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Video Gaming For Dollars
from the the-next-generation-game-servers dept
We've had a lot of articles recently about how video game players are increasingly becoming like sports players - with tournaments and sponsorships. However, according to this Salon.com article, a new generation of gaming systems are being set up that will let everyday gamers make money playing against each other. The concept is pretty straightforward. All players have to put up some money to get in, and then as they play, the players who do better get money from the players they beat. And, of course, the companies running the servers take their cut of any transaction. Seems like a good business model - except that there are some questions about the legality of the whole thing. Some are saying that it's just another form of online gambling - though (like those who run these sites), I disagree. Online gambling involves games of chance and betting against the house. These are based on skill and are wagers directly against other players. There's no "gambling" involved. Of course, lawmakers might not see it that way - which is why at least one of these sites is located offshore, away from prying US lawmakers. Another thing that will be interesting to watch, if these services stay "legal", is how they deal with the cheating issue. They all say they carefully watch out for cheaters, but other gaming systems - where there isn't even money on the line - have found it difficult to stop cheaters.
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Mike, maybe this is the type of thing people will "do for a living" in a society in which physical labor and information processing is fully automated.
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cheaters...
Before (and now) online gaming was(is) rife with developmentally-arrested emotionally immature morons who think fun is being able to ruin a game for someone else (griefers) or just don't like to compete (ie: will use every cheat in the book and spend 2 days flaming the poor new guy they slaughtered) and feel the need to cheat to be "superior" (without even once thinking how pathetic it is to feel superior when cheating at a VIDEO GAME).
Now tho, there's money on the line, so you can bet that MORE cheaters will come out of the woodwork because now its not just pathetic, its profitable...and where previously cheaters and griefers were mostly stupid and very obvious (and STILL hard to guard against), now we'll see a whole new generation of smarter and much much more subtle cheaters because now, its not about ego, its about cash.
What a way to ruin the experience.
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Gambling
This would probably be considered gambling the same way Poker is considered gambling. In poker you don't pay against the house. You're putting your skill and luck against other players. I
n gaming, it can be seen the same way. Why did I get spawned next to a knife and he got spawned next to the BFG9000?
This will probably won't last too long so hard core gamers should take advantage of it now.
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