online game part of a series onvideo games platforms arcade game console game game console home console electronic game audio game electronic handheld handheld game handheld console mobile game online game social network game pc game linux mac genres action beat em up fighting platform shooter survival actionadventure stealth survival horror adventure interactive fiction interactive movie visual novel roleplaying action roleplaying tactical roleplaying simulation construction and management life simulation sports vehicle strategy multiplayer online battle arena realtime strategy realtime tactics turnbased strategy turnbased tactics massively multiplayer online lists arcade video games bestselling video games bestselling video game franchises highestgrossing video game franchises mostplayed video games by player count mostplayed mobile games by player count highestgrossing arcade games video games considered among the best game of the year awards video games notable for negative reception development game ai game design interaction design game programming level design video game art video game design video game graphics video game music vte netoge redirects here for the light novel series commonly abbreviated as netoge see and you thought there is never a girl online an online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the internet or any other computer network available the design of online games can range from simple textbased environments to the incorporation of complex graphics and virtual worlds online game culture sometimes faces criticisms for an environment that might promote cyberbullying violence and xenophobia some are also concerned about gaming addiction or social stigma online games also have the problem of not being permanently playable unlike purchased retail games as they require special servers in order to function history history of online games the history of online games dates back to the early days of packetbased computer networking in the 1970s demographics the assumption that online games in general are populated mostly by males has remained somewhat accurate for years recent statistics begin to diminish the male domination myth in gaming culture although a worldwide number of male gamers still dominates over female 52 by 48 women accounted for more than half of the players of certain games the report online game market forecasts estimates worldwide revenue from online games to reach 35 billion by 2017 up from 19 billion in 2011 online games firstperson shooter game fps firstperson shooter during the 1990s online games started to move from a wide variety of lan protocols such as ipx and onto the internet using the tcpip protocol doom popularized the concept of a deathmatch where multiple players battle each other headtohead as a new form of online game since doom many firstperson shooter games contain online components to allow deathmatch or arena style play and by popularity first person shooter games are becoming more and more widespread around the world the kind of games that are played at the more popular competitions are counterstrike halo call of duty advanced warfare quake live and unreal tournament competitions have a range of winnings from money to hardware expansion of hero shooters a subgenre of shooter games happened in 2016 when several developers released or announced their hero shooter multiplayer online game battleborn overwatch and paladins realtime strategy game rts realtime strategy early realtime strategy games often allowed multiplayer play over a modem or local network popular rts games with online communities have included age of empires sins of a solar empire starcraft and warhammer 40000 dawn of war multiplayer online battle arena game moba multiplayer online battle arena a specific subgenre of strategy video games referred to as multiplayer online battle arena moba gained popularity in the 2010s as a form of electronic sports encompassing games such as the defense of the ancients mod for warcraft iii its valvedeveloped sequel dota 2 league of legends heroes of the storm and smite massively multiplayer online game mmo massively multiplayer online game massively multiplayer online games were made possible with the growth of broadband internet access in many developed countries using the internet to allow hundreds of thousands of players to play the same game together many different styles of massively multiplayer games are available such as mmorpg massively multiplayer online roleplaying game mmorts massively multiplayer online realtime strategy mmofps massively multiplayer online firstperson shooter mmosg massively multiplayer online social game console gaming xbox live and playstation network xbox live was launched in november 2002 initially the console only used a feature called system link where players could connect two consoles using an ethernet cable or multiple consoles through a router with the original xbox microsoft launched xbox live allowing shared play over the internet a similar feature exists on the playstation 3 in the form of the playstation network and the wii also supports a limited amount of online gaming nintendo also has a network dubbed nintendo network that fully supports online gaming with the wii u and 3ds consoles browser games browser game as the world wide web developed and browsers became more sophisticated people started creating browser games that used a web browser as a client simple single player games were made that could be played using a web browser via html and html scripting technologies most commonly javascript asp php and mysql the development of webbased graphics technologies such as flash and java allowed browser games to become more complex