Current Problems

Online gaming has faced and still faces many problems. The main reason for this is that the Internet was not designed for such a medium. “The Internet was designed to provide redundant points of communication, not to provide high-speed arcade action (Bates, "Lag and the Game Reviewers" 175).” A few technological barriers stand in the way of a vision of ideal multi-player gaming over the Internet. The most significant of these technological problems are the problems of latency and reliability. Internet latency is inevitable data transfer delays that create lag in games, keeping an online game from running smoothly. Some also feel that because of this lag, true interactive gaming will never be possible over the Internet. Bandwidth issues are also a problem. Receiving data is difficult over the Internet, particularly collecting data from several players in a multi-player game.

Another problem that online gamers face is finding people to play with online. Dedicated game server sites have helped answer this problem. MPath, TEN, and BattleNet are some such game systems whose principal mission is match-making. However, some of these dedicated game servers charge for online gaming which could have an significant impact on access.

Future of Online Gaming

The future outlook of online gaming seems to be highly positive. As technology increases, access and data transfer speeds will increase and the problems of latency, lag, and bandwidth will significantly decline. Also, with increased technology games will have the potential of being massively multi-player with not just four to eight people playing, but potentially involving hundreds. These massive multi-player games would increase the social component of online gaming, requiring a deep involvement with a community of fellow players.

The future also looks to bring forth more free dedicated game servers. BattleNet and Westwood Studios have already followed this path as a strategy of promoting their games. These gaming sites, like all other sites on the Internet, will increasingly rely on advertising rather than membership fees for their revenue stream.

Predictions also see that this world of online gaming, in which electronic subcultures with complex social structures are currently blossoming, will expand from the current 800,000 users to having users in over 10 million households by 2000 (Pike 1998). Gaming revenue is also expected to soar from a modest $90 million in 1996 to $1.6 billion in 2000 (Pike 1998). Furthermore, it is predicted that the platform that almost all video games of the future will be based upon multi-player interaction via the Internet.