Sheersho Zaman
Gaming started out as simply a means of passing a few minutes of time. It served as a simple add-on to the technological wonder that was the computer. As time passed, people started to expect more and more out of these games. Not only that, but more people also started getting into games overall. Due to the increasing demand, the industry followed up on the expectations. Games started becoming increasingly daring, even more engaging and a major medium for story- telling.
With the inception of the internet, people started to dream even bigger. They thought of the possibilities of being able to play together with people even while being large distances apart. These thoughts lead to the spectacle that was online gaming.
The early stages of online games, much like the early stages of games themselves, are rather underwhelming to think of in present time. However, at the time of their creation they were almost miraculous. The ability of being able to play together was only limited to people sitting across from each other in one room, and yet then they were miles or even states apart, and yet being able to play together.
In its early stages, online gaming was simply just an improvement on the “multiplayer mode” of ordinary games, in that people could connect via the internet. However, people started to take it to even greater heights. This constant experimentation with online games lead to the creation of MMORPGs or “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.”
MMORPGs were, to be concise, a game containing an entire digital world. In that world, one could create their own characters to control and go on various adventures. In that world, one could communicate, fight and team up with other characters controlled by other people. It had many characteristics akin to the real world, and that is what made it even more mindboggling. Popular MMORPGs include names like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Blade and Soul 2, etc. The games were so well received that it even lead to instances of gaming addiction. Gaming addiction is in no way a positive thing, but it is certainly solid evidence in regards to a game’s success.
Further variations of online gaming include multiplayer “First Person Shooters” or FPS for short such as Counter Strike, Call of Duty, etc. Sport based games, FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer to name a few, have online playability as well. MOBAs or “Multiplayer Online Battle Arena” is another type of online game that is taking the world by storm. Almost every major game developer is trying to develop their own MOBA, such as Blizzard Entertainment with their “Heroes of the Storm”. The most popular games within this specific genre include the games “League of Legends” and “Defense of the Ancients 2”, which boasts an active monthly player base of 64 million and about 510 thousand respectively.
Online gaming has even opened up a brand new industry of E-sports or “Electronic Sports”.
Large-scale professional competitions are held for each game almost every year boasting very large prize pools. “The International”, which is the largest annual “Defense of the Ancients 2” or DOTA 2 competition, had a 1st place prize for 6.6 million USD. With so many incentives, it is only natural that games were no longer “just games” for some people. People started to make even a living out it.
All of these spectacular things all stemmed from the earliest online games. People’s curiosity generally leads them to stretch the boundaries of things.
In rare cases the stretching of such boundaries lead to rather miraculous things. Such was the case with online games. One can only imagine what the future holds for gaming or online gaming. From here on out, the sky is most definitely the limit.