Although the first Internet game took place online in 1980, playing games online is really only beginning to take off now, almost 20 years later, with the huge growth that's taken place in Net use in the meantime.

Online addiction is the source of much psychological research worldwide, and it has been shown that compulsive Internet users are more likely than other, more casual surfers, to be the ones who play Internet games. In 1999 you can be an alcoholic, chocoholic or an online game-oholic.

We've all heard that the future of leisure, shopping, entertainment and technology itself is supposed to be the internet - we'll be doing the most amazing things online. Games companies are set to exploit that development. Already Quake is a highly successful online game which can be played by up to 50 people sitting at PCs all around the world. Ultima online is a sort of Dungeons and Dragons you can play with your peers in Japan, while Anarchy online (due out from Funcom this Christmas) is a role-play game.

Increasingly, all games will have a role-play dimension, but the degree to which you create your character will be vary. You won't always be inventing the character: depending on the game, you're more likely to be playing a role that someone else has invented.

Although Internet games can be played by people of all ages, they can prove pretty expensive. So as yet they tend to be played more by people who can make some sort of contribution to the phone bill . . .