Multiplayer questions

Hey Kirupa! Long time no see!

I was curious and it has something to do with multiplayer. I don’t want to keep a server up for my friends since its not really necessary (At least at my current knowledge of this subject it isn’t necessary for this sort of project) So basically the game is a 1v1 scenario. I was wondering if its possible to set it up so that a person inputs another person’s IP address and they get connected together and play the game.

If this is possible what language will I need to learn or look further into. My assumption is that I needed to know XML but I just wanted some clarification.

Thanks Kirupa.