the physical proximity of your opponent for real human communication and
camaraderie.
Online Multi-Player ...........................
Of course networked games provide a significantly more immersive player experience
for the very reason that the other players are invisible to each other. For online games,
players each have their own computers and are situated in separate locations and thus
need to project themselves into the game-space much more, since none of the other
players can see what they look like, hear what they are saying, or observe how they are
acting. First-person shooters such asUnreal,Quake,Counter-Strike, andBattlefield
1942 work extremely well over networks, since the separation of the players enables
blind-play in a way split-screen cannot, thus making these games much more challeng-
ing. Air combat simulations such as the classicAir Warriorare one of the oldest forms
of networked multi-player games, and in spirit work mostly the same as shooter games.
Many sports-style games — including racing games and fighting games — provide net-
worked multi-player support in addition to their single-system multi-player games.
Though this was originally true primarily on the PCs, the success of Xbox Live has
made including a multi-player mode de rigueur in console games, at least where such
gameplay makes sense.
Massively multi-player persistent games (MMPs) such as Ultima Online,
EverQuest, andDark Age of Camelothave become increasingly popular in recent years,
though the MUDs (multi-user dungeons/domains) that inspired them have existed for
nearly three decades. These games provide the ultimate in immersive online gaming,
with players spending an exceedingly large amount of time in complex virtual worlds.
There they interact and form strong bonds with other players they have often never
met in the physical world. Though these games are almost always engaged in by play-
ers alone in separate locations, the social ties that form between players make these
games extremely social experiences. Indeed, playing MMPs can be such a lifestyle
Chapter 13: Multi-Player 241
Massively multi-player
persistent online games
such asDark Age of
Camelotcreate elaborate
virtual worlds in which
players can fully immerse
themselves.