By Video games bring people together in so many ways. Most join communities to celebrate their mutual love for the same titles and some of them play together if the games support cooperative gaming. Two kinds of industries seek to further meet this desire for community building but in a way that rewards long-term engagement. Here is what you need to know about them:
What is Metaverse gambling?
Metaverse gambling is a new industry centred around the creation of a virtual reality (VR) on the blockchain. These are new tools that game developers have not yet perfected so it will take a while before it competes with modern video games. However, it can support a fully functioning world where communities can thrive, trade, or play at Metaverse casinos.
There are two leading platforms hosting Metaverse casino projects. These are the Decentaraland (MANA) and Sandbox (SAND). Both allow the selling of non-fungible token (NFT) real estate which casino operators buy as building blocks for their VR casinos. You can explore each of them and find all kinds of fun games and points of interest.
How the Metaverse casino industry solves the desire for a community
Online gambling is only capable of bringing games and bookmakers to gamblers’ smartphones. They are unable to emulate the full experience of visiting brick-and-mortar venues like the Las Vegas Strip or hotels in Macau. Therefore, gamblers worldwide can only play by their lonesome and the only solution available there is the chats and forums that casinos host.
Metaverse casinos, on the other hand, can create the full experience of a fun gaming floor and fancy lounges that were once exclusive to brick-and-mortar casinos. This is still meeting the same level of convenience that online gambling introduces because users can explore it in VR. Players can visit these virtual worlds even while at home.
What is MMO gaming?
The massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming genre is old but it is coming back to relevance today because of new technologies. It’s where players log into a server (usually separated by regions or continents) and make avatars to pilot around a fantasy world. People can meet each other, cooperate, and trade.
Neverwinter Nights (1991) is credited as the proprietor of this genre but it only took off for 6 years until it died in 1997. More titles tried to find their success in the genre but none were as successful as World of Warcraft in 2004 and still ongoing.
How does the MMO genre solve the desire for a community
The MMO genre puts players in the same place where they are free to interact, compete, and work together then repeat. Loots are randomised between each player and it’s never guaranteed that completing the same tasks will yield the prize an individual wants. Therefore, allowing them to exchange items making a way for interactions.
Events also happen often to keep the ecosystem fresh. This either heralds new content for players to check out or a seasonal occurrence that will be rotated out on the next update. Events are great ways to encourage players to stay longer than usual so there are more people on the servers.
There is always something new to do, explore, and discover with friends. Giving the same group of people mutual tasks helps promote rapport between them. That is how communities are formed between them with a thriving ecosystem to boot.
Is an MMO Metaverse casino possible?
One of the ideas that casino operators and game developers have in their minds is to create an MMO for casinos in the Metaverse. The core of the idea is to simply make an explorable casino that can host a large number of people at the same time. Technology in scalability is possible thanks to developments in the blockchain.
This is one of the main ideas that Decentraland is aiming to have. Every project on the platform can be visited on foot so you can see different places and points of interest just by walking. There is still a feature that lets you teleport but if you want the full MMO experience, then you are free to roam on foot.
What are the challenges of this idea?
A casino MMO is not the worst idea out there because there’s potential in it. However, there are several challenges developers need to address to make them successful. These are:
Game development costs rising in a volatile market
Expenses are the biggest challenge for every investor. This is especially challenging in the Metaverse because every asset has a volatile price that will increase the more people join the ecosystem. Plots of land will be more expensive and this can make it difficult for future investors to compete with the best Metaverse casino on the same platform if they wait longer.
Maintaining user engagement
User engagement means keeping the players’ interest high enough to keep coming back and interacting with the Metaverse. Online casinos had bonuses to keep this going which is a possible tactic operators can carry over to the VR community. There are also plenty of Web3 apps that can make that happen.
The best Metaverse casino can use Decentraland’s structure to their advantage. They can host special events or fund concerts that gamblers can participate in. Casino operators can also offer fun bonuses for their customers in tandem with the Metaverse’s events. Have them make seasonal content like MMOs that casinos can participate in to give players more things to do.
Alleviation of simulator sickness
This is an issue that casinos can’t solve on their own but will have to deal with regularly. The truth is that the VR device is a bit nauseating to use because it can cause disorientation for the users. That’s why gamblers can only realistically stay at online casinos for a couple of hours daily.
What Metaverse casinos can do is maintain the aesthetics of their spaces where visuals are not too harsh on the eyes. They should also maintain the venue in a way that doesn’t overwork the blockchain. Otherwise, crowding can cause lags to some users which will contribute to nausea.
Why be excited about an MMO Metaverse casino
An MMO Metaverse casino can be the next major revolution. Not only does it emulate the full experience of visiting a brick-and-mortar casino but it also capitalises on ideas video games have over the years. These are all important assets to making the Metaverse casino experience as fun as possible and gamblers can enjoy all of it soon.
