Online Games – Entertainment at Its Best

Man cannot live without entertainment. It’s a way of amusing himself in his leisure time. Entertainment can be passive such as watching a movie or opera, or active such as recreation or sports. Games are an active form of entertainment that provides relaxation and diversion. With the development of computer technologies and the internet, online games have become the most popular way of entertainment among people including kids.

Online games are played using computer networks. They are mostly free and enable the players to enjoy their time without any cost. These stuff range from simple text-based games to those that include graphics. There are single-player and multi-player online games. Single-player online games are played by a single person for his own entertainment whereas a multi-player application is played by a lot of people creating an online community. This serves as a platform for social interaction.

Online games are sorted according to classifications based on their platform, publisher, date, the character of the franchise, feature, region, genre, technology, license, reception and so on. The most popular types of online games come under the classification based on genre. They are:

• Action games include fighting, shooting, and platform games that emphasize physical challenges such as good hand-eye coordination and high reaction speed. There are action-adventure games in which elements of action are included in adventure games. They are more popular than pure action games as it includes both reflexes as well as problem-solving.
• Casual games which include puzzle, hidden object, word & trivia, card & board game and so on. This can be played online either on a personal computer or on a mobile phone using a one-button mouse or cellphone keypad. These are extremely simple and do not require any special skills. The final stage is reached quickly and so people can play such games during their work break.
• Role-playing games include online text-based role-playing games and massively multiplayer online role-playing games. In online text-based role-playing games, there are many players who require some type of text-based interface and an internet connection.
• Simulation games which include business, city building, space flight simulator, war games and so on. Various activities in real life are replicated in this type of game. There is no special goal in this game; it involves just running around playing as the character.
• Sports games include playing online a variety of sports such as cricket, soccer, volleyball, formula one race, and so on. The player needs to understand the real sport in order to play online sports games. The games allow testing of precision and accuracy of the player. Online sports games are popular and competitive like real-world sports. The names and characteristics of real teams and players are featured in most online sports games that make it interesting and demanding like real-world sports.
• Strategy games mainly include board puzzles that require the skill of thinking, planning, and making decisions to win the puzzle. This type of thing takes time to play and complete. There are some action, puzzle, and simulation games that require strategic thinking but they are different from strategy games. Strategy games do not involve physical challenge, but it involves conflict between the players to out-think their opponent.
• Arcade games are played in coin-operated machines placed in public places where people are likely to have free time. Now it can be played online competing with other people to gain a high score. This game is more unrealistic and mainly focuses on experience in playing the game quickly.

Most of them are free and it needs only access to the internet. It can be played by people of all ages. There are online games for kids as well. This enables their learning procedure and in their developmental skills.