With the advent of the Internet in all areas of life, a huge number of changes, as well as many new phenomena and concepts have appeared across the world. For example, e-Sport becomes increasingly popular with every year passing by. A person who is not involved in this phenomenon of modern life may wonder – what is it about? Basically, a computer game is behind it all; therefore, we are talking about entertainment. Nevertheless, e-Sports competitions of various levels are regularly held, including world tournaments. And these are clear signs of an actual sport, because winning and even participating in serious tournaments require players to keep training, hone their skills, and often set clear interaction patterns within the team. It is for these reasons that the synthesis of entertaining computer games and complete dedication to win was titled e-Sports.
Why e-Sports is that popular
Why are so many people in Australia and other countries across the world interested in e-Sports tournaments so much? Many even try their hand at competitions of various levels. The gamers’ appeal can be explained by many reasons, including the following:
- a wide variety of interesting games, because tournaments are held based on such masterpieces of the gaming industry as CS: GO, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and lots of others. It all started with such shooters as Doom 2 and Quake, and now there are tournaments in almost all genres of computer games – shooters, strategies, puzzles, and so on. Thus, e-Sports experiences not only increase in the number of participants but also the viewers and fans;
- visual appeal. Most of the games behind tournaments are originally created by developers to the highest quality standards. This applies to graphics, balance, soundtrack, and all other aspects. In addition, software studios regularly release updates and patches that improve the performance of games and keep them remain up-to-date, even if years have passed since their release;
- accessibility. Many e-Sports games are in the public domain, so every PC owner can start training for future tournaments or just play for fun. By the way, some network games do not have too high system requirements, thus, they often top the popularity ratings. Free projects include Fortnite (perhaps, it is the most famous), Valorant, Dota 2, etc.;
- big prizes. The most notable tournaments can have prize pools of tens of millions of dollars, and the winners usually receive really impressive awards. Where do these funds come from? It’s quite simple – due to their popularity, e-Sports competitions involve serious sponsors, often including such global giants as BMW, Toyota, and Coca-Cola, not to mention companies operating on the Internet, such as Facebook and YouTube. The huge audience of world tournaments is an excellent platform for advertising, so sponsoring companies do not skimp on contributions to reward the winners.
Interesting fancy games, competitive excitement from battles with live players and big money is a win-win combination that cannot leave the vast gaming community indifferent.
What will online casinos say on that score?
Indeed, online gambling is inherently close enough to e-Sports. Here also all events take place in the vastness of the virtual world, serious money is involved, and the audience of gamblers is growing at a good pace. However, online gambling does not see that hype that major e-Sports events are sure to cause. Perhaps the reason for this lies in the fact that professional gamblers, for instance, poker ones, do not pursue fame and prefer to play quietly and win good money, rather than “shine” on YouTube and social networks.
But these are professionals, they have their own attitude to gambling, which they see as an actual job. The main visitors to online casinos are ordinary people who like to spin the reels of pokies from time to time or play a game or two in Texas Hold’em.
Therefore, online gambling establishments simply need to use all the opportunities to attract new players. Besides, it is important to keep experienced regulars engaged so they do not lose interest in playing on the platform. It has to be said that nowadays proper online casinos approach these issues with all responsibility and quite vivid creativity. The widely used methods include:
- advertising. Since gambling resources provide online services, most of the advertising is also online. Interstitials are bought on YouTube; contracts are made with popular bloggers who shoot platform reviews, and so on. Other hyped-up social networks do not stand aside as well;
- improving the gameplay experience. There are two components here – internal and external. The first is the emulator’s algorithm, return to player rate (RTP), volatility, and other features of a pokie. According to the rules regulating digital gambling, information on such parameters should be publicly available and accessible to everyone. The external part includes visual design, graphics, and animation, gameplay features, and soundtrack. With the current level of technology development, it is the graphics that are critically evaluated by most people who see a pokie for the first time. Therefore, the visual impression should be given no less attention than, for instance, the availability of bonus modes or a progressive jackpot;
- bonuses. This term is usually understood as a variety of different incentives that online casinos promise and give to both beginners and regular customers. To earn money in e-Sports, you need to defeat your opponents and win the competition. But to have your game balance topped up by a gambling establishment, it is often enough just to sign up. It should be borne in mind that most bonuses have strict restrictions, that is, it will not be so easy to withdraw this money to your bank account. Most often, a wager is applied, which means that the bonus amount should be wagered a certain number of times, and only after that, you can dispose of the gift from the establishment upon your discretion;
- gifts, tournaments, and lotteries. To keep gamblers active, the top Australian establishments constantly hold all sorts of events with good rewards. Also, regular players can count on birthday gifts;
- free games. In a special demo mode, you can play Aussie pokies online free. Of course, you won’t be able to win real money, but having a good time is guaranteed;
- mobile applications and website versions. All features are preserved in full scope, so you can play and win on a mobile device in just the same way. Here online casinos are definitely ahead of e-Sports. Despite the fact that many e-Sports games can be run on modern smartphones, the gamers say that it is not exactly the same.
It is obvious that online casinos have every chance of catching up with e-Sports tournaments in popularity and demand among a young audience. To do this, they need to make an effort to keep up with the times, using all the technologies available today. Improving the digital gambling experience is the main challenge for those platforms that look to the future.
