Chapter 6. Online Gaming Environments: People, Technology, Money, and Social Networks

Andreas Neus, Mike West

Using computers to play games is now commonplace. Mr. Smith plays simulated golf on his computer, Mrs. Smith plays blackjack, their teenage son, Robbie, plays role games with others over the Internet, and their daughter, Sarah, is limited to educational games because she is still in elementary school. The Smiths have two computers and a game console. Most of the time, they use those machines to play games.

Gaming like this is a phenomenon that didn’t exist 30 years ago, except in a handful of universities. But games have been a key part of the personal computer revolution and of consumer electronics in general.

As computers and dedicated ...

Get Irresistible! Markets, Models, and Meta-Value in Consumer Electronics now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.