The Modem Marriage

Copyright (c) Noelle Adams. All Rights Reserved.

Gaming and the Internet have a complicated relationship. The love affair has been ongoing long enough now to wonder about its eventual outcome. Will the marriage easily reach its ruby anniversary, to be celebrated as the ultimate romance? Or is it really heading for the divorce courts?

We all know the vital role the Internet plays for up-to-the-date gaming news. It’s also been a Godsend for independent developers, who have harnessed the medium for cost-effective advertising and game distribution.

The gaming-Internet relationship, however, is not just about information availability. Far more intriguing is the actual meshing of the online and gameplay.

Gaming and the Internet are actually childhood sweethearts, with their relationship dating all the way back to the Internet’s infant years. MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) allowed role-players to unite online for text-based adventures, and spawned the graphic-intensive MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). With popular titles like World of Warcraft, MMORPGs are probably the most high profile example of Internet gaming today.

Here, though, is where the affair starts to sour. Online gaming typically requires broadband Internet access. This makes it expensive and exclusionary in telcoms-challenged nations like South Africa. On top of connection costs, there are typically subscription fees. It’s around R150 a month to play Warcraft, and R500 for annual Xbox Live access. Internet gaming is no cheap one-night stand.

Some developers have ignored multiplayer for more novel approaches to online gameplay. Adventure game, In Memoriam, had players receiving email from characters, and using Internet searches to solve the murder mystery. The game also proved how easy it is in the online realm for developers to lose control of their product. Over time, players’ search-engine trawling found more game-spoiling walkthroughs than clues.

Undeniably, games with online elements come with a number of risks. The most obvious of these being that when servers crash, or support is dropped, the game becomes unplayable.

SiN Episodes highlighted another risk. The Internet has revitalised episodic gaming, where the regular release of downloadable ‘chapters’ of gameplay has breathed new life into franchises like Sam and Max. However, the January buyout of SiN developers, Ritual Entertainment saw Episodes cancelled after just one of nine planned instalments. The Internet may get serialised games into the market quickly, but behind-the-scenes wrangles between episodes can leave sagas frustratingly incomplete.

Perhaps the biggest argument for a gaming-Internet break is the use of online verification, chiefly as an anti-piracy measure. When Half-Life 2 was released, Valve’s content delivery platform, Steam, was unable to cope with a glut of registrations. Enraged gamers had to contend with dropped connections and hour-long waits before they could play. Of course, people without Internet access could not play at all. And Steam’s legacy continues – Battlefield 2142 participants also have to connect to the Internet every time they play.

All these gripes aside, the Internet-gaming relationship has done a lot of good for the pastime. With no separation in sight, hopefully the union will eventually emerge more like the pairing of Queen Victoria and Prince Alfred, than Britney and Kevin.