Let’s Get Virtual!

The time is upon us that we are about to experience the absolute mecca of online gaming to this point! There have been murmurings for years about the development of software that would enable a true virtual reality experience to be delivered to players the world over. We have had to wait for a number of developments to unfold before it would even be possible. First of all, the software had to be put into place; the hardware created affordably and the Internet connectivity such that it can support such a stream.

Microgaming has a long history of being on the forefront of online casino innovation, and the concept of virtual reality gaming is no different. There’s an interesting video posted on their site for a virtual reality Roulette game that I recommend watching.

That Roulette game, ‘VR Roulette,’ won Microgaming the Digital Innovation of the Year 2015 at the Global Gaming Awards, and for good reason. Much as Microgaming was the first to be prepared for the expansion of mobile gaming, as they have had the mechanisms in place for the last eight years; they are also leading the charge in the soon-to-be virtual reality market.

The key with Microgaming is that they want to be the best and most innovative in all regards. In that video, it is said that they do not expect virtual reality gaming to become feasible for the next three to five years actually, but they want to have the best product on the market when it does. While it costs them money that does not result in an immediate return now, it does mean that they will be able to dominate the market later.

As you can clearly see from the video, the virtual reality hardware and software are both in place. The game operates in an atmosphere designed to be fully immersive. The atmosphere invokes visual, auditory and tactile stimulation. While you do not experience the physical feeling of grabbing anything, the game reacts to your hand motions of putting the bets on the table.

It is also important to keep in mind that the atmosphere in the video on their site is very much a prototype. The croupier is just a robotic outline, the table is clearly electronic looking and the music doesn’t invoke that of an actual casino.

As the technology improves, one would expect that the robotic looking dealer would be replaced with something that looks much closely similar to a real human being. The layout, similarly, should eventually resemble the felt of a physical roulette table. Furthermore, actual surroundings may be incorporated into the game with other players flitting about, slot players in the background, and maybe even something like a casino cage that a player could turn to, point at, and be at the player banking screen! The player might even turn fully around from the Roulette table and be looking at a casino bar with people idly sipping drinks or playing video poker on the bartops.

The experience will eventually align itself with that of a physical casino, as I always say, the only difference will be that there is no actual physical cocktail waitress to bring around free drinks. It might even be possible for the player to look around the casino, perhaps by turning and walking in place, in order to choose slot machines or other table games by pointing at them. It’s going to be an amazing development.

One of the main problems with quality VR headsets at this time is that they are somewhat expensive, though much less so than they once were. Essentially, companies such as Microgaming working on a virtual reality product are waiting for the hardware and software required to be mass marketed and, as such, to be affordable to most players.

The hardware consists of a headset, that is itself inherently linked to VR gloves, which plugs into your computer at home. Obviously, a player is also going to need to have a computer with the necessary power to be able to handle the VR universe. That’s not much of a problem, as many computers as they sit now are capable of handling it, though perhaps not anything else simultaneously.

The software is the part where Microgaming is going to come in directly with the player. It is going to likely be downloadable software from the Microgaming site as will many other virtual reality software sets. Regarding how it gets used, the download process will not be meaningfully different than downloading an online casino or mobile casino app now.

As many people know, several online casinos offer both a downloadable version as well as a, ‘Play Now,’ version. The Play Now version sometimes does not support as many games as the download and it is also possible the audio and graphical quality will not be as strong as the download. It may also be the case with the virtual reality games. There might be a way to play directly through the website, but the quality of the actual product may be somewhat different as a result. The main reason for that is a downloaded version is operating directly on a player’s computer, and the only thing that gets communicated between the computer and the website are game results in a pretty basic form. The communication that takes place between a non-downloaded casino and the website is more direct and requires more work on both ends as the game itself is being communicated from computer to computer.

