| Teaches you how to write incredible multiuser games for the Internet using the Java programming language. Lists the best Internet resources for game players and programmers. Includes arcade-style game creation tips: game loops, sprites, collision detection, and realistic movement. Details over 10,000 lines of highly optimized, reusable code.
The competitive urge has been with us since the dawn of human consciousness. No sooner had humans become thinking beings than Eve placed a bet with a snake regarding the consequences of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. That first game was played for particularly high stakes, and despite its outcome, we’ve been gaming ever since. We just can’t turn down a chance to test ourselves against each other, or ourselves, or even a machine.
Luckily, since Eve lost her wager, we’ve learned to lower the stakes of gaming. We substitute chess boards and card tables for battle fields and gladiatorial arenas. These new arenas become worlds in their own right, allowing us to insulate our “real” lives from the fallout of lost games. Our self-esteem, and maybe our wallets, may take a hit when we get trounced, but for the most part, the damage is sustainable and only serves to motivate us to do better the next time.
Humankind’s ability to enclose gaming in a safe realm of existence demonstrates two traits that coexist improbably in our species. On the one hand, the knowledge that being checkmated will never actually hurt us allows us to have fun while playing chess. On the other hand, in the course of play we forget our actual safety sufficiently that our most primitive fighting instincts are activated. We savor each capture of our opponent’s pieces and wince at each loss, as if our survival were really at stake. At least, I do. The gaming arena becomes very, very real. |