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 internet, online games have become the most popular way of entertainment among people including kids.
Online games are played using computer network. 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, character of 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 which include fighting, shooting and platform games that emphasizes on physical challenges such as good hand-eye co-ordination 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 reflex 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 in a personal computer or in a mobile phone using a one-button mouse or cellphone keypad. These are extremely simple and do not require any special skills. Final stage is reached quickly and so people can play such games during their work break.
Role-playing games which include online text-based role-playing games and massively multi-player 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 which include playing online a variety of sports such as cricket, soccer, volley ball, formula one race, and so on. The player needs to understand the real sport in order to play online sports game. 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 of the online sports games that makes it interesting and demanding like the real world sports.
Strategy games mainly include board puzzles that require the skill of thinking, planning and making decision to win the puzzle. This type of things 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 quick.
Most of them are free and it needs only access of internet. It can be played by people of all ages. There are online games for kids as well. This enable in their learning procedure and in their developmental skills.