Since first appearing on the Internet in the late 1990s, the first generation of skill gaming sites have offered casual browser-based games involving cards, puzzles and trivia. The opportunity to create a sense of community on these sites and to interact socially with other players has been limited.
With the development of Internet social networking sites and online communities, participants in skill gaming have started to look for these features and skill gaming operators have started to respond. Looking ahead, we believe that this will be one of three major trends driving the evolution of skill gaming.
 
Trend #1: Interaction, socialization and community tools
Connecting players and allowing them to socialize forms a sense of community. Because community driven players are more likely to be active members, and more likely to bring in new members, the most successful operators will need to ensure that their platform fosters community.
Our skill game UTour Golf (www.utourGolf.com) is an example of a skill game developed around this trend. Players can communicate in our lobbies or via in-game text while playing Head-To-Head or multiplayer mode. We provide players with forums and the ability to host tournaments. Soon, players will create and manage their own leagues. The most valuable player is not necessarily the most skilled, but instead has a large network, organizational skills, and/ or a magnetic personality. A player’s sense of community deepens as they progress through levels, obtain rewards and recognition and share their experiences with others.
At EIG Barcelona, 888 CEO Gigi Levi, quoted a statistic from the Centre for Digital Future 2006. It said “43% of online networkers from the US felt “as strongly” about their web community as they did about their real-world friends.” The company that builds compelling games and the most engaging communities will succeed because their cost of acquisition and retention will be lower, and the value of each customer will be higher. A community-focussed business understands what its customers want. By giving the players what they want, be it better games, bonus payouts, leagues, bragging rights, friendship, and excitement they will reward the operator with their loyalty, feedback, and cash.

Trend #2: Better games
A wider variety of skill games have recently become available and this trend will continue. Games are becoming more interactive and more graphically realistic. This is true for browser-based games as well as larger downloadable games. As broadband penetration rates advance, the size of the market for online entertainment, including skill gaming and all other manners of igaming, will grow. Similarly, the technical specifications of the average consumer’s computer improve every year. There will always be a consumer segment who wants browser-based games however there is a large segment who wants a client-based application of under 100MB, which with average broadband would be about a five-minute download. After that, we’ve found there is no discernible difference, from the player’s perspective, between a 200MB or a 500MB download. As broadband performance increases the tolerance for a larger download will increase as well.
At SkillGround we’re going after a market, primarily 18- to 40-year-old males, who are attracted to more graphically intense games which possess production values similar to those found in store-bought videogames. However, we can’t simply take a boxed product and introduce “for cash” play. The games have to be built specifically for a skill gaming platform. The games need to be easy to play, designed to facilitate short, but satisfying, multiplayer matches and single player, score-based games and tournaments. This isn’t how video games are designed. Our game UTour looks and feels like a leading online video game, but it has all the attributes of a great skill game. One of the challenges of skill games is keeping the player interest. Since most igame play mechanics don’t change, the games are kept fresh by changing the graphics, branding, and prize or tournament structures. Being able to change the variables in the gameplay itself keeps a game interesting and challenging indefinitely. In UTour, wind direction, tee position, length of the rough and weather conditions change every game session so players never play a game the same way twice. This keeps it challenging and a lot more fun. Developers who take advantage of these technological advances have an opportunity to build games that will distinguish themselves in the igaming market.

Trend #3: New revenue streams and business models monetize all players
One challenge facing the igaming industry is how to value and monetize free play customers. The nature of skill games allows operators to supplement cash play income with additional revenue streams. Advertising and sponsorship opportunities provide one such source of revenue.
IGaming sites have resisted interactive advertising since they don’t want their customers clicking away. However advertisers place a high value on non-interactive in-game advertising and sponsorship. Since we know the demographic of our members and can deliver “dynamic” in-game branding based on criteria, advertisers see it as a targeted and measurable way of reaching out to this audience. In UTour Golf, for example, there are strategically-placed on-course billboards, a rich media pre-roll and branded in-game replays and scorecards. We dynamically target messages and track the amount of time that the player is exposed to the message. The technology required to build this into skill games is readily available, inexpensive and easy to manage and will be leveraged by all skill gaming providers in the future.

Conclusion: Skill Gaming 2.0
The skill gaming industry is poised to take advantage of improvements in technology and greater broadband penetration in order to close the gap between igaming and social networking. The demand for games that are more interactive and graphically immersive will continue to grow. As gaming becomes more mainstream the industry’s reticence to alternate revenue streams is beginning to soften and the idea of subscription models and ad-driven content is becoming more acceptable. Skill gaming is just coming of age and by combining close knit, loyal communities with more immersive gaming experiences and flexible revenue models, the future is looking very bright.

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