There are a variety of games that are available for play online. Whether you like puzzles, blowing things up, figuring things out or strategy games, you and your friends have a wealth of options to choose from. This article will discuss the major genres of online games, listing the more popular ones and where you can play them.
First-person Shooter
A first-person shooter is a game where the camera is in first-person perspective and you are primarily shooting your enemies as opposed to gaining experience or solving puzzles. As of November 2009, one of the most popular and highly rated online first person shooters is Counterstrike Source. Counterstrike Source is a PC game developed by Valve and available on the Steam network. In Counterstrike you have two teams, the counter-terrorists and the terrorists, which oppose each other in various battle scenarios. Counterstrike is played on both public and private servers and can provide hours of entertainment for you and your friends.
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG)
MMORPGs are role playing games in which you play in real time with other people. As of November 2009, World of Warcraft is one of the most popular and highly rated MMORPG games available. World of Warcraft is set in a fantasy world where the horde (evil characters) battle against the Alliance (good characters). WoW offers ten races, nine classes and hundreds of spells and items for your character to use. WoW offers hundreds of different quests and supports up to seventy levels for each character. With a giant world, hundreds of thousands of players and dozens of dungeons, you and your friends could spend countless hours playing World of Warcraft.
Sports Games
Sports games are offered for both the PC and for console systems. Console sports games requires that you and your friends have the same type of console and the exact same game. Console sports games include baseball, soccer, golf, football, hockey, volleyball, basketball and almost every other major sport played globally. Popular game designers are EA Sports, 2K, Sony and Sega.
Real-time Strategy games (RTS)
An RTS game differs from other games because you control multiple units in a combat simulation scenario. Instead of the commando, you are the general, managing an empire's economy and military units. RTS games are offered for both console games and the PC, but are best suited for the PC as the console controls can make multitasking difficult. The most popular RTS franchises of all time are Westwood's "Command and Conquer" series, and Ensemble Studios' "Age of Empires" and "Age of Mythology" games.
Board Games
You and your friends can also enjoy classic board games such as chess, Monopoly, Go and other strategy based games online. Sites such as Yahoo, MSN and Google offer a variety of classic games that can be played in real time from your computer at home.
