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Gaming on the Internet
One of my favourite English quotations goes “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy” and I’m sure all of you will agree with it. Life would be pretty dull if we just had to work all the time. That’s why we need breaks and I’m also sure that after making all that money, you must be longing for some relaxation. So today let’s focus on the fun side of the Internet and a topic that we all love: Playing games.
I’m sure that all of you at one time or another must have played games on a PS, Xbox, or PC, but how many of you have ever tried playing games on the Net especially against real players. I’ll tell you why I’m saying that. Do you know consoles and PC based games have one big disadvantage as compared to net gaming? Since you have to compete against the computer’s AI (Artificial Intelligence), after going through the learning curve, you will easily beat your system, which means you’ll get totally bored with the game after finishing it once. This rarely exists with online multi-player games. Since you’re competing against people who are not at all predictable and can think as well as you can or even better, you will always find gaming online more challenging. Plus, the satisfaction of beating a real player online is far higher than you can ever get from beating a computer. Oh! For those who want to play games against the computer … those exist online too.
The Net is full of games for every kind of enthusiast. From Real Time Strategy Games to Role Playing Games (RPGs for short), to the Arcade games like Tetris, Pac Man, or Bingo. On the net you can be sure to find something that will keep you interested for hours or as has been the case with some of the games I’ve played – months.
There are literally hundreds of thousands free sites on the web which offer games. To search for them, type ‘Internet games’ in Google. However, here are a few of my favourite sites.
Yahoo! Games (http:// games.yahoo.com)
The king of portals is also the king of some of the best games that you can ever find on the net. There’s an excellent variety of games here ranging from Card Games, Puzzles, and Arcade, to Multiplayer games like Bingo, Dominoes, Chess and a lot more. You can also download demo versions of the latest PC games, which adds even more to the fun.
Another one of my favourite sites is http:// www.coffeebreakarcade.com/. It has a much smaller collection, but the games are well picked. I would especially recommend their racing games for all you avid drivers out there.
If you have grown up during the NES / Sega era, you might sometimes feel nostalgic to play the good old games like Space Invaders, Pong, etc. again. If you feel that way then head over to http://www.gamesloth.com/ and play such classics as Duck Hunt, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pong and many others and relive the golden days of gaming.
If you want to play for free and compete for cash $$$ as well, then http://www.pogo.com/home/home.jsp?sls=2&site=pogo is the site for you. The site features word games, casino games, puzzles, sports games and much more. With new games being added constantly and a huge existing collection, don’t be surprised if you start spending more than a few hours of your time here daily.
If all of these still doesn’t satisfy your appetite, then you should try wading in MUD (Acronym for Multi-User Domain, Multi-User Dimension, or Multi-User Dungeon). A MUD is an online interactive computer game or exploration medium. Think of it like Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time, Civilization, or Command & Conquer, only this time you’ll be competing without the snazzy 3D graphics and against human players. Most MUDs are RPG based meaning that you will start off with almost nothing and then have to develop your player with weapons/ upgrades as you move about the land. However, other types also exist.
The best site to find MUDs is http://www.mudconnect.com/. It has a listing of over 1700 sites ranging from PC based MUDs like EverQuest, to browser-based games (for which you don’t need any software). I would especially recommend that you try out Imperion (http://www.imperian.com/), or if you like text-based games Legends of Excalibur (http://www.mudconnect.com/top10).
Another good source of online games is the Multiplayer Online Games Directory (http://www.mpogd.com/). The site maintains a list of the best Multiplayer games online and is highly recommended.
I would also recommend that you try out Dope Wars (www.treadon.us/), the MUD where you can join over 7,500 active players and undertake to create an online drug empire! Buy your favourite narcotic at one subway station and sell it elsewhere for profits or form an online drug cartel with your friends or people you meet in the game in your quest to become the richest drug lord. WARNING: This game is highly ‘addictive’ (pun intended).
Online gaming has come a long way since its inception and if you have a little time to kill, want to relax, or just want to see how good you really are in gaming, then head on over… oh! And by the way keep a look out for my dragons. They bite. :)
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