The thin red line between gaming and gambling is getting thinner everyday thanks to an unprecedented but interesting chain of events that started as a revolution in the video gaming industry. These two worlds rarely mixed as they attract different kinds of audiences, but it seems that it was inevitable that they meet one day. The point where these areas intertwine is the point where a lot of money can be made by merging them into a joint venture. Some say that the world of video gaming should be left to the players and the world of online casinos should be inhibited by gamblers only, but every market reacts to what people want. Right now, it seems like they want a little bit of both.
Going online
We can easily say that gambling is far older than playing video games, like centuries older. Video gaming is a modern phenomenon that emerged with new digital technology that brought us all those fancy gadgets we use every day. Casinos were perfecting their operations much before the IT sector became a new industry on a rise, but those nerdy programmers were quick to learn how to make some money by producing video gaming. It started with the arcades, continued with gaming consoles, and evolved into modern gaming that one can perform on his laptop or a desktop computer. The casinos were the first who went online because they recognized a great opportunity in this vast virtual network that connects millions of players.
The gaming world followed with the emergence of online RPG and MMO titles which proved as a good concept. Desktop titles like the Sims along with many other titles quickly became available for an online multiplayer experience which started a new era in gaming history. Every genre of video gaming quickly became focused on the multiplayer section because that is where some real money was to be made. Coping this trend which proved to be successful in the gambling industry can be interpreted as a benchmarking move and one solid business strategy, but things didn’t just stop there. They have evolved in a strange direction which a lot of gamers couldn’t predict.
Looting the boxes?
Customized content quickly became every player’s obsession and owning new cool stuff is now a sign of a status symbol in a gaming community. While an average gambler is satisfied by examining the best review thus finding the most reputable Microgaming casinos on the net, video gamers became obsessed with paid customized game-related content. This led to the emergence of some in-game economy with its virtual currencies that can be bought for real money and exchanged for some of those cool customized items. At this point, this starts to resemble a lot like a casino cashier boot where one can exchange cash for chips or vice versa. This is not some coincidence and things were just starting to get more complicated.
This trend continued for years until some developers came to an idea to use some new concept which they named lootboxes. These items became like treasure chests embedded into gameplay to give players extra power, abilities, or more cool items to utilize. This is way different than browsing through CasinoTopNZ places and searching for the best bonus deals but whoever created this concept certainly had the same idea in mind. Video gameplay started resembling casino experience even more as loot boxing clearly has some elements of gambling embedded in it. Even a game review of some popular MMO started sounding like an online casino review as players spend more time reviewing looted items than its actual gameplay.
If you can’t beat them, join them
This relationship between gaming and gambling has been going back and forth for decades now, with both sides borrowing profitable ideas from each other. Now, it is a turn for a gambling industry to borrow something back from the video gaming industry. We are not talking about stunning graphics and play mechanics, because that has already been borrowed and put to good use. We are talking about merging gaming and gambling into one interchangeable immersive experience. The thing is that casino games are contests of chance while video games are acknowledged as contests that require some skills to beat them.
Casinos have detected some new need in the gaming population that is characterized by a desire for some gaming experience that stimulates both their skills while keeping elements of chance. This found expression in new slot plays that combine these concepts and resemble video gaming by letting players roleplay in between slot spinning. That line between gaming and gambling has been deleted a long time ago and every online casino is thinking that same thing, which is that they can incorporate gaming concepts into gambling just like video game developers did the opposite. It will be very interesting to see how this idea will develop especially after introducing virtual reality into this mix.
If you are a fan of video games, you must have been exposed to some kind of loot boxing by this point so you might have some inclination toward gambling although you never gambled before. If you are a gambler with no affiliation with video gaming, new trends set by online casinos might get even seasoned payers interested in trying some MMO from time to time. The point is that these industries are merging and maybe this is a good thing. Every market responds to what players want and right now it seems like they want to gamble while playing some video games.