Early Online and Multiplayer Games In this chapter,
Early Online and Multiplayer Games In this chapter, we cover some of the history of early online and multiplayer games. Like most computer systems and computer applications, online games evolved as the capabilities of hardware changed (and became cheaper) and user expectations from those games grew to demand more from the hardware. Besides being interesting in their own right, examining early online and multiplayer game history can help us understand the context of modern network games. We will deal with the following: Introduce important early multiplayer games that set the tone for the networking multiplayer games that would follow. Describe early network games that often had a centralised architecture, suitable for the mainframe era in which they were developed. Provide details on turn-based games that were popular before low latency network connections were widespread. End with popular network games that made use of widespread Local Area Network (LAN) technology. 2.1 Defining Networked and Multiplayer Games By its very definition, a network game must involve a network, meaning a digital connection between two or more computers. Multiplayer games are often network games in that the game players are physically separated and the machines, whether PCs or consoles or handhelds, are connected via a network. However, many multiplayer games, especially early ones were not network games. Typically, such multiplayer games would have users take turns playing on the same physical machine. For example, one player would take turns fighting alien ships while the second player watched. Once the first player was destroyed or when he/she completed the level, the second player would have a turn. Scores for each player were kept separately. For simultaneous multiplayer play, either cooperatively or head-to-head, each player would see their avatar on the same screen or the screen would be split into separate regions for each player. For example, a multiplayer sports game Networking and Online Games: Understanding and Engineering Multiplayer Internet Games Grenville Armitage, Mark Claypool, Philip Branch . 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
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