Just got quake II off of gog. saw the multiplayer option and was wondering how that worked and if it's possible to play with other online players. sorry if this has already been asked. thank you so very much.

You can try to find ppl here
http://www.gameranger.com/about

there is few sites, but q2servers.com is not work for me (although 3rd party sites refer to it sow me list of servers from it, my browser issue i guess).
Look at some links maybe at PCGW. I dont think many ppl on clear original game version.