Future of online gaming - sad world of gambling

Disclaimer - I wrote this post a while ago but never published it however with the recently announcement that Zynga is entering the real-world-gambling, I thought it was fitting. 

Why is Online Poker effectively outlawed in the USA?


Poker is an addictive (and fun!) game where a player is able to loose a lot of money very quickly. Online Casinos have caps on the amount of credits you can buy daily but that does not work. First of all, a $750 daily limit (typical amount in my experience) is a no limit at all - it might as well be a billion dollars - for the vast majority of people, its not reachable. Secondly, one may play on many websites cranking that limit to $7,500/day or more.

So, (1) you can loose a lot of money in poker, (2) and its addictive, (3) and we need to protect people from themselves, (for their good, or common good) therefore (=>) no online-poker. That's the reasoning regardless if you agree with it or not. This extends to all kinds of gambling, addictive substances etc.

So what does this have to do with the future of online gaming Greg?!?
Well I am glad you asked! Video gaming is a huge industry. Do-it-quick Video Game collage programs are pooping up everywhere, Triple-A title sales are beating Hollywood records.

But Facebook, MobWars and recently Zynga proved that online gaming is the way to go. MobWars proved that people will spend millions of dollars JUST to have a higher score than their friends. Everyone wants to be on the bandwagon.

Online-games are not games, they are virtual slot machines. Parents beware!

Online-games, at least the vast majority of the recent titles, especially on facebook, are not "video games made available online". They are online slot machines that addict players, then allow them to spend lots of money to continue getting their fix.

Employing slot machine-like sounds, silly rewards like score or levels (compared to your friends), they entice players to spend more money to allow them to perform more, usually totally mindless clicks that offer more silly rewards.

Don't believe me? Look at many of the Zynga games, turn on the sounds, perhaps close your eyes for a moment and ask yourself where you are? Las Vegas perhaps?

Free-to-play damaging game industry?

Yes.... at least according to this Inside Mobile Apps article:

Gamespot is reporting that Olivier Comte, Namco Bandai’s SVP for Europe has come out swinging against the free-to-play model, saying games that follow the model aren’t high quality, and that low-cost games lower the perceived value of games, ultimately harming publishers. 

I am not sure I agree with this completely, however, I would agree with a stronger statement : pay-to-advance games are the real problem (like most of the games on Facebook now are)



There are fun games coming out on Facebook but most do not offer a price-to-buy-full-version or even a subscription model. I tried Hidden Chronicles recently, and although I could see it as a game I could play with my kids, I know, or suspect, I will need to spend enormous amounts of money (or spam friends) in order to continue playing as long as I would like to. THANKS, NOT FOR ME! 


If I could BUY the "full" game, or even pay a monthly subscriptions to to use the game, I would continue playing. 


I guess developers prefer to have a few players spending a lot of money, than offer other options allowing more players to play for less.


Lucrative business model? It is a relatively new model and it certainly worked well for some developers recently but maybe there are signs that players are smartening up?


I certainly hope this will change because I do want to play SimCity online, I do want to a strategy game without having to spend hundreds of dollars like at Kingdom of Camelot or other games Kabam is now pumping out. 


This is why we, at Realm Of Empires continue to offer a subscription model - play indefinitely, enjoying the full game for less then a price of coffee at Starbucks per month. 


Unfortunately Realm Of Empires is now the last game of its kind that offers a subscription, no-benefit-to-paying-players model, at least that I know of.