edutain@grid is an exciting and ground-breaking project which aims to open the benefits of GRID technology to the wider public. GRID technology enables high performance computing that until now has typically only been available to academia and large industry. edutain@grid is developing middleware that will give other application developers access to this powerful technology without the need for Grid infrastructure management. Edutain@grid also recognises that application interactivity and responsiveness expectations will need to be maintained. Its success will be demonstrated through the development of two pilot applications for massively multi-player interactive gaming and e-learning, which the project defines as examples of Real-Time Online Interactive Applications (ROIAs).