Tag Archives: virtual

Video Games – Training Tools for the Military

October 16, 2019   Game type   No comments

Imagine if part of your job training requirement included playing video games? Sound like fun? For young military recruits already experienced in gaming long before their high school graduation, this is a pleasant reality.

Playing video games isn’t just for fun anymore. The military has found that not only are they useful training tools, but also serve as effective recruiting tools as well. For many young men the prospect of going to work and playing cool war-themed videos must be a dream come true.

The soldiers being trained today are the children of the digital age. These are the kids who grew up playing Game Boy. This form of military training is not new. Flight simulators had been used back in the 1940’s to train potential pilots. The advanced technology of the games today has given the training a more realistic view of what war may be like. The Army even has a training and doctrine command project office for gaming known as TRADOC. They add some video game thrills and excitement to their simulations to appeal to the 19 and 20-year-olds that are serving and already hooked on playing when off duty. People who develop video games are hired by the Army to create games geared for military training purposes. This type of training is believed to improve and enhance hand-eye coordination.

Soldiers are well-known for playing video games during their downtime. It is one of their most favored leisure activities. Some are downright addicted to it. One of the favorites was a best-selling first-person shooter game called Halo 2. Although live training on the field is essential, the military believes that electronic simulations are also necessary. Some soldiers reported that during combat they felt like they were actually playing one of their popular video games. The line between reality and fantasy sometimes became distorted. There are soldiers who found that playing games like Halo and Call of Duty enabled them to execute in real combat situations.

Weapons used in these games are virtual replicas of those used by the soldiers in Iraq. Since soldiers today are far more knowledgeable about weaponry than their predecessors, they are easier to train. This is due to the fact that they’ve grown up with first-person shooter games long before joining the military. Being able to shoot and blow up people, objects, monsters, etc., in the virtual reality world of video games, helps soldiers of this generation feel less inhibited when pointing their real weapons at real enemies.

The goal of the soldier in war and while playing video games is the same: kill the other person and survive. Obviously real war is definitely not the same experience encountered in the virtual reality world. Video games cannot prepare soldiers for the horrors of battle and the deaths of innocent people. It may help them become better shooters, but the emotional trauma may be harder to deal with and walk away from. Games are fun because they’re not real. In war, soldiers can’t just press the restart button and start a new game.

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Online Casino History – A Brief History of Success

October 2, 2019   Game skill   No comments

A Brief Account of Initial Days of Online Gambling
Online casino history started in the decade of 1990. In the year 1995, the first ever online casino hit the market and marveled everyone. The name of this internet based casino was Internet Casinos Inc. (in short, ICI). The first ever virtual casino was launched on 18th August 1995. During the initial phase this company started to operate from the islands of Caicos and Turks. Internet Casinos Inc. started its operation outside America because they feared prosecution from the Government of United States of America.

Tell Us Something More About the History of Virtual Betting
What is the total duration of the online casino history? The answer of this question is 10 years. Casinos have always been popular among human world. However, a gambling aficionado has to travel long distances to play and enjoy the fun of gambling. Online casinos have helped these betting lovers to enjoy the games right from their home. Thus, you don’t have to move from one place to another to play the virtual casino games. Some of these characteristic features of virtual casinos make it immensely popular among gambling aficionados.

Is online casino history absolutely smooth? Wasn’t there any hiccup in the entire history of internet based gambling? Yes, there were many hindrances in the entire progress path of internet based casinos. The main hindrance that online gambling industry faces is the legal threat to it. Still now, the main hiccup to online betting of USA is UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). According to this law, any kind of payments related to online betting is illegal. This law does not make online gambling illegal directly. Consequently, many online casinos have stopped allowing players from America. These are some of the hiccups faced by online gambling industry in the entire online casino history.

Now, Let Us Check The Evolutionary Chronology of Online Casino History

1. In the Year 1994, a new Act was passed by the Government of Antigua-Barbuda, known as ‘The Free Trade and Processing Zone Act, 1994’. Many internet based casinos as well as sports-books have license of the same and this license is considered as one of the most popular licenses among the internet based gambling industry.

2. One of the largest providers of software in online betting is Microgaming. It is a huge software development company, which has mastered the techniques of generating software for online betting sites. This company was founded in the year of 1994. In the following year, that is 1995, another software developing giant called Cryptologic was launched.

3. 1996 has special significance in online casino history. In this year, the first internet based casino site that accepts real money was launched. In the month of October of 1996, InterCasino first launched such a virtual casino that deals with real money.

4. First ever gambling related Act was introduced by a US Congress Senator named Jon Kyl. The year was 1998. The name of this Act was Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. According to this, a company will be regarded as illegal if it offers betting services to any American. This Act was not passed by the US Senate. A revised version of this Act was also placed in the US Senate in the following year, i.e. 1999, but this was also voted down by the Senate. In the same year, a renowned company called Frost and Sullivan published a research report and mentioned in it that online gambling has generated a mammoth amount of revenue of US$ 834.5 million.

5. Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was introduced by a Congress representative, Bob Goodlatte, in the US House of Representatives in the year 2000. However, this Act was also voted down and it failed to acquire the required two-third majority vote. In the year 2000, Cryptologic had published their annual report where it was mentioned that 680,000 customers had used their system of electronic payment already. 2000 was an auspicious year for Cryptologic. It got listed in NASDAQ and received the symbol, CRYP.

6. Year 2004 was specifically important for online gambling. In this year itself, WTO (World Trade Organization) ruled against US regarding legal issues and sided with the Government of Antigua-Barbuda. According to WTO, it is unethical and illegal for American government to restrict online gambling because it allows land based casinos as well as horserace-betting sites to operate in US.

In the same year, Christiansen Capital Advisors has shown figures that 51% of the total revenues from online betting across the world (approximately US$ 8.5 Million) came from United States of America itself.

Thus, we can conclude that online casino history is not bed of roses and is full of ups and downs.

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