Sometimes the Industry Gets it Wrong:

One thing that you may have noticed on the Microgaming video is that some games were being played on a SmartWatch. The reason for that is that Microgaming does want to be on top of all possible fronts so that it can attract customers interested in the newest technology. The problem is, neither Microgaming (nor most others in the industry) knew that the Smartwatch was going to fall flat on its digital face.

In addition to the cost, it turns out that Smartwatches really can’t do much and don’t have nearly the ability that your Smartphone does. The other problem is that a screen size of 1.6 inches is going to be a bit small for most people. I certainly don’t want to attempt to play any games on a smartwatch. Besides, I have pretty large fingers being a 6’3” guy, watch me click something wrong and Max Bet accidentally!

SlotsMillion:

SlotsMillion currently has a VR casino in place with an option for players to play their slots directly on the computer if they lack a virtual reality headset. You can check out a short video of the virtual reality product on their site.

The way that one works is that it tracks head movements to see where the player wants to go and the player can look down to check his/her credits on a machine and up to watch the slot game. It’s visually pretty impressive, but not quite as immersive as the Microgaming product, though the Microgaming product is not on the market yet.

The SlotMillion Casino also shows other players walking around in the VR environment, but they cannot tell any personal information about you and are not aware of your bankroll or anything like that. However, that’s just one example of how VR has already been designed to more closely replicate the Land-Based casino experience.

I believe that will be another thing that Microgaming will incorporate that will be unique. I imagine that much like players can play together on a live casino product now, they will be able to play together on virtual reality casino table games. In addition, they might be able to set it up with a microphone incorporated into the headset (or the one on the computer already) so that the players can communicate with each other as they play the game.

The titles that are available on the SlotsMillion product are displayed in a fashion identical to what one would experience in a physical casino. To be specific, they look like the actual machines that are in casinos with the play screen on the bottom and the top screen having a graphical display with the title of the game.

Bringing the Real to the Digital:

The goal of all of these developments, as well as the Live Dealer experience, is really simple: The online casinos want to effectuate their products more closely resembling brick-and-mortar casinos.

The fact of the matter is that the players are becoming more demanding and they want an immersive experience. The simple act of gambling is not enough for everyone, particularly not the up-and-coming market of Millennials who are accustomed to everything being in some way interactive. Players also want to enjoy the ability to communicate with others as if they were in a physical casino, as well as the ability to turn that communication off at will...which is one benefit players DON’T have in a B&M.

It’s not going to be enough to have simple representations of slots and crudely designed table games anymore. Everything is going to need to be sleek and interactive. Ultimately, there will be some casinos who do not adapt quickly enough and will lose business to the casinos who were quicker to adapt to the new technology.

Better still is the possibility that a live dealer could be transmitted into the virtual reality environment. It will require several cameras as well as motion sensors on the physical person, as well as some serious computing power, but it may eventually become possible for that to happen as well.

Will It Completely Change the Industry?

It’s not going to change the industry in every possible way. For one thing, we would expect mobile gaming to continue to be popular, especially for the next several years until VR becomes the standard (if it does). Furthermore, the traditional online casino product with its simplistic graphical representation remains popular, and it is unlikely they will go anywhere because the cost to deliver those games to the player is very low.

As a result, as compared to Live Dealer games, the minimums tend to be lower on the simpler games that do not cost as much to deliver and we can expect that to be a trend that persists. The fact of the matter is that the online casinos need to make more money than they spend, so all of the money that goes into creating these advanced products needs to come back their way. For that to happen might require higher minimums, and unfortunately, might require greater house edges on slots and worse rules for players on table games.

Conclusion:

Online gaming is developing and is closing in on accomplishing its goal of being virtually identical to the brick-and-mortar casino experience. Virtual Reality gaming, particularly table games and generating casino backgrounds to aesthetically supplement the games is going to come much closer to being not meaningfully different from the live casino experience.

Just find a way to get me the free drinks and it would be perfect, hell, I wouldn’t even have to worry about getting a hotel room.