I have a sneaky feeling that you have to use GameSpy because of the beta copy I have seen of PTW. Please tell me I am wrong. Also, I am not asking about LAN or PBEM, I am wondering if you can play someone that is not on your LAN over the Internet without using GameSpy. I hate having to use a service to find people to play...

I am not sure on this but i have heard that you have to use gamespy.

For the time being, Gamespy is the only option. A future patch (see the headlines on the main page) will include Direct Connections thru TCP/IP.

Thanks homegrown!

Ripped from the front page:

Patches, Direct IP Connection
posted by Thunderfall at 3:26 AM

Firaxis producer Jeff Morris announced in yesterday's Apolyton chat that Firaxis is working on the second patch for PTW. The patch will address MP slowdown problem and will include a direct IP connection option which will bypass the Gamespy matchmaking.
We`re aware that the gamespy connection stuff is problematic right now and it`s the focus of our team. We`ve got a list of things that will be fixed in this patch and that along with host slowdowns are on the agenda. So far I haven`t heard of any single player issues, editor or LAN/PBEM/Hotseat issues so right now we`re focused on internet performance....

We`re looking into a list of about 5 major issues related to internet play right now. One new feature of the patch will be a direct connect IP option.

Hopefully we don't need to wait too long for the patch...