Interactive gaming server and online community forum

A multiplayer game system played over the Internet comprising:

• a plurality of game servers, each game server running a different video game;
• a network server linked to the game servers and connected to the Internet, and
• one or more game players connected to the Internet;
• wherein the network server is periodically supplied and stores individual play statistics for a plurality of individual game players by sending requests for the statistics to the game servers at periodic intervals, the play statistics representing a skill level of each game player, and information regarding the level of skill required to play each video game running on the game servers;
• wherein the statistics are capable of being outputted in the form of a report;
• wherein the network server matches a game player to one or more video games as a function of the game player's individual statistics and dynamically generates links between the game player and the one or more video games matched by the network server to the game player, each link providing a means for connecting the game player to a game server running a video game matched to the game player;
• wherein the Internet includes the world wide web (WWW), the network server is a WWW server, and the WWW server uses a graphical user interface (GUI) to interface with the user via terminals via the WWW;
• wherein the GUI displays the video games to which the WWW server is capable of linking, and allows the user to select one of the video games to be linked;
• wherein the GUI displays a number of game players currently playing each of the displayed video games;
• wherein the GUI displays a profile of the game player, the profile including the game player's game name, the game player's real name, an arch-nemesis player's name, preferred weapons of the game player, a type of I/O device of the game player, number of games played by the game player, honors of the game player, hardware information associated with a computer of the game player;
• wherein the network server matches the game player to the one or more video games as a function of both the game player's individual statistics and the individual statistics of other players currently playing each of the one or more video games;
• wherein the network server additionally matches the game player to the one or more video games as a function of a required skill level for each video game;
• wherein the network server additionally matches the game player to the one or more video games as a function of the game player's expressed game preferences;
• wherein the network server matches the game player to the one or more video games by:
• (a) loading the game player's individual statistics and the game player's expressed game preferences,
• (b) determining a skill level of the game player by comparing the game player's relative successes during previous attempts at playing each game,
• (c) setting a counter flag to one (1), the counter flag representing a designation of a current game server,
• (d) determining a name of a game associated with the current game server, and a minimum skill level required for playing the game on the current game server,
• (e) identifying the skill level and preferences of other players currently playing the game on the current game server,
• (f) adding the game to a list on the GUI if the skill level of the game player is greater than the minimum skill level for the game, if attributes of the game comply with the game player's expressed game preferences, if the skill level of the game player is greater than an average of the skill levels of the other players currently playing the game on the current game server, and if the game player's expressed game preferences comply with the preferences of the other players currently playing the game on the current game server,
• (g) determining whether another game server can be checked, and
• (h) incrementing the counter flag by one and repeating (d)-(h) if it is determined that another game server can be checked;
• wherein the game servers are connected to the Internet and have individual Internet addresses and the dynamically generated links are links to the Internet addresses of the game servers;
• wherein the network server limits which levels of play within a game a user may enter depending upon the game player's individual statistics as supplied by the game server;
• wherein the network server determines game characteristics attributable to each game player including weapons available for use by the game player in playing games based on the user's game player statistics;
• wherein the user can input preferences through the GUI with respect to aspects of the game to be played, and the input preferences and the game player's individual statistics are correlated after which the WWW server links a user to a particular game server as a function of both the input preferences and the user's game player statistics;
• wherein the preferences a level of skill of other game players simultaneously playing a game as reflected by their game player statistics;
• wherein the users interfacing with the network server input an election as to a preferred game to be played and the network server controls the game server to load a game elected by the majority of users;
• wherein the network server and the game server are physically proximate to each other and directly connected together;
• wherein the network server and the game server are geographically remote from each other and the network server interfaces with the game server via the network.