The games created through Blizzard Entertainment include such hits as Starcraft and Diablo II. Starcraft is a Real Time Simulation (RTS) game, which means you fight your opponent in real time. You can control an army, mine resources and build up your army and bases; there is a lot of strategy involved, Dorsey said.

Diablo II, is an RPG (role playing game), where you have one central character who is trying to "save the world". Dorsey said that Diablo II usually has around 500,000 individuals playing online at any given time.

He said the advantage to playing online in a closed system is that it allows you to work with other players which makes it more fun and interesting. You can do things like trade swords, shields, armor and gems with other players.

In Diablo II you can also customize your character and the character is carried on from game to game. That is unless you choose to play in "hardcore" mode, which requires you to start over after each game. "Not for the faint of heart," he adds.

Robert Lemos reported for CNET in early January that hackers had stolen player accounts on Blizzard's multiplayer site Battle.net.

The company, a division of Havas Interactive, promised to turn back time and resurrect any dead characters giving them levels and experience that they had possessed as of Dec. 19, Lemos reported.

He quoted one player's posting on a bulletin board. The player, who used the handle "Unknown Shadow" and claimed to have lost a "level 87" barbarian, wrote, "Blizzard had better be restoring some backups right now or they have one hell of a mess on their hands."

In a Jan. 1 posting, the company admitted that characters and items had disappeared, `"During the past week, some players have experienced character losses," wrote the company. "Instances have ranged from hardcore characters dying to the loss of items, skill points, and experience in normal characters," ' Lemos reported.

He further reported that many high-level items used in the game, such as axes, swords and rings, were being sold on eBay for up to $50, and occasionally more, leaving open the possibility that the accounts had been stolen for cash.

Another type of closed gaming system is a site like EverQuest that charges a monthly access fee. EverQuest's site reports that its games are designed to support well over 1,000 simultaneous players. "You don't start the server program on a local network and invite a few of your friends over to play. Instead, you run the EverQuest client program and use the Internet to connect to our world servers.

Call or email your friends and tell them what city or dungeon to meet you in or, better yet, log on and encounter hundreds of other people from all over the world and make a slew of new acquaintances," the site reports.

Two of its newest games include The Ruins of Kunark expansion, which was released April 24, 2000 and The Scars of Velious, which was released on December 5, 2000.

Another player in the online gaming business is Electronic Arts. Under an agreement with America Online, Inc. (AOL), EA.com provides exclusive games programming for the AOLŪ Games channel, AOL.com, Netscape.com, ICQ, and CompuServe.

In January the company posted a press release saying it had acquired pogo.com Inc., one of the leading online family games services. Pogo.com has nearly 17 million registered members. It focuses on Internet-based family games, including card, board, word and puzzle games.

EA.com is also responsible for such unique games as "The Sims Online" and soon to be released Majestic.

The Sims made the news in May when Mark Ward of the BBC reported that the artificial people created by players of The Sims were falling victim to a virtual virus introduced into the game by a computerized guinea pig.

Players who had lavished hours of work on their virtual people were bombarding the game's creators with angry messages because their creations were dying off.

Ward reported that sloppy Sims who didn't clean the cage of the guinea pig and who got bit by the pig, were falling ill and, in some cases, dying.

Game developer Maxis updated the guinea pig code so that the virus that Sims can catch from the new pet is less virulent and leads only to a cold rather than death.

Ward said the game became an instant hit because players could build a house with a pool that they could never afford in the real world, people are always getting promoted and Sim kids do what they are told.

New and exciting gadgets and furniture can be downloaded from game creator Maxis off the Sims site. There is also a Sim City exchange on the site. There are a number of games in the collection including, The Sims, Sim Theme Park, Simsville and Simcoaster.

Earlier this month Dianne Lynch reported for ABCNEWS that EA.com's game Majestic, which creates a world in which there is no barrier between your computer and your life, is expected to be released this spring.

The game is an episodic experience that unfolds in real time over months based on the conspiracy theory about Roswell and the Majestic files.

Dan Elektro reported in January for IDG that Electronic Entertainment's Majestic episodic online adventure spills over from the Internet and actually invades your privacy.

Elektro writes, "Named after the alleged government group that covered up the Roswell alien incident, EA's "interactive suspense thriller" borrows from The X-Files, WarGames, and Michael Douglas' The Game as it entwines players in a dark conspiracy on the Web, then tracks them down in real life, outside of the anonymous safety of a Web browser. E-mail, telephone calls, online chats, surreptitiously recorded conversations, and fax transmissions are all fair game, and they can arrive at any time."

To play, you'll log on to the EA.com site and pay a fee and before long, your phone will ring. You'll get e-mail. Your fax machine will spit out clues, Lynch said. She criticized the game for its portrayal of women, saying that four of the five characters are men.

If you can't get enough of gaming using your computer then stay tuned because France Motorola and others are launching a range of games for mobile phones. Marsha Walton reported for CNN in February that the mobile phones were featured at the MILIA 2001 technology show in Cannes, France.

Juan Montes, vice president and director of technology for Motorola was quoted as saying, "Whether you are waiting for a bus, or for a friend, we are thinking of those short periods of time."

Walton reported that starting in April, you will be able to play Trivial Pursuit on mobile devices, in cycles of ten questions.

If all of this is just way too much for you, then head over to Yahoo's Game site. There you can indulge in good old fashioned games like go fish, euchre, solitaire and checkers.