When you are playing Cleopatra slots with Virgin Games, you might not be thinking of the technology behind the spinning reels – but there is so many interesting parts of the game and the industry involved.
Online casinos are alluring to players because they offer fun escapism as well as the opportunity to win some money too. They are easy to play, convenient to get involved in, and most are even available as mobile downloads.
Before the internet and the digital age, the only way you’d be able to play casino games would be to go to a casino, or to a betting shop for the slot machines. You’d have to pull the lever on the one-armed bandit, or push the button on the fruit machine in the pub. Still exciting, still fun – but much less convenient than the online casino.
So, what makes slots and other games so exciting?
RNG
One of the first things that you want to know about as a player is that the games you are playing are fair. It is the Random Number Generation (RNG) technology that helps to make this a reality, especially for slot games.
Through algorithms, the reels stop at random, making sure that the reported RTP rate is adhered to, and making the games exciting and just as volatile as advertised.
AI
AI and machine learning is all over the news, with new abilities being mentioned (some less popular than others, of course).
The AI in gaming is responsible for things like learning your preferences in the games that you play, offering you bonuses and opportunities to keep you playing, and even answering some of your questions when you contact them on the live chat function.
Animation
What makes playing online slots and other casino games more interesting is the power of animation. The exquisite detail we can enjoy in movies and TV shows translate to the world of gaming to bring us beautiful designs and themes, as well as stunning, smooth animation.
This is especially important in games that require cut scenes or videos – or the fast cascading of reels.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
While true virtual reality is still not quite there just yet, the power of augmented reality can allow you to overlay your game into the ‘real’ world. Both virtual and augmented reality can make games like poker and blackjack so much more exciting – and for other games, like Pokémon Go and similar, it is an important part of the way you play.
As these technologies continue to develop, we could see the time where we can place ourselves as players into the world-famous casinos around the globe, without even leaving our bedrooms.
Live Dealers
As we can’t put ourselves in the physical casino through virtual reality (yet), live dealers are a way to get closer to the action. Some casino sites put cameras on dealers in the casino or have them set up in a studio and play through the games while players watch and chat – almost as good as the real thing.
As a player, the live dealer games can help you to learn, too – croupiers can offer help and guidance if you are new to the game, and other players can advise too – but remember, you are playing against them so be prepared for some banter.
Cloud Gaming
Early gaming, whether on console or PC, needed discs and downloads to work properly – but the development of the Cloud has given players even more options so they are not limited to the memory on their devices.
Essentially, cloud gaming means storing the game vitals in storage away from your device, allowing you to play whenever and wherever you like. Much like browser games that require no device memory to play, the opportunities given by cloud gaming has meant that subscription models can work for PC (Steam), Xbox, PlayStation, and others.
Mobile Gaming
The last – and perhaps most important – part of the technology behind digital games comes from smartphones. We can have access to the whole internet from the palm of our hands, including games, social media, messaging, camera, and video.
Online casinos have made the most of this technology too – by making applications that are built for the individual operating systems. The games are structured to work with the smartphone technology, and that brings about an exciting new facet of play – getting to spin the reels wherever you are.
Added to this is the spread of 5G. Fast data and internet connection can now be achieved without needing to connect to the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot – which means total freedom for the players, and more opportunities to get on a winning streak.
We have seen so many huge developments in the world of digital gaming, especially in the last couple of decades – so it is exciting to look to the future and see how much it will change again.
