Cash Games on the Console: Good Idea or Bad Idea? - Wiggy's Blog

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Wiggy's Blog

Cash Games on the Console: Good Idea or Bad Idea? Stuck

Posted on November 2, 2013 at 09:05 AM.

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I've always found it curious to see cash games as an option in NHL 14 (or other EA games). Nested away in the labyrinthine menus of the NHL games is the Virgin Gaming tournaments and cash games option, allowing you to play in free or pay tournaments for money. Like any poker site, the Virgin Gaming model allows you to play for free and gain a chance at winning some money, but there are also subscription options and service fees that potentially get you in deep with the gaming bookies.

Using real money has generally been a slippery slope for gaming, as betting on contests seems like a natural extension of the online competition that we all enjoy so much, yet their are so many variables that could send the whole thing crashing down. We all remember how a tournament -- a free one, to be fair -- went very wrong for 2K's baseball series. Whenever there is money on the line, people are going to use any means necessary in order to win said money, whether that be outright cheating, soft exploits, collusion or various other forms of skulduggery.

On my very first search of "Virgin Gaming cheating," I found a thread complaining about all sorts of underhanded tactics, and even some accusations from users that the Virgin Gaming staff don't really deal with the "complaint tickets" of alleged cheating and underhanded behaviour. My biggest fear for this type of competition is that users would stop at nothing to modify the network connection (standby, bridging, lag-switching, disconnecting, etc.) in order to nullify losses on their record or prevent you from winning. This is completely apart from any exploits or hacks they may devise in order to sway the game results in their favour.

Remember the scandal with Ultimate Bet and a player enabling "god mode" to see other players' hands? When real money is on the line, real people make really stupid decisions, but they sometimes even get away with them. When it comes to videogames, you only have to look at standard leaderboards in most games to see how competitive players will get, even when money isn't on the line. It's a fact that most leaderboards, when you get near the top, will be filled with a few honest players looking for glory, but there will be a good number of morons, too.

Microsoft and Sony have a long-standing policy of keeping out of the cash-for-cash business. Microsoft never even wanted to venture into betting Microsoft points, as I think they, wisely, saw the potentially dangerous headlines that awaited them down that path (and they won't have to worry about MS points any more). When these companies have a hard time keeping data-phishers, cheaters and network hackers out of their own walled gardens as it is, it's not hard to see why they'd be hesitant to dip their toe in the pond of online betting, which as I pointed out, isn't exactly on the level.

It's unfortunate, too, as I think betting, when done within someone's limits and with a responsible regulating body, can be a fun experience. It's nice to have a couple of bucks riding on a sports bet with a friend, and arcade cash games of years gone by were a fun diversion. Up here in Canada, where I'm at, sports books are actually legal across the country, as the proceeds are funnelled back into social programs and infrastructure. With such heavy regulation and controlled odds, it prevents things from getting off the rails too much, and people can enjoy gambling in a (hopefully) responsible manner.

In the gaming world, I think the reality of betting cash on competition is going to be relegated to these third-party ghettos for the time being, as there is just no guarantee that a big company like Sony or Microsoft can make to assuage a player's fear of gameplay tampering, network hacking or collusion. The only real future for it, I think, would be for the big companies to completely embrace the eSports idea and integrate some kind of cash-for-cash gaming ladder that was heavily regulated and actively policed. I think the limits would have to be quite low, though, to prevent any sorts of major exploits. Accounts would have to be watched diligently, and there'd maybe even have to be a cap on potential winnings.

An activity like gambling is serious business, even for the real world. Plenty of players don't know when to quit or what their limits are, and it's an ongoing problem in areas where gambling is legal. To expect that the gaming realm would be able to deal with this issue in a mature way is probably a bit naive, especially when users have more than a passive interest in winning. They have direct control over their fate in a videogame, and that's going to lead some to lose sight of right and wrong.

What do you think, OS? Have you had any good/bad experience with cash games or betting on videogames? What have you heard about the options out there for this sort of activity? Do you see a legitimate future for betting on eSports or online gaming?

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Comments

# 1 BaylorBearBryant @ Nov 2

I'd be into the NHL game betting if I wasn't worried about my connection causing me to lose $. I can barely get by in HUT without running into someone with such a crappy connection I just lag all game.

That's what worries the most. People with lag switches and crappy connections.

# 2 maddensplayers @ Nov 2

i actually am making a video series about VG coming up in next few weeks check it out @ youtube.com/maddensplayers

# 3 Smoke6 @ Nov 2

It would be a blast if we didnt have people doing things in the game to win that should not have been part of the game. I have played for cash at VG and it amazing the things people do for a dollar! I am not the best or proclaim to be, but you feel real crappy losing to someone who runs 1 play on offense and 1 play on defense and shuts everything down you try to do. Whats even more messed up is that u have guys with almost perfect records and no one questions this and people still challenge these guys and leave positive feedback so people wont retaliate on them. So its very flawed in weeding out people who undermine the programming for the love of money!

# 4 Caius101 @ Nov 2

Gambling when handled responsibly can be entertaining. However, in anything where a profit is possible, you will have cheats and exploiters out the hoo-ha. Just look at any sporting game's online community... even with nothing except epeen and bragging rights, exploiters are all over the place. This is something impossible to do with the current setup of online gaming... console or pc.

# 5 jyoung @ Nov 2

NHL is a terrible game to play competitively, much less for money.

People in the normal versus mode will get up one goal and just start skating around behind their net with the puck, and you can't catch them due to the game's unrealistic turning and magnet puck + magnet stickhandling.

Or if they're really smart, they'll turn on their lag switch once they get the lead so the game becomes unplayable.

Or if they're super smart, they'll find your IP address and cause you to lose connection and drop out of the game if they feel like they're going to lose.

All of that has happened to me in normal versus games with nothing on the line but a meaningless online leaderboard ranking. I can only imagine how much more prevalent all that junk is when money becomes involved.