*** ANSWERMAN INTERNET EXTRA *** For the week of April 28, 1997 This is the free weekly newsletter for the community of Internet users on America Online. This week, AnswerMan investigates games on the Internet. =*=*= IN THIS ISSUE =*=*= AnswerMan's Update -- Games on the Internet Upcoming Weekly Focus -- What's coming up The End -- How to contact us or unsubscribe =*=*= WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK WITH ANSWERMAN =*=*= Go to keyword: For: ANSWERMAN Daily tips and Internet message boards AM FOCUS More on Internet gaming NET HELP Get quick help for your Internet questions NET TUTORIAL A journey of 1,000 miles begins with this keyword AM GLOSSARY Decrypt that Internet jargon Here are direct links for AOL 3.0 users: Go to keyword ANSWERMAN Go to keyword AM FOCUS NET TUTORIAL =*=*= ANSWERMAN'S UPDATE =*=*= Greetings once again, fellow Net surfers. This week's topic is playing games on the Internet. But before we dive into that, I've got a couple of newsy tidbits for you. Many folks have written to me recently asking about a program called AOL4Free. AOL4Free is supposed to be a program that, well, gives you AOL for free. In reality, it is a "Trojan horse," a program that masquerades as one thing but actually does another. (If you remember Greek lore from grammar school, you know that the Greeks used a Trojan horse to gain access to and destroy the city of Troy. In this case, AOL4Free is the horse, the Greeks are geeks, and Troy is your poor little computer.) AOL4Free can wipe out all files on your hard drive. AOL4Free does exist and is a Bad Thing. But this is where it gets a little weird. There are rumors of a so-called "AOL4Free-infected e-mail message" that attacks a computer when you simply read the message. That warning is a hoax. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you can never, never, never get a computer virus by simply reading an e-mail message. If an e-mail comes with an attachment, and you download and run the attachment, then you might get a virus. But you can read e-mail all day and into the night with no ill effects (except of course a lack of sleep). On a lighter note, if you're among the 39.3% of AOL members who enjoy reading useless statistics, check out the Internet Index at http://www.openmarket.com/intindex/. In the style of Harper's Index, the Internet Index compiles interesting stats about the Net. Here are a few tidbits from the most recent update: Estimated number of new jobs created by the Internet in 1996, worldwide: 1.1 million Number of priests in Catholic Priests On Line on AOL: 30 According to Nielsen, estimated percentage of people over 16 in the U.S. and Canada who use the Internet: 23 -.-.- Internet Games -.-.- I can hardly believe that although I've been writing this newsletter for more than a year, I've never really talked about playing games on the Internet. Truth is, I enjoy playing games on the Net. I just didn't want folks thinking that all those long hours I spend in my attic office "working" are really spent playing. (They're not, but a guy's got to take a break every once in a while, right?) Internet gaming has come a long way in a short time: there are diversions for every type of gamer, and many of the games rival the ones that you can buy in the store. Some Internet games offer the bonus of allowing you to play against other people, so you can match your trivia wits with a 9-year-old genius from Tulsa or play Go with a octogenarian grand-master in Tokyo. Every online game is different, with its own interface and rules. Some Internet games work with your Web browser, so you don't need anything special to use them. Others rely on Java programs for play. For those that require Java, you'll need AOL 3.0. The browser included with AOL 3.0 for Windows can do Java. If you're a Mac user, you'll need AOL 3.0 and Netscape Navigator, which you can download from http://www.netscape.com. Other online games don't use the browser at all -- instead, you access them through a special client program that just works for that game. (A client is any program that can access informationing a special client program, the game can run on your computer while talking over the Internet to the game server.) For this sort of game, you'll have to download and install the client before playing for the first time. This is surprisingly easy -- the web page for the game should give you clear instructions on the specifics. Enough with the technical stuff: you want examples, don't you? One of my favorite Internet games is You Don't Know Jack Netshow. You Don't Know Jack is an irreverent trivia game that comes in two flavors: regular and sports trivia. After downloading the special client, YDKJ launches with a spiffy trivia game show, complete with lots of audio and wacky questions. Bring your sense of humor and a friend to play against. One caveat: I find this game to be a lot of fun, but the language sometimes isn't appropriate for kids. YDKJ Netshow is free and works with AOL 3.0 for Mac and Windows You can try it at http://www.bezerk.com/. Here's one for Mac people only: Outland isn't a single game, it's a whole gaming system that includes bunches of multiplayer games: Assassin, Backgammon, Backstab, Chess, Galley, Go, Hearts, Spaceward Ho! and Reversi (also known as Othello.) Outland offers good graphics and is mucho enjoyable. Normally Outland charges for access -- $9.95 a month in addition to your AOL bill -- but as a special promotion, the service is free during the months of May, June and July. Mac 3.0 users should check it out at http://www.outland.com. Windows 95 users can visit the Internet Gaming Zone at http://www.zone.com/ -- this is a gaming site from Microsoft, but it doesn't support Windows 3.1 or Mac platforms. Some games don't need a special client, but instead require a Web browser with Java (like AOL 3.0 for Windows 95 or Netscape Navigator for the Mac.) This allows Java programs (or "applets") to run automatically in your browser. Check out http://gene.wins.uva.nl/~droest/games/ -- this site in an index to the "Coolest Java Games on the Web." Links here include classics like Pac Man and Tetris, as well as new games like 3D Blox and Warzone. Shoot-em-ups, sports and board games are also included. Many of these games are quite engrossing and feature groovy graphics, but some won't work perfectly with every browser. Java is an evolving technology, so don't stress if something doesn't work. In my experiments, things worked just fine. Just don't let me start playing JavaCommand, I'll be immersed for days. Check out the Java Slot Machine (it's just a demo, kids, not real gambling.) at http://www.itivity.com/Java/Slot/slotMachine.html. Yahoo has as index of many more Java-based games at this monster URL: http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Programming_Languages/Java/Games/. There are still more choices for online game playing. If you install the ShockWave plug-in, your browser will be able to play all manner of neat new games. (I haven't talked about ShockWave yet, but I'll do that in an upcoming newsletter.) If you have ShockWave installed, visit http://clevermedia.com/arcade/ and http://www.kinotrope.com/ANNET/ and play 'till your heart's content. Finally, no newsletter about Internet gaming would be complete without mentioning MUDs -- multi-user dungeon games. MUDs are (usually) text-only programs that offer live interaction with other people via a Telnet client. MUDs have no whizbang graphics, but they can be very detailed worlds filled with interesting people and challenging goals. You can learn more about MUDs at keyword AM FOCUS. Here are direct links for AOL 3.0 users: Go to keyword ANSWERMAN Go to keyword AM FOCUS: Net games =*=*= UPCOMING WEEKLY FOCUS =*=*= Every week, AnswerMan focuses on a particular facet of using the Internet. Next week, AnswerMan plays with x2 (fast modem technology) and looks at genealogy sites. Also coming soon: AnswerMan will look at ShockWave, and will revisit the always-useful topic of job hunting on the Net. =*=*= THE END =*=*= That's all for this week. Got comments about this newsletter? We want to hear them! Send 'em to AnswerMan. The e-mail address is AnswerMan@aol.com. We would hate to see you go, but if you must leave, there are two easy ways to unsubscribe yourself from this newsletter. You can use either. #1: Send an e-mail message -- To: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE Body: UNSUBSCRIBE ANSWERMAN #2: For AOL 3.0 users only: Click here then press "Unsubscribe". Love me, love me, say that you love me. Copyright me, copyright me, copyright 1997 by America Online, Inc. All rights reserved.