Today, we look at games as little more than mindless entertainment. Board games that aren’t called Chess are seen as either children’s entertainment or exclusively for sweaty virgin nerds who like to fantasize about slaying dragons. Videogames are nothing more than just a sign of our never-ending consumerism, with non-gaming people frowning about the fact that gamers (which, again, are mostly personified as the aforementioned sweaty virgin nerds) are willing to pay up to $60 for the opportunity to sit on their ass, push some buttons and pretend like they’re shooting aliens in the face. People who play casino games are seen as desperate drunks who gamble away their earnings and are like a cancer on their family, putting them in debt for their own addictions. And online gambling is worst of all, since it not only puts people in debt, but there isn’t even a chance to win! Games are horrible, ruin people’s lives and wipe children’s brains… Or so a lot of people over 45 would like to believe.
The truth, of course, is very far from that. Board games have become more complicated and engaging in ever, such as Brenda Romero’s “Train”(a game where you and your friends are tasked with transporting passangers via train to their destination, only to discover at the very end of the game that you’ve been transporting them to Auschwitz). Videogames are currently the most successful entertainment industry of all, blowing movies and music out of the water and earning hundreds of billions in revenue every year. According to recent studies, roughly 50% of all gamers are female, and people who play games at least once every few days can be as young as 6 or as old as 60. The casino industry is also successful, racking in over 160 billion dollars this year alone while making hundreds of people millionaires. And the online casino industry has been on the rise, earning progressively more and more every year.
Like it or not (and I see no reason why you shouldn’t), we’re right in the middle of a global revolution when it comes to entertainment. Three of the top 10 highest grossing movies came out this year – all except two came out in the last 3 years. Thanks to services such as iTunes, revenue from music is at an all-time high, and comic book movies have raised that industry to previously unseen success. With every passing year, people spend more and more money on entertainment. You could see this as them trying to escape their boring lives, but honestly, I see it as more and more people trying new things and learning to have fun! That’s why the Global Gambling & Gaming Magazine was created – as an effort to monitor and celebrate the global entertainment revolution we’re in! We hope you’ll follow us and enjoy the ride just as much as we will.
-George Sykes, Editor-in-Chief