Browser game

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Browser games are electronic games that are played online via the Internet. They are distinct from normal video and computer games in that they do not require any client side software to be installed. There are games that rely solely on client-side technologies such as a web browser and a common plugin such as Java or Flash, whereas other also employ server-side scripting. The latter case are typically (massive) multiplayer games, whereas the client-side games are typically single-player games. A game played in a browser is often called a browser-based game.

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[edit] Plugin-based games

Lenny Loosejocks in Space is an example of a Plugin-based game
Lenny Loosejocks in Space is an example of a Plugin-based game

Browser games typically require a form of web browser plugin to function. Some of these may include Java, Shockwave and Flash, with some of these plugins available through default installations of most modern day browsers. The games created using these technologies rely heavily on the client's browser to download and utilize the game's code on the client side. Due to this fact, it allows users to more easily hack the code on their end, denying fair multiplayer gameplay, therefore a large majority of plug-in based games today are still single player. The upside to this is that since the client does most of the processing, the server does not receive a heavy bandwidth load of requests.

[edit] Server-side games

A growing number of games are being created using server-side scripting. One of the most common languages used to build server-side games is PHP due to its widespread community support and low learning curve. Other server-side languages include ASP, Ruby, Perl, Python, and even Java. Games such as this store all code server side and only send the user's browser HTML markup language for interpretation. Some include JavaScript or AJAX to allow the user to see immediate responses to their online actions and make the games more visually appealing. Having all game code server side allows for a more secure setting as the player does not have direct access to it, making it harder to alter the code and cheat.

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