Online Games

The term "online games" principally refers to those games that connect players through a line, this connection may be through a local lan or through the internet. Many game genres have developed for multiplayers. You have first person shooter games, first realized with Doom, real time strategy games, the most popular one being DOTA, the cross-platform games for which the code runs on dll packages that are common for several or all operating systems, browser games which run on internet browsers and MMORPG which is a sophisticated browser game that needs high-speed dsl to run. Online gaming has become one popular medium for meeting age and interest peers.

The Diablo Series of Online Games

The Diablo series of online games (I, II and the up and coming III) is medieval hispanic in theme. It is a battle and action MMORPG which was first released on November 30, 1996 by Blizzard Entertainment. Versions I and II are in 2D. Version II is divided into 5 episodes with increasing difficulty. The player's mission is to defeat the three diabolic brothers; Mephisto, Diablo and Baal who are encountered in episodes 3, 4 and 5 respectively. The player can create his character from 7 role types; the amazon, the assassin, the necromancer, the barbarian, the paladin, the sorceress and the druid.

Character Building in Online Games

Following the success of Diablo I and II, many other online games were produced and achieved great popularity. Most of the successful new MMORPG's based their game philosophy on Diablo. A game character increases his level by gaining experience points normally done by killing monsters. Character statistics are generally divided into strength, intelligence, dexterity, life. Character statistics may receive different names in different games. Intelligence is usually associated with spiritual force or mana. Some games make a distinction between agility and dexterity. Each role type in the game needs to build one special statistic to be effective in game play.

Online Game Bosses

MMORPG's normally have storylines which were used to create the game maps and character roles in online games. A game map is a virtual location in the game characterized by having one set of monsters more or less belonging to the same level of difficulty. These monsters occupy that location and the player increases his levels by defeating these monsters. For each location, there is normally one outstandingly strong and well defended monster whose life statistics can run up to the tens of millions. This is the boss of that map. Some bosses can be killed by a single player and some require the players to group into a party to kill it.

Online Game Virtual Incentives

Like the real world, online game worlds also have their economy and their monetary units. Very often, wealth is measured by silver or gold. Diablo II uses gold as its medium of business. Other games invent their own currency; Granado Espada uses vis to conduct transactions. At the lower character levels, the player acquires money by selling items dropped by his monster kills. The value of the items is proportionate with the level of the monster of enemy killed. Once in a while the player manages to pick up items with exceptional attributes, a powerful weapon or very strong defensive gear or items with great magical power.

Online Game Group Play

Many online games feature a group play module where players can assemble in groups for a specially difficult task; to kill a boss monster perhaps. These groups may be variously called parties or squads. Credits for monster kills are shared among the members of the group. The game may provide various options for sharing item drops. Items are usually awarded to the group member who deals the strongest blow. These group escapades are often assembled for quests. Quest items are usually granted to all players in the group, regardless of who dealt the strongest blow. Some players prefer to play alone to avoid squabbles over items but in general playing in a group speeds up the acquisition of experience points.

Online Game Guild Formation

The players of an online game may be given the option to join clans, or guilds or families. These clans have a grand master who has different titles in different games.

Acquiring membership in a clan or guild usually awards bonus statistics to the individual player. These statistics may be different from the normal ones determining the individuals physical and magic powers. Clan membership is an advantage to a player because he can ask for the help of his clan mates in performing quests, sell his good items to them or buy items from them more easily than if he were to make a similar request to other individual players.

Online Game Player Control

The prevalent policy in online games is "one player at a time." Although a player can create as many as 20 characters for a single player account, in nearly all cases, he can only play with one character at a time. Granado Espada, however, popularized the concept of controlling many characters at a time. You can control from one up to three players in this game. The obvious implication to this is that the game experience points are shared among the three characters. Limiting play to only one character in games like this speeds up the experience gain for that character but makes self-defense a little bit harder to negotiate.

Making Money with Online Games

There are many players who have made playing online games their profession. For a diligent and consistent player, money can be made selling game currency, game items and even game accounts for real life currency. This practice has sparked a major controversy between players and gaming companies which involved some internet merchant sites. The game companies maintain that the registered player of their game doesn't really own the account he made. This goes for everything that account encompasses, characters and items included. They hold that the player merely has the right to play that account by virtue of having registered. He has no right to sell it or anything associated with it.

Ways to Get Around Item Sale Issues in Online Games

Ever since the scandal involving a prominent Internet marketing site, selling online game items has stopped being conducted in the open market. Players now resort to contacting prospective buyers on line or through the chat module provided by the game. Although some game management policies penalize using the game chat for real money transactions, it is still largely used for such purposes. It's a confused issue because some players claim that some insiders of management, specially game masters, often transact their items for real money. This is probably the reason that the game chat has become a safe mode for professional players to make money.

by Rulens Satin