With the introduction of the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, the first console to feature a built-in modem, gaming emerged as an online, multiplayer social activity. The Dreamcast didn’t last, but online connections are now a normal part of console video games, with Internet-connected players opposing one another in combat, working together against a common enemy, or teaming up to achieve a common goal (like sustaining a medieval community). Some of the biggest titles have been first-person shooter games like Counter-Strike, an online spin-off of the popular Half-Life console game. Each player views the game from the first-person perspective but also plays in a team as either a terrorist or a counterterrorist.

The ability to play online has added a new dimension to other, less combat-oriented games, too. For example, football and music enthusiasts playing already-popular console games like Madden NFL and Rock Band can now engage with others in live online multiplayer play. And young and old alike can compete against teams in other locations in Internet-based bowling tournaments using the Wii.

The Internet enabled the spread of video games to converged devices, like tablets and mobile phones, making games more portable and creating whole new segments in the gaming industry. The connectivity of the Internet also opened the door to social gaming, virtual worlds, and massively multiplayer online games.

MMORPGs, Virtual Worlds, and Social Gaming

It is one of the longest acronyms in the world of gaming: massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). These games are set in virtual worlds that require users to play through an avatar of their own design. The “massively multiplayer” aspect of MMORPGs indicates that electronic games—once designed for solo or small-group play—have expanded to reach large groups, like traditional mass media do.

The fantasy adventure game World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG, peaking at 12 million subscribers in 2010 and leveling off to 7.8 million subscribers in 2014. Users can select from twelve different “races” of avatars, including dwarves, gnomes, night elves, orcs, trolls, goblins, and humans. To succeed in the game, many players join with other players to form guilds or tribes, working together toward in-game goals that can be achieved only by teams. Second Life, a 3-D social simulation set in real time, also features social interaction. Players build human avatars, selecting from an array of physical characteristics and clothing. Then they use real money to buy virtual land and to trade in virtual goods and services.

MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and simulations like Second Life are aimed at teenagers and adults. One of the most overlooked areas (at least by adults) in online gaming is the children’s market. Club Penguin, a moderated virtual world purchased by Disney, enables kids to play games and chat as colorful penguins. Disney later developed additional Club Penguin games for handheld players. Toy maker Ganz developed the online Webkinz game to revive its stuffed-animal sales. Each Webkinz stuffed animal comes with a code that lets players access the online game and care for the virtual version of their plush pets. In 2009, as Webkinz sales declined, Ganz started Webkinz Jr. to market bigger, more expensive plush animals to preschoolers. Woozworld offers a virtual shopping world and chat for the tween market, ages nine to fourteen. All these virtual worlds offer younger players their own age-appropriate environment to experiment with virtual socializing, but they have also attracted criticism for their messages of consumerism. In many of these games, children can buy items with virtual currency or acquire “bling” more quickly through a premium membership. The games also market merchandise to their young players, such as stuffed animals, movies, and clothing.

Online fantasy sports games also reach a mass audience with a major social component. Players—real-life friends, virtual acquaintances, or a mix of both—assemble teams and use actual sports results to determine scores in their online games. But rather than experiencing the visceral thrills of, say, Madden NFL 15, fantasy football participants take a more detached, managerial perspective on the game—a departure from the classic video game experience. Fantasy sports’ managerial angle makes it even more fun to watch almost any televised game because players focus more on making strategic investments in individual performances scattered across the various professional teams than they do on rooting for local teams. In the process, players become statistically savvy aficionados of the game overall, rather than rabid fans of a particular team. In 2013, about 34 million people played fantasy sports in the United States and Canada; the Fantasy Sports Trade Association currently estimates a market size of more than $3.6 billion.9

The increasingly social nature of video games has made them a natural fit for social networking sites. Game apps for Facebook have drawn millions of fans. London-based game developer King is the maker of several of the most popular games on Facebook, including Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes Saga, and Pet Rescue Saga. Facebook reported in 2014 that over 375 million people play games on its social network site each month.10

Convergence: From Consoles to Mobile Gaming

Digital games made their initial appearance on computers and consoles and were very much wedded to those platforms. Today, though, games can be consumed the same way so much music and so many books, television shows, and films are consumed: just about anywhere and in a number of different ways. And video game consoles are increasingly part of the same technological convergence that gives devices like smartphones and tablets multiple functions.

