If you’ve been paying attention to pop culture since the start of 2020, you’ll have noticed that video gaming has gone through quite a boom in popularity. It seems that everyone is involved in some sort of gaming activity these days – and it’s not just lifelong gaming fans leading the charge either.
Gaming as a form of entertainment now appeals on a mass mainstream level, with people of all ages, genders and professions participating. Some players like to dip into a game now and again to escape from the drudgery of the 9 to 5; on the other end of the scale, there are pro gamers with Twitch streams and huge international followings.
How we play games in 2022 is also very different from how the pastime was accessed in the 1990s or even the early 2000s. Today, very few players purchase physical games and play them on their devices; instead, gaming in the 21st century is all about remote play.
Yes, it’s never been easier to play video games than it is today, nor have we ever had so much choice available. If you’re thinking of dipping your toes into remote gaming, read on to find out more about what’s on offer.
MMORPGs
One of the true joys of remote gaming technology is the ability to connect, compete against and play with the global gaming audience. And no gaming genre encompasses this more than Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs).
Just two decades ago, MMORPGs were rudimentary at best. However, the gaming industry’s transition to the digital realm brought about significant developments in the genre, transforming it into a mainstay of remote gaming. It’s not an overstatement to say that MMORPG is a massive genre, encompassing all manner of gaming themes and experiences.
For beginners, the best place to start when it comes to MMORPG games is to pick your favourite type of game. Are you interested in sci-fi or fantasy games? Maybe post-apocalyptic landscapes are more your thing? Whatever your taste, there’ll be a title for you.
Slots Games
While slots games do form part of the iGaming industry – an umbrella term covering online casino, poker and sports betting activities – they also stand alone as a remote, real money gaming vertical in their own right. Over the past few years, slots games have proven to be popular with a diverse group of gamers, no doubt thanks to their convenience, ease of use and potential to award lucrative prizes.
Real money slot games are, of course, strictly for adult gamers, and they should only be played via a licensed and reputable online casino platform. The sheer variety of available slots games can make knowing what to look for overwhelming for beginners to the genre, but a key thing to keep in mind is to look for a high Return to Player (RTP) rate.
RTP essentially refers to the amount of a wager that’s returned to players in the event of a successful spin and is expressed as a percentage average. The Sweet Bonanza title, for example, has an RTP of 95.45%, meaning that for a successful $10 wager, $9.54 would be returned on average over time.
Cloud Gaming
Ok, so cloud gaming is a stand-alone industry within the gaming market in its own right. However, to beginner gamers, it may as well just be another gaming vertical! Cloud gaming is a relatively new segment in remote gaming that effectively allows you to play a whole host of games on any internet-connected device, such as a laptop, PC or even a smartphone.
It is not to be confused with game distribution services like Steam, which sell games that you need to download or log into your account to play. With cloud gaming, you can stream games directly to your device like you can stream hit TV shows on Netflix or Prime Video.
Most of the gaming tech giants have entered the cloud gaming market. While the likes of Sony and Microsoft offer cloud gaming services for the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, respectively, there are more universally accessible GAAS (Gaming As A Service) platforms that are ideal for beginners. Google Stadia, for instance, may not have had the best reception when it was first released, but it has since gone through substantial improvements that make it very beginner-friendly.
