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Online Gaming
Kevin Curran, Paul Canning, Martin Laughlin, Ciarán McGowan and
Rory Carlin Internet Technologies Research Group University of
Ulster, Magee Campus, Northland Road, Northern Ireland, UK
Nor ‘Persistent World’ games. They were dubbed this
title because of the principal that it is never off, i.e.-
somewhere in the world, someone is logged into the
game meaning that it is continuously on and being
played. These and other similar titles, formed huge fan
bases all over the world and the number of online game
users grew as, by this time, almost every game genre
could be played online.
The technological advances in
communications networks today have resulted in
broadband – high speed, uninterrupted internet access,
at lower and lower costs has also boosted the popularity
of these games. Companies such as Sony and Microsoft
have learned from Sega’s mistakes and rectified the
problems it had and they have now paved the way for
today’s online console games. In 2002, Sony and
LucasArts released one of the most avidly anticipated
online games ever: Star Wars: Galaxies. What sets
Galaxies apart is that this massively multiplayer game
was shaped not only by company developers but also
by the legions of Star Wars fans out there. The game
Web site has FAQs, developer forums and had
advanced looks at the game for players to discuss and
post comments. An example of innovate features in
online gaming is in FIFA 2004 where there is a facility
for players so that they can, not only, play as a team in
an online match/championship, but they can play in a
team as one player and having their friends make up the
rest of the team. This does however provide one
problem -no one ever wants to be in goal…. [4, 5].
Gaming Consoles: The most obvious advantage
consoles have over PCs is cost. The Xbox currently
sells for around £100, often with a couple games in the
bundle, while it's easy to spend that much or more on a
quality PC video card alone.
The second most obvious
advantage is simplicity. Let's face it, PC gaming is a
technical nightmare compared to console gaming.
People can actually take a console home and be playing
a game within minutes. No operating systems to
configure or drivers to update and better still, no
purchasing a game only to find out that it isn't
compatible with your PC for some incomprehensible
reason. Multiplayer gaming is also made easy and
affordable with companies like Microsoft offering
online services for their product. The Xbox, for
example, comes equipped with a network card, making
it a simple matter to hook it up to a DSL or Cable
Internet connection and get into a multiplayer game on
the outstanding Xbox Live. Many people prefer to play
games sitting on the couch, or they want to play with
friends in the same room. While these things are
possible on a PC, consoles are extremely well suited for
this right out of the box [5].
The 3 main players - PlayStation 2 (PS2), Xbox and
GameCube have all introduced online capability.
Online console gaming is extremely appealing to an
enormous number of people already. At the moment the
PS2 and the Xbox are getting quite competitive in this
area. Xbox Live is currently a little ahead on
multiplayer titles and offers a great player matching
service complete with voice chat. Sony released several
big online titles for the PS2 and the last, Need for Speed
Underground, became the first genuinely crossplatform
game, allowing PC users and PS2 users to race
against each other. This is another factor that has
shaped the future of online gaming because gamers can
now chose their best platform for which to play the
game of their choice. Although the Xbox and PS2 share
games and their publishers, the Xbox still has had a
head start in the online market with Xbox Live. Even
with that head start on Sony, the Xbox is still the less
successful of the two, at least in terms of number of
units sold. This is where Microsoft have attempted to
change things by signing exclusive rights to the most
successful online First Person Shooter (FPS) –
Counterstrike. This reawakened people’s interest in this
classic shooter (and the most successful FPS of all
time) with its smooth game play, excellent graphics
and, most importantly, the ability to run smoothly over
Xbox Live’s broadband connection.
It isn’t just faster connections such as broadband that
have increased the enjoyment of playing online, it may
have helped immensely but the hardware for PCs and
consoles is also a contributing factor in this equation of
growing popularity. One such device is the headset
used in both PCs and consoles for communication, this
in particular has made today’s gaming experience a lot
more sociable for users. With this conversations can
now be carried out easily between team mates in squadbased
was games like ‘SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals’ and
friendly banter can be slung at apposing forces in
competitive games like SSX3 far more effectually than
in PC games of the past. At last, gamers can really say
what they mean, in real time. Congratulating someone
can be voiced a bit better than ‘gg’ (good game mate).
There is a distinct lack of inter-connectivity between
the different console brands. Many games are available
for one type of console but not others and when it
comes to online play, each is typically restricted to its
own network. This means that people with Xboxes can
only play against other people with Xboxes, so, for
example, there is no way for console gamers to jump
into a fray on one of the countless Counter-Strike
servers available. The PS2 has made some progress in
this area, forging the way for cross-platform gaming
between PS2 and PC users, but only one or two titles
support this right now, but for the future this is
definitely the way to go which will only excite gamers.
While the PS2 network adapter supports both 56K
modem and broadband connections to the Internet,
broadband is required for Xbox online play. As well,
Microsoft charges a yearly fee of around £40 to use the
Xbox Live service.
Professional Gaming: Professional Gaming has been
about for a while, with a number of different
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