There are two things hardly anyone admits doing online, watching porn and gambling. Despite the alleged absence of users, both industries are booming and can afford to develop and adapt the latest technologies.
Being a tech guy, I am amazed, and sometimes jealous, at the technology used on above mentioned sites. The security measures are impressive and the uptime and stability of the servers is the envy of many admin.
Theinternet is here to stay and everyone is trying very hard to get their piece of the cake. What started out as a communication channel for techies in universities has become an integral part of our everyday life and our main source of entertainment. And with everyday that passes our expectations are getting higher, a few years ago the 8-bit graphics on an Atari game were the greatest hit but now anything less than virtual reality is kind of boring.
Like many other industries online casinos have recognized the trend and are moving away from the arcade look and introducing live dealers to the virtual player’s environment. Of course it doesn’t hurt if the dealers are attractive young ladies, or men. From a marketing point of view it’s the right decision, it produces a more familiar environment and seeing humans interact is more assuring than seeing pixels being moved around by a computer in the background.
Below are a few graphics showing the gradual evolution.
The first online games were quite crude, you could see a low resolution static table in the background, the chips and playing cards were simple 2-dimensional graphics, not very appealing.
Then came the first attempts at 3D graphics, trying to give the illusion of being in a room surrounded by other players. It was a step forward in comparison to the previous cards-only graphics but it still had the charm of a bad South Park cartoon.
Thanks to improved computer graphics, better processors on the consumer side and fast, affordable internet, players can interact with live dealers in realtime with high definition, interactive video streams.
Using live dealers brings the ambience closer to real life casinos. You can hear the real and natural sound of the cards being dealt and the chips being placed, instead of the computer generated clicks and swooshes. Being able to interact with a dealer and the human reaction of a small cheer when you win or a sigh when you lose adds a little more reality to the game, making it less virtual thus improving the players online experience.
There is also a social aspect to be considered, be it the joy of seeing a familiar face and getting the feeling of being a “regular” or a harmless flirt, from a distance, with the dealer. The sum of all these small points adds up to a noticeable, enhanced experience, benefitting the user and the operator alike.
And from a technical point of view it is cool to see all this advanced technology, working unnoticed in the background, the way technology should be experienced. We are most probably witnessing the first baby steps towardsaugmented reality, the future of virtual reality.
