You insert your coin and pull the lever, the reels spin and finally stop – and unfortunately, you haven’t won the jackpot.
But instead of the game being over, an icon appears that says “Click to win a prize”.
So click on the icon and the casino disappears in a flood of colors and you somehow feel as if clicking on the icon has turned you into a video game character that is literally transported into a brand new world.
As soon as the colors stop spinning, you find yourself outdoors, a revolver in each hand.
Somehow you’ve become a cowboy in an old western town.
A digital sign will light up in front of you saying “Shoot six bandits in one minute and win $1,000.”
Some bandits mysteriously appear and you start aiming and shooting.
Is this a game or is this reality?
Is this a casino or a video game?
888 Casino – VR Casino
Crazy as it sounds, in ten years this could very well be the way most people will experience casinos, even from their own cozy home.
Virtual Reality will combine online casinos as we know them today with creative game programming, portable technology, and VR headsets so that we will be able to discover games in a completely different way.
Yes, in the near future we will be able to go through fancy (even luxurious) virtual casinos while wearing our VR headsets, then finish our game, take off the headsets and find ourselves at home in our pajamas.
That may sound like science fiction, but it’s closer to reality than you can imagine.
Facebook has already invested billions in buying Oculus Rift (a manufacturer of futuristic VR headsets) and is already working hard to program an experience that feels like you’re being teleported from one virtual experience to another (yes, trying to give you the real feeling of using a Star Trek-style teleporter).
There are people who have already reported that they could virtually climb Mount Everest, visit shipwrecks below sea level and participate in horse races with VR headsets. New games and experiences are probably just being recorded and/or digitized as I write this. I even read about a VR game in the ocean with a life-size whale swimming right next to you.
We are truly entering a new era of digital and virtual wonders.
888casino – VR welcome to Vegas
Casinos have also worked really hard to add gambling elements to the experience. One of the biggest obstacles to the acceptance of casino games by younger generation players is that they are used to these far more engaging and socially involved gaming environments.
Currently, real existing and online casinos are trying to make traditional gambling formats more attractive to the younger generation by placing layers of gamification over the programs of existing games.
For example, if you have recently played slots in Las Vegas, you already know the so-called “Easter Eggs” that are built into modern slot machines. Side games and bonus rounds have become part of the core experience of playing at slot machines. There is no reason to believe that these side games and bonus rounds will not be based on digital or really exciting virtual experiences in the near future.
We have the means
All you’ll need is a VR headset, some joystick device and possibly some biofeedback or wearable technologies (to make the experience even more realistic).
We have already had experience with several generations of sustainable technologies. Almost everyone will remember the commercial disaster of Google Glass, but recently Apple Watch and Fitbit have proven that people will use portable devices if they have the right incentive (such as even more exciting gameplay).
And wearables can also serve as biofeedback devices.
Biofeedback was defined as “the technique of using monitoring devices to output information on an autonomous body function, such as pulse or blood pressure, in an attempt to gain deliberate control over these functions”.
There are already biosensors that can accurately record boredom, stress, and excitement using non-invasive techniques. Every year we observe how
