Virtual reality has become popular among welcome bonus casino video gamers. Now, online casino industry observers say that they expect VR to become a reality for online casino players in the near future.
Transformation
Virtual Reality may soon upend the online casino industry. Industry insiders expect to see VR games at the online casino in the near future. VR aims to give players a more immersive and interactive adventure so that they experience real-life land-based gambling entertainment from the comfort of their own homes.
In recent years, there have been multiple technological innovations that have transformed online casinos. Some casinos offer special bonuses while others focus on mobile accessibility and offering multiple banking opportunities. In the coming years, Virtual Reality may be the next step that takes online casino gamers up to the next level in convenient and immersive gaming entertainment.
There have been advances in VR hardware and software that could be available to online casino platforms in the next few years so online casino gamers can go beyond the pseudo 3D interfaces and experience a lifelike casino adventure that allows them to engage with other gamers in real time.
Features
Once VR casinos become an actuality, players can look forward to a wide range of new and mesmerizing features. They include:
- Detailed Game Rooms where the player moves through detailed rooms that s/he can then explore further in immersive 3D.
- Realistic Slot Machines with authentic 3D imagery
- In-Game Chats that allow players to chat with other gamers as well as with a dealer to deliver a genuine Vegas casino experience
- 3D Game Tables where the player not only chats through a camera with the Live Dealer but can also bring the gamer right to the table to sit down and engage with the dealer and with other players.
- Real Casino Sounds that create an authentic Vegas casino experience alongside 3D spatial elements.
- Detailed Game Rooms that are explorable in fully-immersive 3D detail.
Future
The virtual reality online casino isn’t yet operational but casino operators say that in the coming years, it will become standard as more and more players demand a video-gaming event in which they engage for real money prizes. People are already purchasing VR headsets, VR hardware accessories and VR software so the growing VR infrastructure market makes it clear that the demand is there.
In 2016 market researchers estimate that the demand for VR games would rise by 800% by 2021 and if anything, that number has grown as the global gaming market has increased during the 2020 pandemic.
The possibilities are endless. Virtual reality casinos could take you to a Vegas gaming floor, a London bookie’s office or the dingy basement of an underworld gaming center. You could even play blackjack on Mars.
The move towards virtual reality casinos is being led by land-based casinos that have already started to invest in VR games that gamers can play inside their retail venues. At this point, the pace of movement depends on advancements in tech hardware. With improvements in VR equipment and smartphone technologies, phone-based headsets will soon be available to take gamers into a VR casino world from any location.
Challenges
The path forward isn’t all rosy. There are challenges that must be met. One bump in the road involves design choices and control schemes for which few standards are available. There isn’t much homogeneity for video games, much less casino slots and table games. VR developers continue to test how to keep players comfortable while ensuring that the games are fun and engaging.
One significant challenge involves the sensations that players feel when using VR equipment that makes them physically ill. Using a VR headset can result in eyestrain, nausea and other side-effects. Since, in virtual reality, the player’s entire body is engaged -- which doesn’t happen in traditional games – sensations of motion sickness are common.
Headsets fit different head shapes and sizes differently but in order for the player to remain comfortable for long stretches of time, the fit must be perfect. Lenses can also be problematic if they aren’t designed properly. A high percentage of players report feeling “VR Sickness,” a term that developers have adopted to describe the dizziness, nausea, disorientation and other related motion-sickness symptoms that are common to VR users.
In virtual reality, the player’s body tells him that he is sitting still while his eyes tell his brain that he is moving. Matt Dickman, technical program manager for safety and health at the VR pioneer Oculus company explained that, “You can experience this in everyday life, such as when you read a book in the back of a car — your vision is fixed on a stationary object, but your peripheral vision and inner ear are detecting movement.
Solving the problem is possible, says Dickman, but the solution may still be a few years away. VR is still a testing ground of game design. For now, VR is still a niche market, despite the growth in demand for VR games and the high price of headsets and the small consumer base makes it hard to convince developers to invest time, money and resources into VR development and expansion.
Yet among game developers, there’s a great deal of enthusiasm about working with VR. Industry insiders say that developing VR tech allows them tremendous freedom as they move past traditional game development and start from scratch. There’s a growing suite of tools that will almost certainly make VR a must-have for online casinos of the future.
