Cashless Poker
While visiting friends in Hamburg recently, I was shown some poker software and participated in a few hands but while the animations were excellent and there was plenty of potential for humour, I ultimately lost interest because we were playing for imitation money.
Playing poker for real money totally changes the dynamics of the game. The stakes do not necessarily have to be high but that little bit of risk tends to sharpen up people’s brains and tighten up their game, giving the overall experience a very different feel.
In no money games, there is little scope for bluffing. Players can feel free to play their hands as they want without the fear of going out of the game. If players lose all their money then they just re-load.
Someone once gave me a cheat code to play a computer game in God Mode - meaning I couldn’t get killed. I enjoyed it for a while but in the end it is ultimately frustrating and you feel as though you are cheating yourself. Playing poker for fake money has a pretty similar feeling.
Seeing that that computer game was the last time I played any sort of computer software, I couldn’t really comment on how good the graphics were on this particular game I was watching and taking part in. To me, they looked really smart and frighteningly lifelike and the ability to speak the odd phrase or react to situation was interesting - to begin with.
The camera feature is a nice trick that allows you a different perspective of the play, while choosing your avatar would be fun for some people.
To keep the game marginally honest, players could spend any extra winnings on little add-ons such as sunglasses, beards and jewellery so, at least for some, there was the incentive to play as though the cash was real.
One of the most interesting features of the game was to be able to shout out a few things at your fellow players. These range from exclamations of frustration at the cards you have been dealt to the standard ‘good hand’. My warped sense of humour thought perhaps there was room for a few expletives in there and maybe the option to throw a tantrum and storm off – perhaps knocking over the table.
If anything, the software showed me how far the technology of graphics has advanced and that some sort of interaction is key for the long term success of any internet site.
Hamburg, by the way, is a very beautiful and understated city. By contrast, the Reeperbahn, where I stayed, is a cross between Blackpool and Amsterdam. I enjoyed it though and even bought the T-shirt.
