Im not totally new to programming but ive not done any since i left college, but since then ive become a qualified web designer, but what i would like to do is to write online games. Can anyone out there point me in the right direction as to where to start?

Depending on the kind of online game you have in mind, you could start here first if you think of games like counterstrike, World of Warcraft etc. For pure browser games Flash is a good solution, but as a web designer you should already know flash. [rolleyes]

Personally I think you should stay away from making an online game for now. Start with the basics. Get a working version of pong, tetris or pacman if you're daring hehe =) Go into more complicated games from there. When you get comfortable go into 3d programming. You'll have to brush up on some 3d math skills though =)

Websites:
http://www.opengl.org - OpenGL files, documentation, tutorials. Great graphics library
http://www.rakkarsoft.com - should be the right name if not try www.raknet.com - Been a while since I tried to screw with networking but I think its a network API which you can use to set up some networking code to start coding online games
http://nehe.gamedev.net - Slightly out of date but still useful tutorials on using the opengl graphics library

Books:
C++ for Dummies - Excellent book imo. I've learned an incredible amount from this book in a short amount of time. Cost 15 bucks on sale =)
Mud Game Programming (people please correct me if the title is slightly wrong) tells how to make a text-based online RPG or a MUD (multi-user dungeon) great for learning about networking and even game programming without graphics =) You can always learn graphics later!

Please forgive me if any of the above information is a little off. This is just off the top of my head.

Good luck!