GameRanger is a free download for Mac and PC that lets you play over 500 games and demos online with friends and opponents worldwide. GameRanger offers features like profiles, friends lists, instant messaging, in-game voice communication, and competitive ladders/rankings/ratings. So we thought it was time we chatted with Scott Kevill the creator.

[GDN] GameRanger has been in operation since 1999. What were those early days like in regards to gaming online?

[SK] It was a very different time back then. Online gaming was still relatively new and not anywhere near as common as it is now, so there was still a lot of excitement about online play itself, regardless of which game you were playing. One nice thing about the old days is that the internet hadn’t become a "bad" place yet, so NAT routers and firewalls were not needed, which meant playing online was actually easier than it is now.

As time went on, game companies moved their focus to using in-game online services with the goal of building immersive communities, but other than the occasional exception, I believe the user experience has suffered as a result.

[GDN] GameRanger has made leaps and bounds since then and now supports 532 games, what’s been the greatest event over the last decade for you and GameRanger?

[SK] One that stands out in my mind was winning the prestigious Best of Show award at Macworld Expo in New York in 2002. The Macworld Expo is a pretty big consumer show where Apple often makes new product announcements. On top of that, I had a TV camera crew come over and interview me on the show floor for a new tech TV series. I hadn’t experienced anything like that before so it was quite a buzz.