Gaming in the Internet Age: Have we Kept the Spirit of the Older Games?

The internet was first developed in the computer labs of Stanford University in late 1960s. ARPANET allowed users to connect their machines to a central mainframe computer and interact with each other in real time. In the 1980s, two students at the University of Essex were using ARpANet to play a text-based fantasy adventure game. When other users on the AR pannet connected to this game, it essentially gave birth to online gaming. Online casinos were one of the earliest forms of gaming to take advantage of this revolutionary technology.

Online gaming has evolved from ARPANET to a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Have the old-fashioned games been lost along the way?

The popularity of retro games is not just down to nostalgia. Modern online games can't compete with older games. The cost of new consoles and high-end PCs is prohibitive. Many older gaming classics are characterized by simple game mechanics. For fans of the retro gaming genre, this makes the playing experience more satisfying. It also adds to the fact that the games were developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

Rise of independent game developers has revitalized the gaming industry. Indie developers have a closer relationship with their target audience and are not dependent on corporate funding. Many indie developers use familiar game mechanics from classic games. In this way, indie game makers keep the spirit of the older games alive in the internet age.