WHAT
AN INTERNET POKER games IS LIKE
Let's assume you're in your first Internet poker games. Here's
what you're likely to see:
First, Internet poker
screens are designed for eye-appeal, convenience, and psychological
familiarity. games are colorful, user-friendly, and pleasant
to look at. The idea is to conjure up an inviting, comfortable
ambience in the disembodied cyberspace medium.
Graphics differ widely
from site to site, but one common denominator of every Internet
poker casino we've seen is a green table of some kind that
fills much of the games screen. Some tables appear more three-dimensional
than others; some are round rather than oval; some show
chairs and some do not; some have a dealer box - with or
without a depicted dealer - and others don't. But all of
them - assuming your monitor displays what's intended -
mimic the green baize felt of real poker tables. Another
common denominator is brightly colored chips, with denominations
differentiated by appealing, contrasting colors serving
to minimize eyestrain.
Still another visual
feature common to all sites is a user-friendly interface,
with action buttons, check-boxes, and chat fields conveniently
and clearly presented. games graphics differ most, perhaps,
in the way virtual players are depicted at the cyberspace
table: To represent them, some designers did their utmost
to conjure up as close an approximation to real poker as
possible, creating avatar or puppet-like figures to "sit
in" for clients.
The avatars at one
site actually lift up freshly dealt cards after clients
click on them, placing them back on the table face-down
after they've Peeked," just as people do in physical
casino games. The avatars also the physical movements and
"speak" as they bet, call, raise or muck. The
movements are stiff, and the speech somewhat stilted. No
matter. It works - and it's fun.
Other designers went
in a different direction altogether. Not even attempting
to portray human forms, they went the minimalist route,
showing players as mere screen names encased in oval blobs
twinkling on and off as action passes around the table.
As we go to press, the industry leader, paradisepoker.com,
is one of several successful Internet poker casinos using
this concept. Clearly, level of abstraction in graphics
has little correlation with site success.
Still another popular
site gives customers a choice: A player may take the default
route of appearing at the table as a mere encapsulated screen
name, but also has the option of uploading almost any type
of picture or image to enhance it. Fans of this site revel
in creating amusing, whimsical, or bizarre personas to accompany
their pseudonyms.
