The expansion of online gaming has reflected the overall expansion of computer networks for small local networks of the Internet and the growth of the Internet itself. Online games can range from simple text based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity beyond single player games.
The rising popularity of Flash and Java led to an Internet revolution where websites could utilize streaming video, audio, and a whole new set of user interactivity. When Microsoft began packaging Flash as a pre-installed component of IE, the Internet began to shift from a data/information spectrum to also offer on-demand entertainment.
This revolution paved the way for sites to offer games to web surfers. Some online multiplayer games like World of War craft, Final Fantasy XI and Lineage II charge a monthly fee to subscribe to their services, while games such as Guild Wars offer an alternative no monthly fee scheme. Many other sites relied on advertising revenues from on-site sponsors, while others, like Run escape, or Tibia let people play for free while leaving the players the option of paying, unlocking new content for the members.
Many sites solely relying on advertising revenue dollars faced extreme adversity. Despite the decreasing profitability of online gaming websites, some sites have survived the fluctuating ad market by offsetting the advertising revenue loss by using the content as a cross-promotion tool for driving web visitors to other websites that the company owns.
The online game term in many circles is carefully defined to describe the games that require no intervention, although many still use the term synonymous with online gambling game online. This article focuses on online games that do not paris, online gambling is discussed in a separate article.
Online gaming is a technology rather than a genre, a mechanism for connecting players together rather than a particular model of the game. Online games are played over some form of computer network, now typically on the Internet. One advantage of online games is the ability to connect to multiplayer games, although single-player games online are very frequent.
