Virtual poker rooms in Second Life are taking off. Apparently they are so successful, their growth is even outstripping that of Second Life itself - bringing in about L$3,000,000 a month! (around $12,500 US Dollars, see exchange rates).
Initially however, there were some security concerns.
Reuters writes:
The problem was players didn’t trust the honesty or fairness of Second Life poker. Patel [owner of Myth Casino, one of the three largest poker houses in SL] built confidence by hiring dealers and pit bosses to keep his casino staffed on a 24/7 basis. Now Patel said he’s seen pots in excess of L$250,000. “Once a reputation of fair practices was set, it really didn’t pose an issue,” Patel said.
Another major factor in why SL poker is becoming so popular is the high level of personal communication that players and dealers have that other online gamblings sites lack.
Players say Second Life’s immersive environment creates a unique poker experience. “You get reads on players,” said slpokerplayer.com’s Dix. “You can do tells off people in Second Life. People fidget in their chair.”
“Playing poker in SL, you have pit bosses and dealers saying ‘Hi, do you need anything?’” Dix said. “You don’t get that anywhere else. Outside Second Life, if there’s a table glitch, you have to email support. Here you IM the casino owner.”
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Brilliant spot.
April 11th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Not really that brilliant considering the date of this post against the recent news days previous of this entire idea at the forefront of an ending due to US Legal issues and online gambling of a US Born Company (Linden Labs San Francisco, Ca) this spot would have been more impacting had it been posted last month
April 11th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Actually, well before last month.
There have already been discussions about the effect of SL’s gambling scene on the monetary numbers LL provides as well as posts over a year ago on gambling scams (after all, the code in the virtual items is no less suspect than any other downloaded application).
The one I recall posting about was a story about people “rezzing” a game table, losing a few rounds and then when the stakes go up, using their back door access to the virtual device to take all the virtual cash. The only real surprise (to me, at least) being that so many people don’t realize how easy it is to do this.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Hey if you want a virtual 3d poker room join pkrsocial.ning.com
April 20th, 2009 at 2:10 am