Thanks to broadband internet access and powerful computers, online gaming has finally come of age.

Where playing games used to be a wholly solitary activity, it is now possible to build up a wide circle of friends, or even customers, online.

World of Warcraft is an online role-playing game where gamers join forces to combat the forces of evil. For those less interested in the relative merits of Bronze Sword of Maiming or Silver Axe +1, Second Life is a more peaceful alternative.

It offers a remarkable amount of freedom to carve out a virtual life, and maybe even to make some money. We’ll explain how these virtual worlds work, and the differences between the many that are available.

Games go online
Virtual worlds are more than simply a game that can be played by a group of people simultaneously. Instead, they are designed to be inhabited by thousands of people at once, and they continue regardless of who is logged in or not ­ - when you disconnect, the world carries on without you.

They often have some computer-controlled characters, but the focus is very much on real people interacting with one another. This makes online worlds great fun to play, because they provide a chance to meet and talk to others, no matter where in the world they might be. It also adds a new level of depth to ordinary computer games: when all the other characters in the world are controlled by a PC, they tend to be predictable and easy to beat, especially once you’ve worked out the patterns they follow. With human spontaneity added to the mix, games can take longer and are more fun to play.

The first online computer worlds were developed back before games even had graphics. Early computer games used a text interface: the player would type in “go east”, for example, and the game would provide a textual description of the environment their character encountered there. Computer science students soon experimented with systems that allowed several players to play in these games at the same time. These games were often based on the kind of characters found in games such as the popular Dungeons & Dragons, with adventurers battling dragons and other fantastic creatures in some kind of subterranean dungeon.

The games evolved quickly and in 1991 the first game of the type with graphics, Neverwinter Nights, was produced by AOL. Its graphics were extremely basic by today’s standards and, at $6 an hour, it was expensive to play, but it became popular and was eventually included in the standard AOL subscription. Games where many players can meet, cooperate and compete in an online world eventually became known as Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, or MMORPGs for short, and dozens now exist.

Today, online worlds have never had it so good. Always-on broadband connections with no hourly fee make it possible to play for a few hours without worrying about an enormous phone bill, and they also enable users to talk to one another using a microphone rather than typing. Although some games have a one-off or monthly charge, others do not and most have a free trial, so there’s never been a better time to dip in a toe and try living a virtual life. We’ll explain how a few of the most popular online worlds work, and how to join in.