What would people do with their time if not for games? Video games, to be precise. In the old days, that is early 90s, games were not so easy to come by. There were Nintendo with their Marios, and arcade centers which featured amazing and innovative action games like Atari's Pit Fighter and Capcom's Street Fighter 2. Of course, home video game systems were around but lacked the technical sophistication of the video games of the 2000 era. Now games are three-dimensional, have powerful graphics and sound, and are amazingly interactive. Would you believe in 1993 that some day these powerful games of the future would be cheap to play or even free, playable with your home telephone connection?

Free Internet Games
Whether the 1993 version of you believes it or not, these free online games are here. What are some games to look out for? If you enjoyed the PC game The Sims of the early 2000 era, then you will love Second Life, a three dimensional, unofficial sequel to The Sims, which features a startling level of interactivity and customization. The limits of your cyber-character and your world are limited only by your imagination. (And perhaps your experience in customizing skins) Second Life allows you to build houses and property, lease out your property to others, make money and interact with other users (yes, even in unspeakable ways). While Second Life has the option to make real money (the more you spend the more it costs in real life) simply playing the game and exploring the world (an entire world full of user-created sights and sounds) is totally free.

Other popular free games include The Mafia Boss, an online godfather-esque simulation, Aegis, a role-playing game set in a medieval fantasy world, RealMud, Runescape and Thang Online. These types of role-playing games are all more fun because you get to interact with real users on your heady adventure, and customize many specifics including your own game strategy.

If you're in the mood for fighting, old school style (as in Capcom superheroes) then you can still beat someone senselessly by playing free Flash games. Flash and Shockwave type games feature loud and impressive animation, and provided you have a high speed Internet connection, can provide many hours of fun. Flash games are also updated regularly and feature celebrity fighting parodies, and even major movie titles like Spider Man 3. For Internet games, usually the only requirement is that you have flash or Shockwave installed and possibly that you sign up for free membership. These games sponsor ads and so the companies make their money just by you showing up at your home arcade center.

Cheap Games
You can also buy commercial games for cheap that feature download updates in their games. Worms is a classic player vs. player title, and Ultima Online has a large share of fans. Other popular online games include Vampire: The Masquerade, Neverwinter Nights and Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Why play visually and aurally stunning games for cheap when you can play them for free?