ONLINE GAMES

Online Media and Role-Playing Games



Online Media and Role-Playing Games

Summarize your research, the historical timeline and any findings you discover

The online games are those games played via the Internet regardless of platform. It may be multi-player games, which is played with other people or browser games that are downloaded from the web and run in the browser (Lin and Forrest, 2010). The first commercial video game that came out was the famous Pong, which appeared in the early 80's in an arcade, in California. From Pong, video games have undergone a continuous evolution into sophisticated machines close to the virtual reality that now we can see in many arcades.

The possibility of using a computer to play computer networks started around 1979 when a group of students from the University of Essex created a computer version of the famous role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. This electronic version was multi and was based on the use of alphanumeric text (Barnlund, 2008). Thus, emerged a new kind of games known as MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons or Domains) to develop quickly through the little-known Internet, thus giving rise to the first virtual communities.

The first game that incorporated images was multi- Habitat in 1986, created by Lucas Films Games and designed for the Commodore 64. From it emerged later games like Ever Quest, Asheron 's or Ultima Online (Barnlund, 2008). However, the real revolution in online gaming began in 1993 with the creation of the World Wide Web. Users had the possibility of free access to reduced versions of computer games for promotional purposes primarily, as is the case with the first installment of Doom. Beside the rapid spread, of Internet as a means of entertainment provided improved technologies for networking users and their approach to society.

Importantly; also the rise of game consoles that since the early 90's, serve as entertainment to both children and adults. The first console that incorporated the possibility of Internet connection to play online was Sega Saturn, which from its attachment to the release of Sega NetLink, consisting of a 28-Kbps modem allowed the use of email, web browser and the possibility of multi-player games over the Internet. Then follow the Sega Dreamcast launched in Japan in 1998, which included a factory modem 56 Kbps From it the most consoles that followed as PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube and laptops as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable, began offering the possibility of ...