The Internet, per se, has had some influence on my gaming, but not as much as might be expected.
I have found my idea of what makes a good rpg session, as opposed to more "mainstream" players, is a rather odd fish. And I found this out primarily by looking at campaign information on the internet. Until the net all I had was access for a few widely scattered groups. Now I have a more general idea how people play. And, I find, I am not in the mainstream...
I have also been able to find contacts for people in less mainstream games (and gaming styles). While in the past I was pretty much limited to people who played D&D, GURPS, and Vampire, now it is easy to find people who play many other games, including some of the obscure ones! This is a real boon and makes me feel like I'm not so alone out there.
I have been able to find out about upcoming products more rapidly. I also have been able to purchase some fine products, or simply download them in certain cases.
I have been able to more readily find photos and sounds that help enhance my games. I could do this before, but now I do it with speed!
And it is easier to keep the group in contact, since my gamers are spread quite a long ways apart. We have a Yahoo group that keeps us much more together and organized. In the Old Days I would have had locals as my fellow gamers; now I have Commuter Gamers!
As for research, I've gained a bit there, but still tend to fall back to books, libraries and museums. Just my way...
Still, in the aggregate, I have found the Net a very useful item!