Praveen’s Magic Quill

All of us would like to relax after a day of hard work. We would love to pounce on an opportunity to de-stress ourselves. So, what better way than to play a few multiplayer online games (thanks to the Internet) thereby escaping from reality into a totally different world of fun and excitement with a group of friends or anyone connect to the World Wide Web? It not only helps in relaxation, but also aids in Mental Simulation and develops various skills like Team Work, Concentration etc…

Various types of Multiplayer Online Games have become popular in the past few years. I got introduced to this world pretty late, only in my 12^th Standard, when Chetan took me to Adyar’s Zap. I was quite surprised to see most of the 50 odd computers occupied with school students my age or lesser, playing a ‘kind of shooting game’ through LAN. My curiosity took the better of me as I registered my name in the waiting list to get a computer and the started playing the game – Counter Strike (which is a team-based, tactical first-person shooter PC game. It pits a team of counter-terrorists against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won by either completing the mission objective or eliminating the opposing force).

That was my first experience in playing a multiplayer game. At first, I dint like it much, coz, as soon as I came out of the den, someone one or the other used to kill me within a few shots. But, after a few more visit to places like Zap, Bliss and Couch Potato, I started having a grip of the game and started to get addicted to it. Soon, the ten test exams and the board exams followed, and there was a LONG gap of no gaming.

After about 6 months of zero gaming, I was introduced to another new Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) called Ragnarok (This time by Raghav) that had made its entry to India just then. I found it to be a lovely game and soon got addicted to it as well and thus made frequent trips to the Adyar Gamedrome. I made a lot of friends in the process, had a lot of fun partying in-game, hunting in groups, being a guildmaster and chatting with other strangers spread throughout the country. All went well, when I suddenly had terrible results in my second semester at college.

Again, I had to forget about computers and gaming for a year (though had touch with all those Online Friends I’d had from Ragnarok). Since last December, from the day after I upgraded my computer to a reasonable latest configuration, I have restarted playing Online Games. Although, I don’t feel like going back to Ragnarok, I have restarted playing Counter Strike after a gap of nearly 3 years! It’s been nice playing through Virtual Private Networks (VPN) like Hamachi. Nowadays, I play Counter Strike around 3 days a week with pros like Vikram, Marc, Karthik Shankar, Govind, Arjun, Dhana etc…

It’s been loads of fun playing these games within friends. I have always searched for interesting smaller multiplayer online games (those that doesn’t require installation) which can be played with girls and relatives but haven’t been able to find one. I feel too bored playing Yahoo Pool and Chess. A few days back, my friend Aniz, introduced me to a BrainTeaser game called Last Man Standing (it requires the player to be registered – which is easy and free). Finally, a lovely game to play with just about anyone. Games like these can get your mind in motion and also be a lot of fun. They are a perfect source to keep you busy and challenged.

Do let me know if you know of any other interesting Multiplayer Online Games.