One of the essential needs of mankind (other than food, clothing, and shelter) is entertainment. We have had many forms of entertainment since the dawn of the human race such as dancing, singing, chanting, and acting. Many of these forms of entertainment have become traditions to many cultures from across the globe. No matter what taste a society may have, they have their own form of entertainment.

People have been playing games for many reasons; some of them are to relieve them of boredom, others to escape the harsh realities of life, and some to simply relax. Regardless of what reasons they have, games have been played by everyone. The evolution of video games has come hand in hand with technological advances that may or may not be directly involved with them. We have come a long way since the days of Pac Man and Space Invader. One discipline that has helped the development of video games has been computer Networking.

Computer Networking

This is the act of connecting computers or a network of them together. This can be the connection of computers and other devices. We see this through connecting devices such as modems, webcams, fax machines, and printers to our computers.

A local area network connects computers within a room, house, or building. Gamers have experienced the advantages of playing video games that utilize computer networking. Multiplayer games such as first person shooters, real-time strategy games, and racing games have been popular amongst gamers. They have been able to play on computers that are connected, and are able to interact with each other within the game. This has made video games an increasingly social activity, unlike before when people would just play by themselves, or with just one other player at a time. With a local area network, 10-20 players are able to engage in a game at the same time.

Online games

It's quite obvious that the Interne has forever changed the way we interact with each other. So much information can be found on the Internet, and an endless number of activities are available online as well. A lot of games nowadays are "playable" online. For this reason, gamers are able to interact with other players from all across the globe. You could be living in Ohio and be playing a shooting game with someone from Barcelona. This also spawned a new game genre called massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

More popularly known as MMORPGs, massively multiplayer online role-playing games have become really popular amongst kids, teens, and adults of all ages. It allows players to go around in a virtual world and develop a particular character. The great thing about it is that thousands of players from around the world could be playing in the same game with you at the same time. You would be able to interact with these players by trading items, dueling, teaming-up, or simply just chatting.

Computer Networking has been developing at a rapid rate, and more advancement in gaming are sure to come. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.