One of the biggest changes in computer gaming over the past few
years is the great increase seen in multiplayer games. Ten years
ago, multiplayer games were only a small fraction of the entire
gaming market. Today, few games become major hits without strong
multiplayer support. In this article, I will attempt to give an
understanding of how multiplayer gaming works.
For multiplayer computer games, each player generally has his or
her own computer. There are some games which let both players use
the same computer, but I am not covering these here. They are
generally similar to console games in the way they are played.
Since each player has a computer, the computers must be
connected. The connection enables the game to communicate between
the computers. The computers may be connected by a local area
network (LAN) or the connection may occur through the Internet.
With a LAN, the connections are very direct, with cable connecting
the computers directly or through a network hub. If your
multiplayer connection is one which uses the Internet, it is done
through your Internet hookup and does not need additional cabling.
Another method of connection. which is quite rare these days (but
still an option), is direct modem connection, which means that two
computers talk to each other with modems like people on the
telephone.
You may need additional hardware if you want to connect
computers via a LAN. The most popular way to make a LAN is via
ethernet. Most modern Macs have ethernet built in, but some older
ones do not, in which case you will need to add ethernet
capabilities with an expansion card. You will also need cabling.
Two computers with ethernet can be connected directly with a
crossover cable. To connect more than two, you need to have a hub,
which is connected to each individual computer.
Ethernet is a desirable connection method for many reasons. It
is relatively fast and cross-platform compatible. It also is useful
for many other things besides games. It is the connection used by
most LANs.
Another way to connect two Macs is with a serial cable. This
connector was last seen on the Beige
G3 series of Macs. You can plug the serial cable into either
the printer port or the modem port. This method of connection is
fairly slow and not supported by as many games, but it is quite
simple.
There are other ways to build a local area network, such as
Apple's wireless solution, AirPort. However, Airport is beyond my
expertise, so I will not try to discuss it. Instead, I'll move on
to multiplayer gaming over the Internet.
As long as your Internet connection is up and running, no
additional hardware is needed. All you need is games which support
group play over the Internet and someone to play the game with.
Most games have their own interfaces for multiplayer gaming on the
Internet. One utility which is worth mentioning is GameRanger, a Mac-only utility which
provides an Internet gaming interface for many games which would
otherwise have none. It currently supports over 70 games. Some
games may not perform very well when playing multiplayer over a
modem connection, but people have different levels of
tolerance.
The biggest challenge may be in finding enjoyable multiplayer
games. This is something which I will cover later. As always, if
anything is unclear, don't hesitate to write.
