Get the most out of gaming!

With faster Internet connections available, and more advanced, better looking, action packed games, it's hardly surprising the big buzz surrounding gaming is the ability to game online - where players can meet, battle against each other, adventure together, or just socialise. Over the last ten years, the amount of players playing games online has dramatically increased, so for those of you who are new to online gaming we have put together a quick and generalised run-down of the basics.

First up, a few key terms that you may see thrown around in relation to online games:

MMOG - this is short for "massively multiplayer online game". It refers to a genre of online games, which pits thousands of active players in a single game world, playing alongside or against each other. These persistent worlds (so called because usually when you log-off, and you come back in, the status of your character, where he is, and what he was doing, all remains the same) can take hours to traverse, and can in some cases hold in excess of 10,000 players at any single moment. Generally they are subscription based - players may pay for the game as they would any other, but then they will also be expected (after a free-trial in many cases) to pay a rolling subscription fee every month to play.
RPG - this is short for "role playing game". Far from the table-top, dice-throwing games of the seventies, this now represents a computer simulation of role-playing, and combined with the "massively multiplayer online games", you have MMORPG's - you guessed it, "massively multiplayer online role playing games". In these games, you effectively build up a character, and play the role of that character in training, trading, fighting, and adventuring, amongst other things.
FPS - stands for "first person shooter". In this type of game, the player's viewpoint is the viewpoint you'd get if you were actually in the game - you are seeing the game world through the characters eyes. This often makes for more realistic games, and first person shooters are some of the more popular online games around the world. While there are a few MMOFPS games ("massively multiplayer online first person shooters"), which can contain thousands of players generally pitted against each other in epic battles, the most common type of first person games are those that aren't set within a persistent world. Within these games, players log on to a given server, play against a number of other players (typically these types of servers can host 32 or 64 players at a time), then when they log off, no data is stored about that gaming session. Sometimes statistics are held, but the character that the player is playing as is lost. This makes for a more immediate and fun type of gaming, without the complexity and depth offered by persistent worlds.
Server - this hosts the game world. In the case of the persistent world games, the servers are generally hosted by and maintained by the company who is looking after the persistent worlds, the distributors of the title. This is why the subscription fee is paid, to maintain and improve the game worlds, and to ensure reliability with the servers, so that they remain active and working whenever you may want to play. In the more simplified games that may only hold a set number of players, servers can be run by anyone - big gaming websites may run their own servers, clans (see below) may run their own, and others may be temporary servers that you or a friend can simply start up, play on for a while, and then shut down.
Client - this is the application that is used to connect to and play the game with. It'll exchange data with the server, updating it with information about the character you are playing, and in turn will receive and then be able to display information about other players.
Ping / lag - the ping is the measurement of time representing communication between client and server. Generally measured in milliseconds, it gives the player an indication of how their client is communicating with the server, and things like a slow or unreliable connection will increase the "lag", a term given to slow downs due to a high amount of ping. In certain games it matters far more than others - for example, in high-paced action games, a delay between a gamer firing his gun, and the server determining the effect of the bullet fired on other players can result in a player missing that vital shot, when with a faster connection, he may have been more accurate. Game developers are always trying to improve the network code of their games so as to overcome these issues; however the simple fact is that a high ping, or a lot of lag, will always have an adverse effect on a players gaming experience. The lower the ping, the better!
Patch - this relates to an update of a game - a patch or update will fix bugs, generally to do with the online network code of a title, making it better or more efficient, perhaps in response to comments or criticism from online gamers playing the game. Sometimes, patches or updates will introduce new features or content, as a free download for gamers.
Expansion pack - these are updates to a game much like above, offering new content or features, however they can quite often cost money. In most cases, you will need a copy of the original game to play with the new content. Traditionally, these expansion packs were bought in retail stores, however now a lot of game publishers are making these packs available through their online stores - once bought, they can be downloaded, installed, and used.
Map - this pertains to a single area of a game; often in first person shooter games a single online game hosted by a server will play out on a map. Within the confines of the terrain defined within the map, the game will be played, until the server rotates to the next map. This is in contrast to the idea of massively multiplayer games, where a single persistent world, a huge map if you will, contains the games inhabitants and terrain.
Clan / guild - this is a group of players that band together to achieve goals or play games together. In massively multiplayer games, they might band together to finish quests, go adventuring, or start a city together. In more immediate games such as first person shooters, they may enter tournaments together, where two clans will face off and a winner will be decided.

Of course, all of this is no good unless you know how to get online with your favourite game. While multiplayer games serve only one purpose (the entire game is played out online, and as such connecting and playing is direct and usually made quite easy), playing your favourite offline game against other people in the online world can be a whole new (and sometimes difficult) experience! Below are a few questions and answers that aim to clear up any confusion about gaming online:

How can I play my favourite game online with others?

It varies game to game, but usually if a game has a multiplayer component to it (and most games nowadays will) then in the main menu screen for the game, you'll see a "multiplayer" or "online" option. Selecting this will quite often guide you on how to get into an online game quickly, however if it doesn't, then generally you'll be presented with a list of possible games you can join.

Each entry in the list is a version of the game hosted on someone's server - it'll have its own settings, rules, and name. To get in straight off, you can just pick a game and connect to play - most games don't make it any harder than this! In order to have the best experience, you'll want to look for the entry in the list with the lowest "ping" (explained above), as this will be the quickest, most responsive game to play in, with the least lag. Of course, as game servers can be hosted all over the world, you'll often find the quickest game servers to be those hosted somewhere in the UK. Over time, you'll discover the .rules, settings, maps, and servers you most like playing with, and you can then get a bit more picky about which server you connect to every time you come online to pla

How do I host my own server for my friends and I to play on?

Again, it varies game to game, but generally in the same "online" or "multiplayer" screens you use to connect as a client to play a game online, there will also be a "host" option. This will allow you first to setup your game (setting the name, and rules that pertain to the game, such as picking a map, and how many players are allowed to play.

Many let you set a password too if you wish only to play with friends). Once this is done, you simply start the game running, and wait for others to connect. In order for them to find you, they can look for the name of your server in their list of available games to join, or they may be able to find you by your IP address (to find out your IP address to give to others, go to www.whatismyip.com). If you are behind a router/firewall, you'll quite often need to ensure the ports used by the game are able to find their way to your machine - you can usually search on the internet to find out which ports are required to be routed this way, or some games will let you choose the port to host on yourself.

Of course, these tips cannot be applied to every game - some games make it far easier than above to join or host an online game, and others make it much harder. Depending which game you play, and with who, the experience can be straightforward, or more tricky, but one things for sure - playing online against others is a whole lot better than playing on your own!