When I set out to write this month’s virtual gambling feature, I was overcome by an odd urge to title it “Rollin’ Dem Bones: Will adult and gambling make love or simply fuck each other?” I thought the double entendre was cute, but it might have been mistaken for snarkiness.
As it turns out, snarkiness is wholly inappropriate in this case. Although the relationship has been slow to develop because both partners were engaged in building their own careers, it looks like the time has arrived for adult and gaming to start a family. After all, neither is getting any younger, and that ol’ biological clock will tick quietly for only so long before the alarm goes off. There’s really no expiration date on this particular mating game, but we all know that the parents who groom their children for success even before they’re born are the ones who end up abandoned in nursing homes when they’re old and frail.
No, wait. That didn’t come out right.
What I meant to say is that parents who give their children a head start on success by painstakingly planning their futures are the ones who end up raising drug addicts and mass murderers.
Good grief. This isn’t going well at all, is it?
What does seem to be going well is the dance between two economic juggernauts in the virtual space. It’s a bit clumsy at present, as each tries to follow the other’s uncomfortable lead, but that probably will change quickly once both get a good handle on the tempo. After all, adult entertainment and virtual gaming (both videogames and gambling) have a similar history, similar goals, and similar externally imposed constraints. Both have been quite actively engaged in wringing money from online consumers for about 10 years, and both are determined to own the hearts, minds, and wallets of consumers for a long time to come.
It may be the third commonality that has thrown them into each other’s arms and may yet challenge their embrace. Like disapproving parents, conservative zealots and the “old timers” in each industry may not be entirely happy to see their offspring mingling. Always the rebellious one, adult entertainment long ago learned to thumb its nose at moral crusaders who excoriate it in public. Gaming, however, has maintained a much more demure profile, successfully avoiding the invective that seems to follow adult everywhere. Yet, if gaming weds adult, that most likely will change, and gaming needs to prepare itself to live even further on the fringes of polite society thereafter. It’s doubtful that conservatives will continue to turn an indulgent eye to gaming’s eccentricities once it unites with the devil incarnate.
That might not worry the two entities that collectively control billions in revenue and have fans worldwide numbering in the hundreds of millions. The fact is, each is independently wealthy, and together they should be able to find a voice loud enough to drown the disapproving din of those who would divide them and conquer.
Adult, of course, is attracted to gaming’s wealth and glamour. If there’s one industry that circulates more cash on the Net than adult, gaming would be it. For its part, gaming admires adult’s enviable ability to attract and sustain a posse of eager admirers who already have proved they’re willing to pay to play. If the two can merge their households successfully, the offspring will be unstoppable.
At this point, it remains a crapshoot. Gaming is somewhat reticent to hop headlong into bed with adult, and adult doesn’t seem to be entirely ready to become gaming’s selfless paramour just yet. For the companies that can reach a workable solution that offers something to both sides, though, the rewards stand to be huge—and, as usual, they stand to be hugest for the ones who find themselves ahead of the rush to the altar.
Let’s hope the children are attractive. If not, at least there will be enough money in the bank to afford braces.
