Online Gaming: From Avatars to Wizards
by Christopher Harz
Online gaming is a huge and rapidly growing business, employing thousands of animators and entertaining, and sometimes educating, millions the world over. Gaming fans range from the true addict with zombie-white skin to the white collar worker who sneaks an occasional game to relax.
Quake II. © Activision.
Proponents state that multiplayer games can challenge and develop the imagination,
teach history and culture, and develop teaming and leadership skills. Opponents
claim games can be too violent and lead to hermit-like unsociability. One
thing that cannot be disputed is that online gaming is growing like wildfire.
Total gaming industry sales are estimated by Infotech to be over $15 billion
in 1997, and a large part of that involves games that can be played online,
a market segment that Infotech calculates is growing at 70% per year. In
fact, at the recent E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) show in Atlanta,
there were few solo (non-multiplayer) games visible, and a panel of venture
capital executives stated flatly that they "would not even look at"
games that were not playable online.
Some Definitions
To understand the genre, we should review a few basics. An online game
is one that allows a gamer to be connected with others playing the same
game, either via a LAN (local area network many game stations such as the
Sony PlayStations permit this), by modems connected directly over a phone
line, or by a WAN (wide area network, such as the Internet). Game speeds
vary from turn-based games (such as chess, where one player makes a move
and waits for the response) to real-time games (such as Quake 2, which
can have non-stop action).
Games may be Internet-only (playable only via the Internet), Internet-compatible
(playable with or without online connection) or hybrid (involving mostly
local storage and content with some interaction over the net). Hybrid games
have the advantage that they already contain most of the game data stored
on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, and it therefore does not have to be downloaded;
since some games contain gigabytes of terrain, rules and character data,
this can be a huge advantage. Hybrid games tend to be richer in detail
and action, and put less processing strain on the server and the network.
In a game, a player may be represented by an animated, human or non-human
figure called an "avatar," a computer term derived for the Hindu
word for a god that appears on earth in human or animal form ("ava,"
down, "tarati," he travels). Game figures such as orks, soldiers,
dinosaurs and so on, that are not driven directly by a player are called
"bots." They may be driven by AI or, "artificial intelligence,"
software that makes them respond unpredictably, "learning" or
adapting as the game progresses. A "wizard" is a term for software
that helps guide a player through a game. [Although many games feature
wizards of the Merlin type, as well as knights, orcs, and magical spells,
since they are based on the original D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)
game.] A primary problem in online game play is keeping new players or
"newbies" from being squashed by experienced, predatory "rogue"
players.
Jedi Knight. © LucasArts.
Some of the types of games are strategic (such
as Panzer General or Warcraft, chess-type games usually played
from a bird's-eye view in 2-D or "2 1/2 -D," the latter allowing
some level of perspective viewing), simulation or "sim," (such
as WarBirds or Armored Fist 2, action games primarily focused
on racing a high-resolution vehicle such as a plane, tank or car), RPG
(Role Playing Game such as Oddworld or Mechwarrior, where
the player takes on a personality with strengths and weaknesses and must
confront a content-rich world demanding problem solving and possible combat),
action (such as Doom, Quake or Duke Nukem, primarily fast
combat games involving an avatar or simulated vehicle taking on all comers
sometimes referred to as a "twitch" game), adventure (such as
7th Guest or Under the Killing Moon, which involve extensive
story lines and problem solving), edutainment (such as SimCity,
which has a strong educational component), as well as sports and adult
games.
Game Environments
There are several different game environments:
Fee-Based Online Gaming Services (OGSs) or Game Sites.
Dedicated game sites such as TEN (The Entertainment Network) or Mpath provide
a web site where gamers can log on, choose a game and a difficulty level,
be assigned to a gaming area, and then go for it. Joining such an OGS normally
involves a monthly or per-hour fee. Many OGSs provide a variety of games
for you to download and play, which may require scads of time and hard
disk storage space. Some games, especially hybrids, require that you buy
the game package in a store. Although hybrids cost money (typically U.S.
$30-$50), they offer high-resolution game play without permanently taking
up much hard drive space.
Free Online Gaming Service Sites.
An increasing number of OGS sites offer free gaming to users. Many sites
are supported by sponsorships, advertising in the form of banner ads, merchandising
and other promotional tie-ins. Others are supported by the manufacturers
of a CD-ROM game, which offer the site to facilitate online play.
Promotional Web sites.
Many sites go up each month to promote films, television shows, entertainment
events, or the multimedia firms that created them. Such sites offer a variety
of free short games or "gamelets" that are related to the entertainment
they promote. For instance, the recent film Spawn has a 3-D game
on its web site that lets a player roam the streets as the main character
from the film, shooting secret agents and tackling the evil Clown. Increasingly,
such sites are 3-D, use the new Java and VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling
Language) programming tools, and require a very short download time, perhaps
a minute or so. They also have very simple game rules, as they are oriented
toward the casual user rather than the hard-core gamer.
Military Gaming.
The U.S. Armed Forces and its allies play huge war games with hundreds
of full-crew simulators representing tanks, helicopters, aircraft and other
weapon platforms. Civilians cannot (legally) access this part of the Internet
which is behind security barriers or "fire walls." However, thousands
of digital animators/programmers work on such online games as SIMNET (Simulation
Network), funded with billions of dollars from sources such as DARPA, the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which invented the Internet
in the first place.
