While the Men in Blue go for boundaries and bouncers in the
Caribbean, maybe you can put together your own Dream XI — online.
The gaming arcade on the Internet mirrors the real world — and it
goes beyond a sophisticated game of cricket or crossword. It also
goes sleazy with games where you slap a virtual Jade Goody and
smooch the Rakhi Sawant of cyberia.
The ICC World Cup has added to the craze, with cricket sites like
playcricketonline.com getting more hits everyday. Twenty-two yards
are reduced to a 15-inch monitor and the joystick is both ball and
bat. “The market is booming like never before and the number of
online gamers is increasing by the day. We have more than 25,000 new
visitors on our site each day,” claims Alok Kejriwal, founder and
CEO of games2win.com.
The game has only begun, though. According
to a survey conducted by San Francisco-based analyst and consulting
firm Pearl Research, the online gaming market in India will exceed
$200 million in 2010. The factors responsible for it include the
rapid spread of the Internet, broadband penetration and a sizable
middle-class with an increasing disposable income.
The market is gearing up with more service providers and gaming
options. Each website boasts more than 100 games in its kitty and
they are centred on action, sport, lifestyle, puzzles and even
Bollywood. The Indian gaming portals that were introduced just last
year include games2win.com, gaminghungama.com, indiagames.com,
zapak.com and motafish.com.
Predictably, the core target group is 12-20-year-olds. They
comprise more than 50 per cent of the clientele. “They are our
primary customers and most of the games are formulated keeping them
in mind,” says Rohit Sharma, chief operating officer of zapak.com, a
venture of the Reliance ADA Group, that was launched in November
last year.
Attempts are on to net the uninitiated. Zapak.com, for instance,
has a special section for girls, with a series of arcade and
logic-based games. “These are not very action-oriented games and are
less violent,” says Sharma, who plans to introduce fashion-based
games in this category.
Meanwhile, thisismyindia.com targets children aged between 5 and
11, with Sudoku and Ninja games. “These are simple games in terms of
technology,” says Ishrat Akhter, CEO of Concern Infotech that has
developed the site. “We don’t offer violent games that can leave a
negative impact on children.”
Games2win.com turns news into games. If its “Kiss-Mat” is a crude
take on the controversial Sawant-Mika kiss, in “Prince of
Kurukshetra”, a little boy needs to be saved from the dungeon, and
in “Thapa Ka Thappad” one can whack a virtual Goody or Manu Sharma.
Says Kejriwal: “Generally the game is introduced three days after
the news comes out. Loads of things are happening around us and it
is not difficult to find a theme for a game.”
The gaming portals are fighting the main criticism against them —
that online games discourage social networking — by encouraging the
formation of communities on websites. “What gives online games an
edge over consoles and CD packs is that they allow you to play with
people from across the world,” says 18-year-old Risha Chopra, an
avid gamer, who frequents online gaming sites. “You can meet people
who have common interest and can even share personal information
once you feel comfortable with a co-gamer. I’ve made a lot of
friends through online games.”
If that is not enough reason to play in cyberia, there is added
booty in the form of “loyalty programmes” and “reward points” . The
marketing games will only get bigger and better.