I would like someone to identify 7 multiplayer PC games that meet the
following criteria:

A. Beginners can learn basic gameplay quickly (such as friends coming
over to play for the first time for a fun hour of gaming)
B. No games with 'Mature' rating, or ultra-violent games like Quake or
Halo. Family friendly is the key with these games.
C. Supports multiplayer gameplay across a LAN or Internet
D. Plays on PC's with Windows XP. High-graphics requirements OK.
E. Game is not subscription based to either buy or play online

Examples of good games that meet this criteria which I already have
are "Nerf Arena Blast" and "Scorched Earth 3D"

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Clarification of Question by wildfoos-ga on 12 Aug 2005 15:46 PDT

When I stated "Multiplayer" I mean more than 2, not just 2. Checkers,
Chess, and those cheesy 2-player javascript games don't count...

Scrabble:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005AT8A/102-4028292-0466552?v=glance

Here's one of my favorites. Check out "Armagetron Advanced" at this link:

http://www.andybrain.com/extras/free_video_games_action.htm

Though it helps if you're familiar with the movie "Tron", it meets all
your requirements.

1. Age of Empires II and the conquerers expansion
2. Worms 3D
3. Starcraft and the Brood War expansion
4. Battleship 
5. Star Wars Battlefront
6. any of the warcraft trilogy
7. Star Wars Republic Commando
those are just a few, comment back if you need more

I have choosen my top 7 choices of what I think would be the best for
your situation, I have tried to cover a wide variety of different game
play types.

- Monster Truck Madness 2 - great game, I played the original when I was a kid.
  http://www.microsoft.com/games/monster/default.htm

- Age Of Empires, There are about 4 with different settings in time.
  http://www.microsoft.com/games/pc/ageofmythologygold.aspx (the newest one)

- Worms, This is a fun gun for everyone. (link is for a review of the original)
  http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/worms/

- The Sims, a great game where you can create a family and their home.
Please note you need to buy the Sims online to get an online version.
  http://thesims.ea.com/index_flash.php

- Fifa 2005, great for those who love soccer.
  http://www.easports.com/games/fifa2005/home.jsp

- Madden 2006, great for those who love football.
  http://www.easports.com/sports/madden06/index.jsp

- F1 Career Challenge, better than the nascar game in my opinion.
  http://www.easports.com/games/f12004/home.jsp

Let me know if these are what you are looking for, I can always list
more if need be. If you give me a game type or certain genre I can
give you an answer that is more directed to your situation.

Runescape is addictive.
StarCraft is an oldie but goodie.

Sites like Yahoo and Pogo.com have many free games (C&C Attack Copter
is one of my favorites).

http://www.free-games.com.au/Free_Online_Multiplayer_Games/

I only have one suggestion right now, but for ease of use I think it's
unparalleled.

The You Don't Know Jack series basically take the form of an off-beat
quiz show. One big advantage is that, although online and network play
is supported, You Don't Know Jack is easily played by 4 people on one
computer, which is the best fun.

http://www.jellyvision.com/stuff/gamez/ydkj/index.php

why not try the new age of empires. age of empires 3. very fun and
nice and as long as you are playing with freinds, family etc, the game
will not be hard. you can chose between 7 races.
ottoman,french,british, etc. (cant remember all of them).

Neopets.com
Runescape.com

Here is a list I found to be fun:

1. C&C Red Alert 2 + Yuri's Revenge (try human teams against difficult AI's)
2. PacMan-related PC games
3. Playing card games
4. StarCraft and expansion
5. Any car racing game
6. Quake and such with modded skins (like teletubbies, etc.)
7. Tetris, Frogger, Croc, ...(not multiplayer, but it's fun having
everyone look as each plays)

Here is a new game: Age of Empires III -- now online play is done by ES online
the whole AOE series is good, its microsoft made
New, 3d graphics, great gameplay, whole new era.
Warcraft and Starcraft are really fun
Battlezone is a really good game, space age like age of empires,
except slightly more first person

Another good game is Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds -- its like the
Age of Empires series, only star wars related -- zone supports it as
online play
A great game is space odyssey www.spaceo.biz
its a space age mmorpg (massive multiplayer online role playing game)
runescape is good too

woopsies that is spaceo.net or spaceodyssey.biz