Players like a casual approach

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 9/3/2003

Texas Hold'em Poker is a simple game: just 52 cards, some friendly competitors, and a pot of money. Better yet, there are no aliens to blast, no hidden levels to locate, and absolutely no cheat codes -- even though the poker table is a computer and the other players are scattered around the Internet. And you can't lose -- the money is fake and you can play for free. It's just the game for Ken Cho, 31, a publications specialist for the US Administration for International Development in Washington. "It's something just to do to relax, just during off hours," Cho says. "Not at work, of course."

Cho's admirable self-discipline is far from universal. At the height of the business day, tens of thousands of American office workers are playing Internet-based computer games. And few of these are playing the violent 3D "shooter" games such as Counter-Strike. They're logging on to websites run by companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo to play simple, fast-paced parlor games -- poker, chess, checkers, mahjongg, backgammon, and a host of word games and puzzle challenges.They're called "casual games" to distinguish them from hardcore action and strategy games. While the shooter games get most of the attention, the casual games get most of the players. "If you look at what's going on online, the vast majority of mass market game play is casual games," says Dan Hart, general manager of Yahoo Games, which attracts 10.6 million players a month. Throw in Yahoo's rivals such as Microsoft's Zone.com site or Electronic Arts' Pogo.com, and Hart figures that between 40 million and 60 million Americans play casual online games.

"The majority of our customers don't consider themselves gamers," says Don Ryan, studio manager for Zone.com. "Hardcore gaming has an interesting stigma to them. They imagine young boys and kids running around pretending to be orcs."

In fact, says Ryan, women make up 70 percent of Zone.com's 7.4 million monthly visitors, up from 45 percent three years ago. "It's completely shifted as online games have become more and more and more mainstream," Ryan says. In addition, 65 percent of Zone.com players are 35 or older.

Dorothy Rosencrans, for instance, is 72, a retired newspaper columnist in Boca Raton, Fla., and an avid bridge player for 45 years. Her husband and bridge partner was taken ill in early 2000, not long after Rosencrans had purchased her first computer. She soon began playing bridge on

Zone.com. "I started building up all these friendships," she says. "I have met 40 of them in person, including one from Australia and one from Stockholm." When she herself came down with breast cancer, Rosencrans's online bridge partners doubled as an invaluable source of support and comfort. "I forget that it's virtual and not reality, because it feels so real," Rosencrans says. Indeed, the entire experience has been so rewarding that she has written a book about it, titled "Playing Around," to be published later this year.

Casual online games are ideal for computer newbies. For one thing, the games are free. Sites such as Yahoo! Games and Zone.com generate revenues by selling advertisements on the site. They also sell more advanced downloadable versions of online games and offer special subscription services to dedicated gamers. A subscriber to Yahoo! Games All-Star service, for instance, gets a host of extra features, including the ability to plug a microphone into the computer and chat with other players.

Casual games offer a gentle learning curve. Most people already know how to play these games and can compete at a fairly competent level from the start. By contrast, action game novices often find it tough to keep up with more experienced shooters.

Besides, even more experienced players need a break from blasting things. Cho shifted to Texas Hold'em and chess because he was bored with endless Quake II death matches. "As you get older, you kind of lose interest," he says. "You get tired of playing with the kiddies online."

The most popular online action games, such as Counter-Strike, demand higher-powered computers, and hardcore players willing to spend a small fortune on the hottest new hardware can smoke competitors using last year's gear. By contrast, casual games of poker and bridge generally use standardized software such as Sun Microsystems' Java, which runs on practically any computer.

The games lack fancy graphics or lavish sound effects, so they play flawlessly on old machines. "All you need is a browser," said Cho.

This makes casual games perfect for sneaking in a bit of relaxation during the workday. Most businesses frown on workers who install games or other unauthorized software on company machines. But anybody can punch up a casual game in a few seconds and wipe it from the screen just as quickly.

This might explain why Don Ryan of Microsoft's Zone.com has found that 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time is prime time in the continental United States, home to 80 percent of Zone.com players. "They use it for release of stress during the workday," Ryan says.

After all, poker can be a very relaxing game when you're playing with fake money, and your boss's time.