Poker Icons, Characters and Avatars - Published: 2/1/2006
Six years ago when poker software was still at it's unstable beginnings, card rooms were focusing on producing a bug-free poker game with good connectivity. Rooms like Paradise Poker and Planet Poker simply wanted to improve playing speeds, reduce errors and maintain a stable playing experience that could maintain the wave of new customers signing-up.
In 2002 the success of rooms like True Poker and more recently Fair Poker has shown the increasing importance of good graphics to emulate a vivid and colorful playing experience. To represent your image at the table, a choice between different player characters is given each with their own sounds and personalities. According to polls, most players will choose a personae that either represents their true likeness or one that they respect. This would not seem obvious when thinking about the usual inherent want for disguise among many poker players, but it seems the need to associate with a fun and personal image remains the most influential factor.
The most popular of poker playing icons is often one of our choosing, and the famous tournament site Poker Stars has always allowed players to upload an image of their choice from their PC. Other card rooms like Absolute Poker and Doyles Room also allows this customizable option and the growth among them has been phenomenal to say the least (due to many other reasons as well of course). Although there are of course certain reasonable limits to what may be chosen, it is surprising to see the creativity brought out by this process that doesn't limit a players ability to be unique. Anything from poker symbolism to images of our kids can now be found at the online tables. These uploads have started more than a few interesting conversations, which is often lacking at some of the more generic card rooms on the web.
With the trend currently on track to improve on 3D graphics and casino poker realism, we certainly have not seen the last of improvements to poker software. Expect to see enhancements to the already life-like poker characters in both appearance and uniqueness. Other features like the poker phone and PC cameras will also likely try to impress on the current market, allowing for an evolution of new poker software to follow.