recreational and social activities requiring an electrical device controlled by one or more microprocessor chips. The games usually involve a COMPUTER, (q.v.) and a software program, or an electronic game system and an insertable medium—such as a tape cartridge or COMPACT DISC (q.v.; CD)—on which the game’s commands have been encoded.

Evolution.

The first true electronic game was a version of CHESS, (q.v.). It was built in 1940 as a laboratory demonstration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by the American mathematician Claude E. Shannon (1916–    ). Electronic games have since found a place in entertainment history. Early versions were coin-operated, stand-alone games designed to allow limited play time that depended on the skills of the player. Simple electronic game machines for the home started to appear on the market in the 1970s. The consumer could hook these machines up to a television and enjoy very basic games. Each game was stored on a tape cartridge that was inserted into the machine, and games could be changed by replacing one cartridge with another. The graphics were simple; game characters were barely recognizable, often of line-drawing quality. From 1970 through the early 1980s, dozens of home systems entered the market and quickly disappeared, and by 1984 their popularity began to decline.

The industry was revitalized in the late 1980s with the introduction of game systems, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, with more detailed graphics and game play than earlier versions. PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Sega DreamCast took three-dimensional graphics to higher levels beginning in the 1990s. These games are available on either cartridges or CDs, and their quality ranges from cartoonish to near-photo realism.

Computer-based games have grown with the technology available to run them. The PERSONAL COMPUTER, (q.v.) revolutionized not only business but also personal entertainment. In the early 2000s, computer-based games covered many genres, including graphic adventures, simulations (“sims”) such as aircraft and racing, fantasy, sword and sorcery, and strategy. The point of view may range from top-down (looking down over a game map), to first person (looking through the eyes of the character the player is controlling), to third person (looking over the character’s shoulder).

Internet Gaming.

The INTERNET, (q.v.), originally developed for the military in 1969, grew to include educational and research institutes and then expanded into business and entertainment. People can use commercial online services to play multiplayer games, both graphics based (much like those purchased in stores) and text based (commonly known as MUDS, or multiuser dungeons). The games themselves have grown from simple line graphics (nondescript, often with green backgrounds) to three-dimensional virtual worlds that move almost in real time.

Some online games use software that must be bought at a retail store; others can be downloaded from the WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW), (q.v.), some of which have an hourly or monthly charge. In online gaming, the central server (the computer that stores the program) is the control computer on a network, and it may link to more servers as the number of players grows. It is common to have hundreds or, with multiple servers available, thousands of people playing one game.

Player moves and player files are usually saved at least partially on a central server because the possibility of hacker invasions has prompted many game companies to maintain tighter control of player data (see COMPUTER SECURITY,). The central server receives information from many sources, and must deliver and update it in a timely manner. The server’s perceived reaction time can be slowed down by latency, which is the time it takes a computer to make data requests to another computer through the Internet and then receive a response.

Trends in Electronic Gaming.

Online electronic games have continued to become more sophisticated, complex, and realistic as computers improve. Graphics accelerator cards have greatly reduced the time a computer takes to update and produce images on the screen, resulting in faster and more detailed video. The graphics card, which usually fits into a slot on the computer’s motherboard, is the brains for the home computer’s monitor. Graphics cards determine the types and amount of information that can be displayed. They have video coprocessors of their own that do graphics computations and control the resolution, speed, and color of the images, and take much of the workload off the computer’s central processing unit (CPU) so that the CPU itself can run faster. As games become more complex, graphics cards demand more memory. By 2000, graphics accelerator cards with from 64 to 128 megabytes of Random-Access Memory were introduced, and the trend toward more memory can be expected to continue.

Game features will be further enhanced—and latency will be reduced—as more Internet service providers take advantage of “broadband” communications, which can transmit many streams of data simultaneously at high speed. Internet gamers of the future can be expected to make wider use of broadband connections. More use of on-screen pop-up boxes that appear as players interact with each other may make it possible for them to see each other in real time as they play against each other, using video on demand.

Electronic games will continue to become much more expensive to develop. This trend may well lead to more partnerships with outside resources such as specialty developers of animation, voice commentary, art, and music, with each working on different aspects of a game. Utilization of predeveloped game “engines”—general-purpose control programs that can readily be adapted to a variety of games—may also become more prominent. Smaller firms will have a harder time developing retail games and may seek to join with, or sell their services to, larger companies.        E.M. & D.M., EDWIN MILLHEIM & DONNA MILLHEIM