Has Poker Influenced Gaming?

One might think that the worlds of poker and gaming are very far apart. In fact, they are closer than you might imagine. Here are some of the ways in which we have seen poker influence gaming.

Online Growth

Did you know that poker is one of the earliest forms of online gaming? For as long as we have had access to the world wide web, we have nearly always had access to online poker too. Interest has grown over the years and interest has boomed with it, but there is no denying that we have been playing poker online since the 90s.

This has meant that we have had plenty of time to develop a strong relationship with online poker. Competitive gaming has also taken off in this time. While it might have started off with people sharing machines or playing in LAN tournaments, online games have also grown massively in popularity. Over the last few decades, we have seen the introduction of MMO games, whether they are RPGs, battle royales, or even just co-op exploration games. If not for the advancements of online poker, it is likely that these games would look incredibly different and would play out in an entirely different manner compared to what we are used to.

Comparing Tournaments

Of course, an easy comparison between gaming and poker can be found in their tournaments. Poker tournaments have been televised for a long time and have drawn massive audiences, especially following the early half of the 2000s. Now, even major games held at online destinations like GGPoker.com can attract vast audiences through streaming platforms like Twitch. Many people tune in to find out how big tournaments like the WSOP go down on TV too.

This can easily be compared to some of the big hype surrounding the biggest of esports competitions. Games like Fortnite and League of Legends will attract massive audiences online. Some of these audiences are even bigger than some of the ones we see for major sporting leagues like the NBA. While poker might not be quite as popular as esports streams, the same mentality can be found between the two sets of fans.

Games Within Games

Finally poker has definitely influenced gaming, since there are so many games where you can find a poker-like card game as one of the minigames within it. When creating a realistic RPG game, the developers obviously need to put in something that will give it a little slice of life. They could be creating a casino for the area that they are populating, or they might just want to put a minigame in the corner of an encampment or a tavern.

These games can very obviously be poker, or they might be coded to fit more in with the game world. After all, if you have a high fantasy setting, it might not be prudent for you to have someone sitting playing modern poker. However, it could be very easy to create a unique game that fits the setting but is still very recognisable as a poker variant.

Poker is one of the most popular card games that we can choose to play. For this reason, it is not surprising in the slightest that we are able to find its influence in many different spheres, including that of gaming. There are so many poker players that mix this hobby with one of gaming, whether they compete in esports, stream on Twitch, or even just play in their own personal time. These will always go hand in hand together, and will continue to do so for some time.