As I write this blog post, I’m engaging some opponents in fierce online gameplay in Settlers of Catan.  As far as I can remember, I’ve played online multiplayer games since I was in 4th grade-starting out games against computer A.I “bots”, and then working my way up to people I’ve never met before online toward 7th and 8th grade.  My game of choice- Diablo2.  You could play the main story line game with friends, or people you don’t know, and attempt to get the best armor, weapons, and other miscellaneous items that would give you more power than the other people in the network.  It was the first time I had to encounter a huge amount of competitors in one arena- with people playing from all countries(or at least most of them).  It was amazing- and highly addictive. 

As most of you gamers out there know, games such as starcraft, Diablo, and Warcraft were huge components of the uprising movement of online gaming.  Soon after the internet began turning into commonplace for most of the socioeconomic classes, it was more accessible to those who wanted it for gaming.  Soon, common websites such as yahoo would be creating games such as hearts, scrabble, and boggle to name a few, that were newly remastered so that people online could play each other.  This wasn’t the only movement to make money on this online gaming, for as the first systems to have online capabilities were the ps2 and xbox.  Today, their empire still stands with their new creations, the xbox 360 and ps3.  These systems allow for a person to create their own profile, and add friends that recognize their username and enjoy playing with each other.  These ties to people that the player may know can form a network, and as a whole the gaming world form a huge network where many people are tied to smaller components. 

 And now, with the also rising capability of wireless networking, other games systems such as the PSP and Nintendo DS have taken over in all types of locations.  As long as the place people want to play at has wireless capabilities, then people within the vicinity can battle or play together on a common mission.  Overall, in these types of games where many people are involved, players have a multitude of choices to make in gameplay.  The possibilities for this type of gaming are endless, and only time can really tell how the gaming world will try to expand this global gaming network to the max.