When you’re playing an online game the last thing you should be thinking about is the technology that allows you to do so. The objective, after all, is a smooth, glitch-free playing experience, so that you become completely engrossed in the game itself. You only notice the technology when something goes wrong, and that’s why the designers and developers hope that you won’t notice the technology at all.
All online gaming sites are based on extremely sophisticated technological foundations. Engineers and programmers create the infrastructure. Developers build on this to create the unique look, sound and feel of each website, while the games themselves are outsourced to specialist companies like NetEnt, Microgaming or Evolution.
How you play
As a player your main awareness of the technology behind gaming will be in how you access the game. You may need to download the software onto your device in order to start playing, or the site may use download/flash software that allows you to play online immediately. Increasingly, many people access games and online casinos via a third option, the mobile app for your smartphone or tablet.
Designers use programming languages (usually C++) to develop both the games and the infrastructure that hosts them. The markup language HTML5 enables both video game streaming in a web browser and mobile casino apps. For game designers it allows them to optimize their products for mobile viewing.
Random numbers
In the case of online casino games, the basic technology is a random number generator (RNG). This may be based on programs or algorithms of great sophistication, but essentially it’s a way of replicating the roll of a dice, or more accurately an infinite number of dice, as the possible numbers that could be generated run into the thousands and beyond.
While rumors persist that the random number generators in bricks and mortars casinos can be weighted in favor of the house, the online casinos reviewed at https://www.bonusseeker.com are all subject to extremely strict regulations ensuring that their RNG is genuinely random. There must be no set pattern that can be predicted or manipulated when the barrels of an online slot settle in a particular formation or a virtual roulette wheel goes into a spin.
Big data
Data hosting is something that requires huge resources in the online gaming world, with players all over the planet competing simultaneously. The cost of storing and effectively processing all of that information can run into millions. But no online gaming site can afford to have glitches and flaws enter the game, or to run slow because of the amount of information it is processing.
Privacy and confidentiality are also of paramount importance, particularly in the online casino sector. Player trust is essential for these sites. Users need to be confident that their personal and financial information won’t be shared, leaked or hacked by third parties. With casino sites this also extends to payment processing. Advanced protocols and encryption techniques are used to protect user data at every stage, and these protocols are regularly tested to ensure their effectiveness.
So next time you log in to play online, spare a thought for the technology that’s enabling your action. A lot of thought and hard work goes into making it seem as effortless as possible.
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