For the most part, I've left on-line gaming alone.

 I figure I embarrass myself in private enough without having to prove how inept I am to millions of others on the Internet.

 While most on-line games are played by people who have purchased a game with Internet capacities, connecting them through an intermediary game service like Heat.Net, others are offered by companies Like Sony Online Entertainment's The Station (http://www.station.sony.com/) where surfers have the chance to play corporation-owned top TV game shows like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune or The Dating Game. 

 The tactic here is not just to promote the game shows, but also, as a part of the sign-up, users provide personal information which Sony says it "shares with other organizations". You can read "shares" as "sells". 
 And there are also many Java-based game sites, such as The Big Network (http://www.bignetwork.com), offering some interesting examples of how the multi-platform language can be used. 

 Recently, however, I came across a rather unique marketing ploy involving on-line gaming. To hype sales of Cherry Coke, the Coca Cola Company has launched the on-line game Time Tremors (http://www.cherrycoke.com/). It's an interesting game, in which your character is to select items from a 2-D graphic and repair damage that has been done to the time continuum. It also has a primitive 3-D shooter scrolling section. A unique feature of the game, however, is that you have to collect credits to help move on to a new section. 

 And just how do you get those credits? All you have to do is submit an access code found under the cap of specially marked bottles of Cherry Coke. 

 When I first encountered the game (which is plagued with time consuming downloads of media files, game engines, etc.), I was disgusted. Here was just another example of the commercialization of the Web. 
 I've later reconsidered. I've come to think that commercialization is probably the biggest impetus behind the growth of the Internet, much like what happened with television, and will probably be the main reason for it becoming a fixture in every household.

 So rather than denouncing efforts to use cyberspace to push products, we'll probably just have to accept it as a part of the evolution of the Net. No doubt, someday someone will come out with a commercial-free Web zone, much like TVO or PBS on television for those users driven insane with flashing animated gif ads on every Web site. 

 Until then, commercial-weary surfers will just have to get used to pixel pitches from cyber-savy corporations.

 And of course, wash down those Cherry Cokes.