Consoles Become Entertainment Centers

Video game consoles, once used exclusively for games, now work as part computer, part cable box. They’ve become powerful entertainment centers, with multiple forms of media converging in a single device. For example, the Xbox One and PS4 can function as DVD players and digital video recorders (with hard drives of up to 500 gigabytes) and offer access to Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and video chat. The PS4 can also play Blu-ray discs, and all three competing console systems (PS4, Xbox, and Wii) offer connections to stream programming from sources like Netflix and Hulu. Microsoft’s Xbox—which has Kinect’s voice recognition system, allowing viewers to communicate with the box—has been the most successful in becoming a converged device for home entertainment.

Portable Players and Mobile Gaming

Simple handheld players made games portable long before the advent of Internet-connected touchscreen mobile devices. Nintendo popularized handheld digital games with the release of its Game Boy line of devices and sold nearly 120 million of them from 1989 to 2003 with games like Tetris, Metroid, and Pokémon Red/Blue.11 The early handhelds gave way to later generations of devices offering more advanced graphics and wireless capabilities. These include the top-selling Nintendo 3DS, released in 2011, and PlayStation Portable (PSP), released in 2005 and succeeded by the PlayStation Vita in 2012. Both brands are Wi-Fi capable, so players can interface with other users to play games or browse the Internet.

While portable players remain immensely popular (the Nintendo 3DS sold more than 154 million units through 2014), they face competition from the widespread use of smartphones and touchscreen tablets like iPads. These devices are not designed principally for gaming, but their capabilities have provided another option for casual gamers who may not have been interested in owning a handheld console. Manufacturers of these converged devices are catching on to their gaming potential: After years of relatively little interest in video games, Apple introduced Game Center in 2010. This social gaming network enables users to invite friends or find others for multiplayer gaming, track their scores, and view high scores on a leader board—which the 3DS and PSP do as well. With more than 500 million iPhones and 210 million iPads sold worldwide by 2014 (and millions more iPod Touch devices in circulation), plus more than 260,000 games (like Blek and Minecraft—Pocket Edition) available in its App Store, Apple is transforming the portable video game business with its devices, games, and distribution system.12 Handheld video games have made the medium more accessible and widespread. Even people who wouldn’t identify themselves as gamers may kill time between classes or waiting in line by playing Don’t Touch the White Tile 4 on their phones.

Google Play (formerly the Android Market) rivals Apple’s App Store in number of apps and provides a substantial platform for gaming on Android mobile phones and tablet devices like the Kindle, Galaxy, and Nexus. Microsoft got a later start with its Windows phones and Surface tablet, so its game offerings lag far behind those of the Android and Apple stores.

This portable and mobile gaming convergence is changing the way people look at digital games and their systems. The games themselves are no longer confined to arcades or home television sets, while the mobile media have gained power as entertainment tools, reaching a wider and more diverse audience. Thus gaming has become an everyday form of entertainment, rather than the niche pursuit of hard-core enthusiasts.

With its increased profile and flexibility across platforms, the gaming industry has achieved a mass medium status on a par with film or television. This rise in status has come with stiffer and more complex competition, not just within the gaming industry but across media. Rather than Sony competing with Nintendo, or TV networks competing among themselves for viewers, or new movies facing off at the box office, media must now compete against other media for an audience’s attention. Recent statistics mark how far the digital game industry has come: Global box office revenue for the film industry hit a record $35.9 billion in 2013. (The movie industry makes billions more on DVD, streaming, television licensing, and merchandising deals.) In that same year, the worldwide digital game marketplace, including hardware, software, online games, and mobile games, reached $93 billion.13