There’s been a decent amount of buzz lately about a new 3-D slot from Microgaming. The new game, Sterling Silver, will launch in June, so I haven’t played it yet. It seems that 3-D online slots are going to become the new thing at casinos. To be honest, I’m not a fan of the idea.
First of all, we have to differentiate 3-D from “3-D.” For years, online casinos have claimed to offer “3-D” games that are not actually three-dimensional. The images were flat on the screen but did have a certain depth in the polygons to make them seem more real. While those images look more real, they are not three-dimensional.
The new 3-D game is supposed to be like the 3-D movies where you put on special glasses and the images pop out of the screen at you. I’m not a fan of 3-D movies or television. I don’t like that all of these new movies have to come out in 3-D. You want extra dimensions? It’s called focus range and perspective. Through composition, the movie director or game designer can already create the illusion of depth using perspective. 3-D is unnecessary.
It is also dangerous. For some people, it causes headaches and nausea. There’s also this really minor issue that is barely even worth mentioning: It causes brain damage.
Let me state that again: 3-D viewing causes brain damage.
I recently read an interesting article in a scientific journal about 3-D movies and the possibility of 3-D television becoming popular. The gist of the article was that it would be dangerous to watch 3-D images regularly. You see, 3-D technology basically tricks your brain by manipulating the way your brain interprets visual cues. Some people can handle that manipulation better than others, which is why some immediately get side effects and some don’t. Just because watching Avatar didn’t give you a headache doesn’t mean it’s safe to watch 4 hours of 3-D TV every day.
If I learned anything from those anti-drug speeches in health class, it’s that messing with your brain isn’t a great idea. In the article, scientists speculated that long-term regular viewing of 3-D television (or movies or games) would lead to permanent brain damage. It would permanently distort your depth perception, creating a condition called “binocular dysphoria.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want any sort of brain damage and I want my brain to continue interpreting visual cues the way it does now.
For that reason, I really hope 3-D casino games doesn’t become a big trend at online casinos. TV manufacturers are trying to make it a trend for television viewing and you won’t hear Sony or James Cameron admit there are health concerns with the technology. Some love the technology, but I find it annoying and don’t trust it. Seeing some stuff annoyingly pop out of the screen at you is a pretty stupid reason to give yourself brain damage, isn’t it?