May 7, 2007
Games People Play, Take 2
Matt the tech-geekiest Batface sends along a Slashdot item about real-money video-game tourneys … a good example of how online poker’s current issues could have ramifications that reach far beyond just poker.
It’s a geeky corollary to online poker. Fairly similar in many regards, including the use/debate about Bots (read the comments) and of course the potential legal gray-area.
btw, FPS means ‘First Person Shooter’, in case you didn’t know. Pretty much describes any game where you kill/blow shit up.
Thanks for sending, Sommer.
Indeed, the video game industry has a major stake in the evolution of online gambling/gaming and the UIGEA. Already, you can play soccer online — the winner of the Fifa Interactive World Cup scored a $20k payday — and buy additional games on the XBox 360 for credits that you purchase at a brick-and-mortar store. (Interestingly enough, they have a Texas Hold’em game on there — and at a near-prohibitive cost of 800 credits … compared to, say, 150, for other games.) And even though video games are very arguably matters of skill, age-old concerns about cheating become a real issue. Just the other week I took on some punk from New Jersey who had a Ronaldinho with superpowers — like he could run five times as fast as any other player, and shoot missiles on-goal from anywhere on the field.
Now think about Second Life …