these games also known by their related technology as flash games or java games became increasingly popular browserbased pet games are popular amongst the younger generation of online gamers these games range from gigantic games with millions of users such as neopets to smaller and more communitybased pet games more recent browserbased games use web technologies like ajax to make more complicated multiplayer interactions possible and webgl to generate hardwareaccelerated 3d graphics without the need for plugins mud mud mud are a class of multiuser realtime virtual worlds usually but not exclusively textbased with a history extending back to the creation of mud1 by richard bartle in 1978 mud were the direct predecessors of mmorpg player versus environment pve player versus environment pve is a term used in online games particularly mmorpgs and other roleplaying video games to refer to fighting computercontrolled opponents player versus player pvp player versus player pvp is a term broadly used to describe any game or aspect of a game where players compete against each other rather than against computercontrolled opponents online game governance online gamers must agree to an enduser license agreement eula when they first install the game application or an update eula is a legal contract between the producer or distributor and the enduser of an application or software which is to prevent the program from being copied redistributed or hacked where online games supports an ingame chat feature it is not uncommon to encounter hate speech sexual harassment and cyberbullying there are also sometimes moderators present who attempt to prevent antisocial behaviour recent development of gaming governance requires all video games including online games to hold a rating label the voluntary rating system was established by the entertainment software rating board esrb a scale can range from e stands for everyone inferring games that are suitable for both children and adults to m stands for mature recommending games that are restricted to age above 17 some explicit online game can be rated ao stands for adult only identifying games that have content suitable for only adults over the age of 18 furthermore online games must also carry an esrb notice that warns that any online interactions are not rated by the esrb video games portal multiplayer video game massively multiplayer online game history of online games voice chat in online gaming list of video game genres vtesoftware distribution platforms and content delivery networks app store cloud gaming digital library online game store package manager software distribution streaming media activepersonalcomputer allmyapps amazon digital game store battlenet big fish games chrome web store digital river direct2drive dotemu gogcom gamehouse gameshadow gamersgate game jolt gnome software green man gaming humble store mac games arcade itchio mac app store macupdate metaboligamesplanet microsoft store msn games origin playism playster pogocom pokki steam uplay wildtangent video gameconsoles gamefly microsoft store nintendo eshop playstation now playstation store wii shop channel xbox store xbox live arcade mobile amazon appstore apple app store aptoide blackberry world cafe bazaar cydia fdroid gamersgate getjar google play handango microsoft store samsung galaxy apps slideme opera mobile store playster arcade allnet nesicaxlive eamusement discontinued club nokia desura gameagent gametap games for windows live games for windows marketplace impulse intel appup jumboplay kazaa ngage nokia download nokia ovi store onlive playnow arena stardock central triton ubuntu software center ubuntu app store vodafone live windows marketplace windows marketplace for mobile windows phone store yahoo games zune marketplace zylom vtemultiplayer video gamesplayers cooperative gameplay multiplayer online game massively multiplayer online game mmorpg mud genres action arcade roleplaying simulation strategy history history of online games history of massively multiplayer online games list of massively multiplayer online strategy video games concepts virtual economy virtual tax social interaction in mmorpgs virtual world persistent world nonplayer character see also online game browser game social networking service vtevideo game genres listaction beat em up hack and slash fighting maze pacman clone platform shooter firstperson thirdperson light gun shoot em up tactical survival battle royale actionadventure grand theft auto clone immersive sim metroidvania stealth survival horror psychological horror adventure escape the room interactive fiction interactive movie visual novel mmo mmofps mmorpg mmorts mud roleplaying action roleplaying dungeon crawl roguelike tactical roleplaying simulation construction and management business city government life simulation dating sim digital pet god social simulation sports strategy 4x multiplayer online battle arena realtime strategy tower defense time management realtime tactics turnbased strategy turnbased tactics wargame vehicle simulation flight simulator amateur combat space racing kart racing sim racing submarine simulator train simulator vehicular combat other genres artillery breakout clone digital collectible card game eroge exergame incremental music rhythm nongame party programming puzzle sokoban tilematching related concepts aaa game advertising arcade game art game audio game casual game christian game crossover game educational game fmv gamification indie game multiplayer video game nonlinear gameplay open world nonviolent video game online game browser game multiplayer online game online gambling socialnetwork game pervasive game serious game toystolife twitch gameplay video game clone 