A generation ago, playing games usually meant opening a cupboard, getting out a box full of dice and counters, and then keeping score with a pen and paper. That’s why social historians will look back on the changes of recent years and say we’ve lived through a total revolution in gaming.
Today we are at an exciting stage where leading operators like 777 casino can offer a variety of high-quality games that can be played on devices that fit in your pocket. Players can access them anywhere, anytime.
The evolution from pen-and-paper and slow analogue games to the wonders of online gaming has been amazingly quick. It has created a new world of remote digital casinos that have become a major global industry that funds more and more growth.
The ‘revolution’ means that gaming is now within everyone’s reach. It’s more affordable, accessible and convenient than it has ever been.
Advances in technology have been behind this massive shift online. The rise of the internet was accompanied by a boom in everything from a boom in mobile technology to amazing advances in digital design skills.
Remote access to the internet benefited from a series of high-tech breakthroughs that range from the broadening geographical spread of services to the speed of 4G & 5G. Remember how you used to have to be in the middle of a big city to get a reliable signal – and remember waiting patiently for buffering sites to slowly load on your devices?
Mobile gaming has been helped by technological advances in things like payment systems, cybersecurity and graphic interfaces. And cloud gaming is now at the heart of many online playing environments.
Adventurous players know that live streaming is now commonplace, enabling live gaming that would have previously been thought of as impossible.
A generation after people carefully sat down and filled out the football pools coupon then posted it once a week, the top online casinos can offer live poker tables, multi-player modes and bingo chat rooms.
The technology is moving so fast that sometimes it seems the sky is the limit. Perhaps it is.
The coming wave of technology can take gaming into worlds that seemed like science fiction a few years ago. Imagine for example what will be possible with advances in virtual reality.
Players could live through virtual experiences that transform the whole concept of what a game is. From clunky simple games with slow, pixelated screens we can now soon expect a high-res, high-fidelity life-like gaming future.
Expect VR headsets to become cheaper, lighter and far more common. This will allow more players to enter fantasy worlds like those created by trailblazers like Star Wars: Squadrons and Room VR: A Dark Matter.
Many experts believe augmented reality games will become even more common than VR. Pokemon Go was a trailblazer for this technology, using a player’s smartphone GPS, clock, camera and gyroscope to create location-based portable gaming.
At the latest count Pokemon Go has 166 million active users. It generates billions in revenue through in-app purchases.
These use some features of reality, like the player’s own surroundings for example, and superimpose it in a fantastical digital environment.
Expect more fun, more thrills and more excitement. Augmented reality, or AR, is many experts’ tip for the next big thing.
And the advent of artificial intelligence is likely to make many of the processes involved in accessing and operating games so much smoother, faster and more efficient.
AI is already used to some extent in popular games like Minecraft, Need For Speed and Civilization.
In addition, engineers are working on sophisticated ways that AI can improve the actual game experience for the players. For example characters in a game could use their intelligence to learn to play against you.
It could be like playing another human player over and over, and they keep getting better. Or they could adapt the way they play to the way you play – making your games closer and more thrilling.
Game designers are walking a tightrope as they improve the use of AI in games. They want to improve the experience but don’t want to make it impossible to beat the ‘bot – ie: making the game unbeatable.
After 4G came 5G. Behind the scenes the next wave of internet access is already being developed – and we should be expecting a stratospheric leap in the amount of data that can be shifted per second.
The speed of downloads simply won’t be a problem any more.
Meanwhile expect blockchain technology to be increasingly important in online payment systems that sit at the heart of many online casinos. It promises a more flexible, secure and user-friendly payment system for all online gaming.
One day you may play using tokens from your crypto wallet. And that day may not be far away.
Those online casinos have been so successful using the first wave of technology that the digital gaming industry is now worth billions.
All this money is financing more and more development in the future. With all this investment to hand, industry experts see no reason why the rapid growth in online gaming won’t simply continue at breakneck speed.
And that means the online gaming world has become one of the early technology pioneers.
Because of the potential money involved, it is now likely to be at the forefront of many digital advances. For players that means prepare yourself – even more gaming fun is on the way.