Netstorm. © Activision.
Cool, Current Games
What are the hot games right now? Here
are some of the hits from the E3 show:
Dominion, by 7th Level, is a real-time strategy game
in a sci-fi setting. Players are challenged by over 40 missions on many
planets, with multiple vehicle and combat unit types to choose from.
Monday Night Football '98, by ABC Interactive, is
a sports game featuring real teams and players with roster updates via
the Internet. You need a decent computer and graphics card to render this
game in its full glory.
Links LS '98, from Access, is a game for the indoor
golfer that features authentic grass and sand textures and very realistic
ball flight. Up to eight players can compete before heading to the club
house.
Redline, by Accolade, is an action game where the
player joins an alliance (gamespeak for "a gang") and wages war
on rival groups, in vehicles or on foot. Up to 15 fans of this death-match
genre can slug it out together.
Dark Reign: The Future of War, from Activision, is a real-time strategy
game with 3-D terrain, gorgeous graphics and player-controllable AI. It
was designed from the ground up for Internet multiplay, and is thus "native"
instead of merely "repurposed."
Quake II, also from Activision, is one of the most
famous of the mad mayhem games, rivaling the infamous Doom. It's
game engine is also used in a similar Activision game, Hexen II,
which presents richly detailed ancient and medieval settings in which to
kill everything in sight.
Jedi Knight, by LucasArts, is an RPG that pits the
player, light saber in hand, against seven dark Jedi who are trying to
exploit the power of the Dark Side. This is an opportunity for Star
Wars fans to become Jedi masters.
Politika, by Red Storm and based on the Tom Clancy
novel, pits the player against factions like the Russian military, secret
police and mafia. The player will learn much about real-world facts and
data as he negotiates through the political intrigue of modern Russia.
F1 Racing Simulation, Ubisoft's new racing sim, features
22 cars and 16 detailed race tracks. Eight players can scorch their tires
as they vie for the checkered flag over the Internet.
The Online Gaming Starter
Kit, a book
and CD-ROM by Ed Dille is available
from Ventana Publishing.
Time To Get Started
What's the best way to get started in
online gaming? Start slowly, on a game with simple rules, and practice
against the computer until you're comfortable before venturing into a multiplayer
world. The Online Gaming Starter Kit, available for about $30 from MacMillan
Digital, is an inexpensive way to get started. It includes games such as
Chess, Bridge, Trivial Pursuit, and Microsoft Golf, and allows
the user to try online games and services for a free, trial period. For
the more action-oriented, the same company also has the Netwarrior
package for $30, which permits fans of Quake, Duke Nukem and Diablo
to wage havoc via the Internet against opponents worldwide. This package
has fully functioning editions of the famous Air Warrior aircraft
sim, and offers hundreds of dollars of free online game play.
There are a growing number of web sites
devoted to
online gaming, such as www.ten.net, www.icigames.com,
www.vr1.com and www.mpath.com.
If you want to join a game network, consider the
Concentric Network, a huge online gaming service that groups many smaller
gaming networks together for billing convenience. It is available via www.gamegateway.com.
Another such megaservice, The Arena from Earthlink Network, includes Kesmai
and Engage Games Online, among others. It is reachable at www.earthlink.net/thearena/.
Interactive Magic has started iMagic Online, a service with chat rooms
and classic multiplayer games such as WarBirds (an aircraft sim)
and Planetary Raiders. They are planning "lite" versions
of detailed games such as Raider Wars and Tank Wars. They're
at www.icigames.com. Mpath is one of the best-known gaming sites, with
over 100,000 members. Their games include iM1A2 Abrams (one of the
best combat tank games), Monopoly and Star General. They
have virtual lobbies to lounge in and helpful tools to get started at www.mplayer.com.
TEN (The Entertainment Network) is one of the largest and oldest of the
gaming services. It's games include Quake, Myth, and Shadow Warriors,
and offers helpful services for forming into teams, at www.ten.net.
VR-1 offers VR-1 Crossroads, a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D)
type game that requires cooperation and socializing between the players,
making it an alternative to the slash-and-burn Doom genre, at www.vr1.com.
Finally, the Internet Gaming Zone offers Microsoft Fighter Ace, one
of the popular WWII flight sim games (gamers prefer the age before air-to-air
missiles made combat "impersonal"), with many levels of play
so newbies can feel comfortable, and Asheron's Call, a popular RPG
that can support thousands of players at one time, at www.zone.com.
If you are running these games on a PC, make sure you have a good accelerator
card, such as the 3Dfx Voodoo, in order to avoid muddy graphics,
and a good joystick controller, such as the Thrustmaster Millennium
3D, as many games will not work with just a mouse. Driving games
are best played with steering wheel controls, and the Thrustmaster Force
Feedback Racing Wheel is a joy to use for this, with instant feedback
to your hands from cornering to acceleration or in case you hit another
car.
Good luck, and enjoy gaming in cyberspace!
Christopher Harz is a multimedia consultant in online simulation and
gaming. He helped develop the military's massive-scale online war games,
and is now working on 3-D multiplayer websites.
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World
Magazine contributor by sending an email to editor@awn.com.
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