When internet first arrived, people anticipated and thought we would find purposes in education and news, but the influence on our daily lives would be small, the opposite is the truth. Internet is a huge resource these days and not only in education and news but it has become extremely big in the world of entertainment. Online gaming is one of those extremely popular internet entertainment forms. If you are not familiar in the world of online gaming this article might give you a quick introduction to the world of online gaming.

Online gaming

Online games are games played over the Internet or an equivalent technology. Online games can range from simple text based games to games that incorporate complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players at the same time. Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) are being played all around the world via the internet.
Many of these online games have online communities, which makes the online games also a social activity.

A game for every interest

In the world of online gaming there are so many different kind of games that it doesn’t matter what your personal interests are, there will always be a online game that you will like. If you like science fiction, there are too many games to be counted. With fantasy games it is the same thing, the amount is staggering. But there are community games, games for kids, puzzle games, adventures, gambling you name it and it exist. The most popular games from 2007 give a wide variety of online games to choose from.

Top 10 online games (2007)

1. World of Warcraft 8.5 million subscribers. WoW as the biggest MMO in the world.

2. Habbo Hotel 7.5 million active users. Social game MMO popular with teens and growing fast

3. RuneScape 5 million active users. MMORPG

4. Club Penguin 4 million active users. MMO for the kiddies social environments like Habbo Hotel.

5. Webkinz 3.8 million active users.

6. Gaia Online 2 million active users

7. Guild Wars 2 million active users. MMORPG

8. Puzzle Pirates 1.5 million active users

9. Lineage I/II 1 million subscribers MMO

10. Second Life 500,000 active users

Top 10 MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games):

1. World of Warcraft

2. EVE online

3. Final Fantasy XI

4. City of Heroes / City of Villain

5. Dark Age of Camelot

6. Dungeons & Dragons

7. EverQuest

8. ROSE Online

9. Saga of Ryzom

10. Vanguard:Saga of Heroes

Create your own personality

The great popularity of some online games can be explained by the fact that players can create a character, a new persona for themselves with which they can play a role. Some people find this dangerous and are afraid that players lose control of reality and lose their own personality in the process. In fact role playing doesn’t create a variety of split personalities, it is just a very enjoyable distraction from day to day live. And yes, there are people who take online gaming too seriously and even can get addicted but their numbers are minuscule compared to the people who just have found a healthy and enjoyable hobby in playing these games.

Online gaming is extremely popular and will remain popular for a long time, because it has so much variety to it and it is also a way to meet people around the world. In the near future there will be no shortage of persons who enjoy spending time playing such games, and online gaming will continue to grow and grow in popularity.