The Microsoft® DirectPlay™ application programming interface (API) for Windows® 95 is a software interface that simplifies your application's access to communication services. DirectPlay was primarily developed for game communication, but could be used for other applications that require communication independent of the underlying transport, protocol, or online service.
Games are more fun if they can be played against real players, and the personal computer has richer connectivity options than any game platform in history. Instead of forcing you, as a game developer, to deal with the differences that each of these connectivity solutions represents, DirectPlay provides well defined, generalized communication capabilities. DirectPlay shields you from the underlying complexities of diverse connectivity implementations, freeing you to concentrate on producing a great game.