment. This revolution paved the way for websites to start offering games to the end user.
Some online games, such as World Of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI, charge users a monthly fee for subscribing to their services, whereas games such as Guild Wars offer an alternative which does not require the payment of a monthly fee. Many online gaming websites which do not charge a fee to play instead rely on advertising revenues from on-site sponsors. There are even gaming websites where the user can make a donation, like RuneScape, where a small (optional) would result in the unlocking of new content for those members who have chosen to pay.
Throughout the 1990's online games started to move from LAN protocols and onto the Internet using TCP/IP protocol. The development of web-based graphics allowed browser games to become more complex, and pleasing on the eye, while simultaneously performing better in terms of speed. With the development of web-based graphics in full swing, Flash games" and Java games became increasingly popular. It became fashionable for many of the games originally released in the 1980s, such as Pac-Man and Frogger, to be recreated so that could be played using the Flash plugin on a web page. Most browser games have limited multilayer play, often being single player games with a high score list shared amongst all players. Due to current technology limitations, many browser-based games cannot bring the same graphical or sound quality that custom-client games offer.
Despite the limited multi-player action available in most online games, there is one type of browser based game that is bucking the trend by slowing gaining in popularity. It is known as the community oriented MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game). This variety of online game tends to be a long running affair, usaully lasting weeks, months, or even years. What makes these games unique is that in addition to the skill levels required to be successful, they have a large element of community interaction through external forums and/or chat systems. Such games have a large community of players who must plan, coordinate and work together as a team in order to be successful. MMORPGs all involve little communities of players know as tribes, clans, or alliances, who will plan joint attacks, trade key objects, and coordinate defences.
With the number of players increasing on a daily basis it is becoming more difficult to maintain social order in the online gaming arena due to the relative freedom given to the players. Even though there are online rules which are already established, wherever there are people there will be conflict also. More specifically, community based massively multiplayer games allow online games to directly imitate the complex ecological, sociological, economical, and political dynamics of real life society. Unpredictable societal dynamics such as health, hygiene, safety, and pollution require the society to form organized regulation. Like real life society, online games will need some type of organized governance. Popular online games are commonly bound by an End User License Agreement (EULA), which establishes limited, yet definitive, social order deemed necessary by the creators of the game.
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The consequences of breaking the EULA vary according to the online game in question. They have however, been known to range considerably from warnings to termination. A lot will ultimately depend on how serious the moderators deem the offense to be. Enforcing the EULA is understandably difficult however, mainly due to high economic costs of human intervention and low returns back to the online games provider in question.
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