History of Online Gaming

The history of online gaming includes contributions by many different companies and entities. Online gaming began as multiplayer gaming, but has evolved to include online gaming servers and massively-multiplayer online game settings.

Multiplayer games started in 1972 with PLATO.

PLATO was a joint project of the University of Illinois and Control Data Corporation, which enabled students to interact with other terminals for the purpose of education and computer-aided learning. In 1972, new interfaces enabled students to begin creating games, and the world of multiplayer gaming began.

MUD was the first network game.

MUD in 1978 spawned a genre of network-based games, enabling players on the network to interact and explore the MUD game world. MUD games ultimately paved the road for MMORPGs, with the concept of a shared world.

MAD on BITNET was the first worldwide multiplayer game.

In 1984, MAD appeared, and it was the first game to enable worldwide connectivity. MAD was a MUD accessible to anyone on the worldwide computer network, and it lasted for two years.

Online Game Economies Get Real

In a galaxy not too far away, online gamers may soon scour the job boards for paying posts as Galactic Empire insurgents or anti-Vader moisture farmers. Massive multiplayer online role-playing games boast subscriber populations that rival those of many North American cities. As a result, game developers are moving beyond simply creating ultrarealistic 3-D worlds. They're also modeling less tangible Earth phenomena such as governance and commerce -- prompting a rise of real economies in imaginary societies.

"Traditionally that kind of kill-the-rat, get-your-five-gold-pieces model hasn't changed with most (multiplayer online games)," said LucasArts producer Haden Blackman, referring to the revenue strategy pioneered by the early text-based multi-user domains on which modern MMORPGs are based. "One of the things we wanted to do is have a more viable player-run economy from the very outset."

Blackman heads up the LucasArts branch of the team that's working with Sony Online Entertainment to produce the first Star Wars-based MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies, set to hit shelves in late January.

The elaborate handle for these online role-playing games is shortened in various ways throughout the online gaming industry: MMOP, MMO and MMPOG, in addition to the Star Wars Galaxies-styled, MMORPG.

Typically, MMORPG gamers move through elaborate environments as digital action figures called avatars. Successful adventures yield monetary rewards that can be used to purchase equipment and clothing.

Negative Effects of Video Gaming

Of course, when I started playing games, parents and relatives would just tell me that video games were bad and they had several negative effects. But to be very frank, back in 1995 not many could answer a simple question like, 'What is the harm in playing video games anyway?'

So, are there any negative effects of video games? Should we simply take all the video games ever made and dump them into a canal? Well, as someone who has been playing these games for the past thirteen years, it would be only right for me to put down the ill effects of video games that I have experienced.

Positive Effects of Video Games

Video games have always been infamous for their anti-social aspect and the violence that is shown in them. They have been seen as negatively affecting the players in terms of lack of social skills, inefficiency, obesity and laziness. We lack an unbiased view, thus not being able to experience the positive effects of video games. The negativities brought in by video games are due to the unrestricted duration for which they are played. Video games are popular among the children and the youngsters of America. If there is no limit to the time for which a child is allowed to play a video game or no supervision on the way in which the game is played, the not-so-positive effects of video games will start showing. But otherwise, video games can prove to be beneficial. Playing video games demands an interactive involvement of the players. As a player, you start identifying with some character in the game and act for it. This excited state of mind has a positive effect on the player. It is also said that playing video games is surely better than watching television as video games are interactive.

Game Review: Red Alert 3

Title: Red Alert 3

Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Los Angeles

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is a 2008 real-time strategy video game developed by EA Los Angeles and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on October 28, 2008 in the United States for Microsoft Windows PCs and October 30, 2008 in Europe. An Xbox 360 version was released on November 11. On January 21, 2009 EA officially announced Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Ultimate Edition, the PlayStation 3 version which contains bonus material extra to that of the Xbox 360 and PC versions and released on March 23, 2009 along with the Mac OS version by TransGaming. The game is a continuation of the Red Alert games within the Command & Conquer series. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising, a stand-alone expansion pack, was released for Windows in March 2009. It was offered via digital distribution.

Like the previous entries in the Red Alert series, the game is set in an alternate reality from World War II, in which the Western Allies fought the Soviet Union. In Red Alert 3 the Soviet leadership, facing defeat, goes back in time to kill Albert Einstein and prevent his assistance to the allies, paving the way for Soviet domination in the present. However as an unintended consequence, a third world power, the Empire of the Rising Sun, is created and all three sides go to war. All three factions are playable, with the gameplay involving constructing a base, gathering resources and training armies to defeat other players. Each faction has a fully co-operative campaign, playable with an artificial intelligence partner or with another human player online. The game intersperses strategy missions with full motion video footage featuring an ensemble cast led by Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and George Takei as the leaders of the three adversaries.