If you are interested in gaming or have tried online games before, you may have already come across the term 'multiplayer games'.  This term refers to the number of players that can participate in the game at one time.  Previously, gaming technology would only have allowed a set number (2, 4, 8, etc.) to play a particular game at the same time, purely because the game itself was not programmed to allow an infinite number of players to participate.  Nowadays this is different - there are multiplayer games (sometimes referred to as 'mpgs') that allow an innumerable amount of people to play or participate at any time.  This change has come about in part because of the medium through which the game is played - the internet.  In essence, each player downloads the software or game structure needed in order to play the game, but then connects up to the wider game world through the internet.  Everything that happens in the game or to the players is communicated through the internet connection, rather than it being contained in the game programming that is installed on one computer.