The video game landscape is always changing. There was a time when gamers had to leave their home to meet up with their friends at the local arcade. Nowadays, every gamer stays at home to play their favourite video games; however, it is no longer a solitary activity. The increased internet speed in the 2000s made it possible to link up your console to a joint server to play games with people from all over the world.
It is estimated that South Africa will soon become the second-largest online gaming market, but why are so many people choosing to play this way? Let’s find out.
Making Gaming Social Again
As alluded to above, the implementation of home gaming consoles took away some of the social aspects of playing video games. Instead of crowding around a singular arcade cabinet with their friends, gamers were now glued to a single screen and playing alone. There were options to play some games in two-player split-screen mode; however, this method would distort the screen and make the game far less enjoyable. This method would tide people over for a while, but it was nothing compared to the freedom that online gaming provides.
With online servers, you can link up with your friends and play games as a team or competitively while still enjoying the benefits of a full T.V screen. Headphones enable live chat between players, so you really can play video games remotely and receive all the social aspects you would have received when visiting the arcade.
A Competitive Atmosphere
Your friends aren’t the only people that you can play against online. A standard gaming lobby can include anyone from across the globe, which gives the player the chance to play games against all manner of gamers. These lobbies are usually ranked so that players are never pitted against a player that is out of their league; however, this competitive atmosphere provides another element of enjoyment to proceedings.
Console technology can only advance so much, which makes the actions of the enemy AI extremely easy to predict once you have sunk a sizeable number of hours into a game. Human players have their own autonomy, though, so you will always be challenged when you play a video game online.
Escapism
Another aspect of online gaming that comes from joining servers with other players is that it makes the world of the game feel more realistic. Nonplayer characters in-game are restricted in their movements and dialogue options, which only serves to break the player’s immersion. Also, these interactions serve to make the game feel repetitive.
Entering a fantasy landscape where everyone is going about achieving separate goals is much truer to life than standard video games with a set story. You can create alliances with certain players, forge fierce rivalries, or encounter completely random events caused by other people on the server. Therefore, online games can provide players with a second life that they can use as an escape. The more realistic a game becomes, the easier it is for players to slip into their character roles. Adding more players to this world helps enforce this realism.
Accessibility
Home consoles are designed to provide players with the best way to experience the latest video games on the market. That is why so many people choose to play online games using these devices. However, game consoles are not the only tech in modern times to receive widespread praise.
The introduction of smart technology has provided the general public with the means to access the internet at any time whilst they are on the move. As a result, more people are discovering the joy of playing games online and Indie Game Reviews. These devices may be smaller than your average T.V screen; however, the accessibility of these portable machines means that more people are being introduced to the concept of gaming as a hobby, and they have more opportunities to play.
Variety
As you probably know, the internet is a vast place. You can find all sorts of entertainment online, so it should come as no surprise that there is a wide variety of games out there for you to play. You can get together with friends to play a standard first-person shooter, play chess, or even play online bingo. However, the type of game that is taking the online community is the live casino game.
Live casino games are exactly what their name suggests. They are an online version of a casino game that you play with other players that have signed into the server. This allows you to play games like blackjack, roulette, poker, and even slots just as if you were in a real casino. You can always look for slot game reviews to find the best slots to play in this way. There are thousands of different games out there so you can’t go far wrong with your choice.
Relieving Stress
Stress is a common problem for people in modern times. It doesn’t take a lot to activate this fight or flight response, and since you can’t act this way in real life, the negative reaction to stress can follow you around for a while and even make you ill.
Online games place you in an environment where you can act out a different life, letting your stress go by giving you something else to concentrate on. What’s more, the social aspects of these games give you a place to vent your frustrations. Talking is one of the best methods of managing stress, so combine this with a distraction task and you have the perfect recipe for relieving stress.
It Is The Future
Trends only gain traction by improving on systems that already exist. You have seen this already in the way that online gaming improved upon the awkward split-screen multiplayer system. It is rare to find a video game that provides this outdated version of multiplayer because online multiplayer offers a vastly better social experience as well as all the other benefits discussed so far. Therefore, you can assume that online gaming will meet a similar ending when something else comes along to improve upon it. However, this is far from likely.
The current online system of gaming is running as efficiently as modern technology allows. Developers can improve upon game speed and graphics, but it is unlikely that our way of consuming media is going to change any time soon. The only idea that stands a chance of replacing the current online model is a virtual gaming lobby that can include up to or over ten people at once. However, this type of advanced technology is not within our grasp and probably won’t be in your lifetime. Therefore, people choose to play online games as it is the most advanced form of the medium that we have, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Conclusion
Online gaming is something that has improved with time, and it is likely to continue this upward trajectory. It seems that the only people that do not swear by the medium are those who have not tried it for themselves. If you are not already on board with the online gaming concept, it is probably time you get involved. After all, it is going to be the future of the gaming industry.
