How has online gaming changed over time?


Today, we take it for granted that we can play a vast array of online games whenever we want, wherever we are. But online gaming was not always so accessible. Indeed, it has gone through many changes over the years.

How Online Casino Gaming Has Changed

While there are numerous different types of online games available, they fall into two primary camps: video games and casino games. The former ranges from old 8-bit games to MMOs and e-sports while the latter consists of slot games and table games like poker and roulette. The first-ever real money online casino was called InterCasino. It launched all the way back in 1996. Over the years, online casino games have evolved in several ways. Firstly, gamification was used to incorporate gaming characteristics to specific systems in order to make processes more fun and engaging to players; so online casino games became more video-game-like. When high-definition graphics were used in casino games in the 2000s, the games became even more engaging and aesthetically pleasing.

In recent years, there has been a big move towards people using mobile devices as their primary way of accessing online content, so online casinos have been ensuring their sites are optimized for mobile. The nature of online casinos is also in the process of changing. In the last few years, online live casinos have arrived, where you can play live roulette and other games in real-time with real dealers. As for the future, virtual reality online casino games are already being developed and they look set to transform online casino gaming.

How Online Video Games Have Changed

When the internet as we know it became part of the public domain in 1993, it was not long before game developers saw oodles of potentiality. In 1995, Nintendo’s Satellaview was released as a satellite modem for the Famicom console. For the first time, gamers could download games and cheat hints directly to consoles. However, the Japanese tech never made it to the global market. Throughout the 1990s, Nintendo, Sega, and Atari continued to try to break into the online games market, but things like slow internet capabilities meant none of them really took off. It was only in 2000 when the Sega Dreamcast was launched that online gaming started to resemble today’s world of virtual gaming. The Sega Dreamcast was the first-ever internet-ready console, but despite its revolutionary system, it was a commercial flop. Remember, accessing the internet at the turn of the century was still expensive and connection speeds were much slower. The Dreamcast was ahead of its time, but it paved the way for the next generation of internet-ready consoles that came out in the mid-2000s, in which online functionality was an integral part.

Another huge game-changer to the world of online gaming was when massively multiplayer online role-playing games like Runescape came onto the scene in the early 2000s. For the first time, gamers from all over the world could play games together and communicate with one another. The rise in popularity of MMORPGs, and e-sports, not only changed the way people played games. It also allowed gamers to create online communities in meaningful ways.

The Modern Age of Gaming

Both video games and online casino games have come a long way since the early 2000s. With the explosion of internet capabilities and computer processor technology, every new console and game seems to blow away the previous generations. Now that lightning-fast internet speeds are commonplace, the way people play and buy games, communicate with other gamers, and update software has significantly changed, while networking services like Sony’s PSN have allowed online multiplayer gaming to reach new heights. Online gaming is sure to evolve even more over the coming years, with artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies at the forefront of the next generation of gaming.


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