Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

online games 347sive gambling. Opponents have charged that the legalizationmeasure is being backed by major “brick and mortar”casinos who want a piece of the online action, as well as thecredit card companies, which would also get a piece of eachtransaction. (As of 2007 neither this nor other attemptsto legalize online gambling in the United States have beenpassed.)Further ReadingDunnington, Angus. Gambling Online. Hassocks, West Sussex,U.K.: D&B Publishing, 2004.Norton, Kate. “Online Gambling Hedges Its U.S. Bets.” BusinessWeek, August 21, 2006. Available online. URL: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2006/gb20060821_544446.htm. Accessed October 9, 2007.Somach, Tom. “Gambling Gold Rush? A Congressional PushLast Year Stopped Many Americans from Playing the GamesOnline, but the Law May Be Changed.” San Francisco Chronicle,July 2, 2007, p. C1–2.Vogel, J. Philip. Internet Gambling: How to Win Big Online PlayingBingo, Poker, Slots, Lotto, Sports Betting & Much More. NewYork: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2006.Woellert, Lorraine. “A Web Gambling Fight Could Harm FreeTrade.” Business Week, August 12, 2007, p. 43. Available online.URL: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_33/b4046041.htm. Accessed October 9, 2007.online gamesOnline games today range from elaborate war games toopen-ended fantasy worlds to virtual universes that mirror“real-world” activities, including economics, politics, andeven education.The first online games appeared in the late 1970s onPLATO, an educational network, as well as on the earlyInternet of the 1980s. These MUDs (multiuser dungeons)were generally based on pen-and-paper role-playing gamesof the time, notably Dungeons & Dragons. These games wereSecond Life is not a “game,” but a virtual world that now includesjust about every known human activity—its money is evenexchangeable for real-world cash. (Copyright 2006, LindenResearch Inc., All Rights Reserved)text based, with players typing their characters’ actionsand dialog while the changing world as seen by the playerswas similarly described. By the early 1990s, however,MUDs had spun off many variants. Many were still “hackn’ slash” dungeon games (which were also offered on AmericaOnline and other commercial services). Many of theseMUD-like games such as AOL’s Neverwinter Nights offeredsimple graphics. Meanwhile other games began to offermore sophisticated social interactions as well as the abilityof players to make their own additions to the game world,including buildings.Massively Multiplayer OnlineRole-Playing Games (MMORPGs)Today’s online games feature a “persistent world” hosted onone or more servers that grows and develops from day to dayand in which the “avatars” or representatives of thousandsof players interact with game-generated creatures or oneanother, using client software. Players can spend hundredsof hours helping their characters develop skills, increasingtheir levels through experience points gained from successfulcombat or other activities. Players (and their characters)frequently form organizations such as guilds or clans,because the tougher challenges generally require the cooperationof different types of classes of characters (fighters,healers, and magic-users).Modern mmORPGs began in the late 1990s with suchtitles as Ultima Online and EverQuest. The most popularMMORPG in the mid-2000s was World of Warcraft.From Games to Alternative WorldsHumans are social primates, and they tend to bring theirfull repertoire of behavior to any new situation. Even gamessuch as World of Warcraft or Everquest are not entirely aboutcombat and character skills: they are also about alliance,trust, betrayal, and bonding.Back in the 1980s psychologists began to write aboutthe social interactions that were emerging in MUDs andhow players perceived their virtual world (see Turkle,Sherry). However Second Life, launched by Linden Lab in2003, is not a game at all, but a complete virtual world inwhich participants, called “residents” (through their avatars)can do just about anything—play and be entertained,have relationships (including virtual sex), but also conductmore mundane businesses and meetings and even attenduniversity courses.The ability to do nearly anything also means the abilityto do things that may be offensive and even illegal. Indeed,an emerging issue is how “real world” laws apply to thesevirtual worlds. In Second Life, residents buy and sell inworldreal estate and goods, using a currency called LindenDollars (L$). These L$ and U.S. dollars can be tradedat the rate (as of early 2007) of 270 L$ to one dollar U.S.This means that residents in the virtual world can actuallyrun profitable businesses (or make investments) that can becashed out for “real” money. Further, the avatars, property,and other in-world creations developed by users remaintheir intellectual property, not that of Linden Labs.