Online gaming is one of the biggest tech and entertainment phenomena in the last decade. Video games have always been popular since the days of the arcade and Atari, but no one could have predicted just how much mobile and online gaming would take off. It’s at the point where many people don’t even buy physical game discs anymore, they either download the game or play it through a cloud service.
Online gaming has also helped to make gaming more accessible. Instead of needing an expensive console to be able to play video games, players can use their computers. With browser games, anyone can play since these simple online games typically don’t require special graphics cards or top-end hardware. This has all been made possible thanks to the improved internet speed that has come about since the switch from dial-up to DSL, broadband and Wi-Fi.
Online gaming hasn’t just shaped how we play video games either. It has also played a role in shaping other entertainment. This article will look at some of these impacts.
Online casinos
Online gaming isn’t just about regular video games. It has also allowed for the creation of digital substitutes for popular real-life activities. Going gambling at the casino is one of those activities. Online casinos combine all the excitement of a land-based casino with the convenience of online gaming.
The best online casinos, including the New Zealand-based SkyCity, offer players hundreds or even thousands of slot game options. They also offer table games of all sorts, and some online casinos even offer games such as bingo. The slots have been most heavily influenced by online gaming, particularly mobile games.
Just like mobile games, online slot games have very basic game play — they don’t require players to have great reflexes or the ability to think and plan strategically. The real fun comes from the bright and engaging graphics, catchy soundtrack and sound effects, and the potential to win big.
Online casinos have become a major component of the gaming industry. They are one of the areas that most dramatically illustrate the influence of online gaming.
Gaming-inspired media
There is nothing new about popular video games being turned into movies. The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Resident Evil series both did very well commercially and spawned a number of sequels. This showed there was an audience for these types of films outside of fans of the games.
There is also nothing new about some of them being major flops at the box office. Super Mario Bros. (1993), Max Payne (2008) and Assassin’s Creed (2016) all did very badly despite being among the most popular games of the day.
The World of Warcraft movie, simply titled Warcraft (2016), showed that there was an audience for movies based on online games. This provided backstory to the original game and built on the established lore in a way that also attracted fans of other fantasy material.
With a game as central to the development of MMORPGs turned into a moderately successful fantasy film, it became clear that the fantasy genre didn’t need canonical source material to be popular. This has led to newer book series and independent fantasy material being turned into movies and shows, including The Witcher, Shadow and Bone and The Magicians.
Off-line gaming
Online gaming has had another, more surprisingly, effect on entertainment — it has contributed to the board game renaissance. Board games had been a popular pastime for adults in the 1970s. Games such as Masterpiece, Ploy and Railway Rivals were popular across demographics. Somehow in the decades that followed, board games lost their appeal and came to be seen as an activity that was just for kids.
Video gaming was originally a fairly solitary activity. Online gaming transformed gaming into a group activity, where people could play with strangers or their friends. As this grew and the technology improved, being able to talk to one another while playing became easier and in some cases an important part of the gaming experience.
All of this has helped to remind people that playing games with friends is an incredibly fun way to spend time. The one hurdle is that not everyone enjoys playing online games. The solution has been to play board games. As more people became interested in board games again, more board games were created. There are now games to appeal to every player and skill level from both major companies and indie developers.
