Being a gamer over the last 20 or so years has been quite an experience. As new consoles were released and companies hired more people, the scope of what a game could hold continued to expand. It wasn’t enough to offer a set of linear corridors and call it a day. Gamers wanted the dream game: an all-encompassing open world where you can wander and get lost in another reality.
Companies were more than happy to oblige. Assassin’s Creed set the formula for open-world experiences, but developers like Rockstar Games and CD Projekt Red built truly immersive games. It wasn’t enough to show you the world; it had to feel lived in. NPCs with schedules, a world that changes depending on what you do, and a whole lot of side content.
This allowed for little old poker, otherwise relegated to casinos, to become a mainstay in regular video games. Players couldn’t get enough of this card game, and so more video games started to add poker or their variants of it to their worlds. This article will explore how poker crept into the gaming meta and why gamers were uniquely suited to be die-hard poker fans.
An Easy Way to Add Content
For a long time, RPGs faced hardware constraints that limited how much they could add to their games. This is why games like Skyrim were so revolutionary when they came out – they allowed you to go anywhere and do almost anything. However, that wasn’t an option for companies in the 1990s and early 2000s. That is why many turned to simpler side content to flesh out the world, such as fictional card games you could play against strangers and companions for money.
Of course, making up a whole new card game is difficult, and there’s no guarantee it will be a hit with players. Rather than overcomplicate things, many developers looked to the real world for examples and found their inspiration in the green felt of casino tables. Take the general idea of poker, tweak a few details, borrow the poker hands system, and set the players loose.
This turned out to be a smash success, and other companies took notice. As such, they riffed on other popular card games or straight-up added the actual card games themselves. Anyone who’s spent hours in Red Dead Redemption knows how fun it is to take a break from horse riding and shooting cowboys to fleece them for all they’re worth at a poker table.
The Overlap Between Poker and Video Games
Of course, while this approach makes sense for developers, it doesn’t explain why so many gamers prefer poker to other casino games. However, it makes sense if you zoom out and take in a broader picture of how gaming has evolved. Countless free-to-play card games, MOBAs, and roguelikes have swept the industry. Their gaming loops require grinding to learn the meta, playing with imperfect information, and accepting the fact that sometimes, Lady Luck decides you’re going to lose no matter what.
Anyone who plays poker will immediately pick up on those similarities. Skill is important, but so is knowing the best moves while moving through the fog of war. Additionally, both poker and video games are easy to get into but hard to master. Certain games, particularly MOBAs and roguelikes, will also teach you all about dealing with tilt – a must-have skill for any prospective poker player.
Whether you tackle it as a fun side activity in a bigger game or as a way to unwind while waiting in a queue, poker has become part of the gaming meta. And without any balance patches on the way, the only thing standing between you and top rank is skill and grind.