Gambling on games

[LoudMusic]

Are games more fun when you have a little money riding on them? Are people more competetive? Do they play a little more realistically? If you don't have money on the game do people tend to screw around more?

Pick a game. Any game. Play with friends for a few weeks and see how they do. Then offer to bet a dollar per game. See if their attituides change. You may have to pick a game you're not the best at to get anyone interested.

This is what I've noticed. Sitting around playing board games or video games, people tend to screw around. If they're not winning they just become an ass and try to make it not fun for anyone else. But if there's even the slightest amount of money riding on the outcome of the game, they'll fight until their last breath to win. Examples would be Halo. When a group of guys get together you'll see all kinds of team killing and people just being general a-holes. But if you go to a tournament with any monetary buy-in everyone is strugling to do their best, no matter how much they suck.

 

[RacyBacy]

Betting is a dangerous game to play ... if you are prone to losing. And I'm not going to bet on me winning a race if Mr P is racing!

GT4 could certainly be more exciting if betting was allowed e.g. Inter-continental racing online with cash prizes for podium finishes. The other cool idea would be people betting on you to win a race or a championship. I feel that online racing with the facility to bet will be huge.

Betting can be harmless fun but it can also turn in to an addiction. I'm really not a keen gambler but would be enticed to place a few quid on me being a better racer than the other guy. I think it does make you more focused in that respect.

Yep, I would probably be addicted to betting in GT4 races! Game on!

 

[LoudMusic]

Game on!

I'm not saying you have to let it go crazy. Just a buck or two per whatever competition. I have friends that play the Madden NFL games and get to where they just don't care about the game for whatever reason (they're getting skunked!) and make it un-fun for the other guys. If they were loosing a dollar / trying to win three or four, they'd be more inclined to try harder and make it more fun for everyone.

 

[G25user]

Great idea! I'm thinking about doing this.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Not sure which games you have in mind, but for fun a few friends and I once had a game of Monopoly for real money. Penny to the Pound. It was fun to begin with, really added some adrenaline to every shake of the die, but after 6 hours of virtual stalemate we split the bank 4 ways and went for a curry instead... Sometimes people take things too seriously and the fun disappears.

 

[Dan]

That's one hell of a thread bump. o_O

I think gambling shouldn't be allowed in video games with microtransactions. In those kinds of games, you can lose real-world money. I thought that there were some laws about to come out against this.

 

[Tornado]

It was fun to begin with, really added some adrenaline to every shake of the die, but after 6 hours of virtual stalemate we split the bank 4 ways and went for a curry instead... Sometimes people take things too seriously and the fun disappears.

And then they played with the real money.

 

[TenEightyOne]

That's one hell of a thread bump. o_O

5 posts to date, two of them in 2011. The three recent posts include two necro-bumps and all three are on the subject of in-game gambling. Very odd!

On-topic, if you're an adult then you pays your money and takes your choice. In my own opinion gambling is for eejits.

 

[Northstar]

I usually find that when real money is on the line it usually becomes less fun as people go from not taking is seriously at all to overly serious.

In my own opinion gambling is for eejits.

 

[Dotini]

Legalized casino betting on sports games seems to be coming true for New Jersey as well as Nevada.

That means it will be counted as GDP, taxed, securitized, mortgaged and leveraged into propping up our economy.

If you believe in capitalism, the US, and our rosy future, you must buy into this and get involved if you can.