Social Media

Generation Online Gaming!

Everyone knows that the most popular online social networking craze is non-other than FACEBOOK. Apart from the many other kinds of social network sites such as Friendster, Myspace and Hi5, online gaming is also another form of social network.

History of Online Gaming

Online gaming was introduced during 1969 by Rick Blomme. Blomme wrote a two-player version of the MIT's famous Spacewar for the PLATO which was one of the first time-sharing systems. The system built during the 1960's blossomed into a system that could host about 1,000 simultaneous users in 1972. From then on, gaming has now evolved to what we now know as Massive-Multiplayer Online Gaming. Games such as World of Warcraft, Maple Story, Second-Life, Dota Allstars and Counterstrike are just several of the big names.

Alot of games are making their way on the Internet to cater to online gamers. For people who do not really play games, you might think that it is a waste of time to log in and spend hours and hours just wasting precious time on a game. However, there is more to it then just gaming online. For example the game forums are a great way to interact with people online. Gamers will usually log on and talk about anything. It may be about the latest game releases or how to solve a specific quest. (Below is a page in a game forum "DOTA").

Heres a video on what warcraft 3 online looks like.

During our lecture, we were shown a footage on the virtual game "Second Life". It allows you to create an Avatar of yourself and basically allows you to do anything you want. Or things that you never thought you could do. There is plenty of social interaction and you are able to break boundaries as well. 

Online gaming is somewhat similar. However, although there is alot of gaming involved, there is also a fair bit of social interaction with people across the other regions. For example, a few years back, I was glued to this game known as conquer online. It is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing game that now features 4 characters and the sitting is in Rendition China. The objective is simple, just keep fighting monsters to get to the maximum level of 120. At a point of time, I was so hooked to the game that I spend almost everyday in my room after school gaming. 

Picture in the "Market place" where characters all over the world come and interact.

Picture of me and one my friends online

On the left side of the screen, there is the list of friends that I made online while playing. In fact, , my character was even married to another character names "June" from Sweden and then to another named "Kwenuh" from the United States. From then on, Kwenuh and myself have been pen pals ever since till now.

Therefore, for gamers such as myself, online gaming is a way of social interaction because apart from being online playing your favorite online game, you may also talk to people from different countries. Online gaming is just another form of social media just like Facebook but just a different style and experience.

Do check out the Conquer online if you're interested to know more :D

http://co91.com