In
the last few years life has been speeding up at an
incredible pace, we are living in a high-speed society which
we all know will continue accelerating in years to come.
This
social speed entails a side effect , a mental acceleration
to keep up with it.
Speed
is imposing individuals, in their professional lives,
efficient and up-dated cognitive skills rather than
physical efforts or activity. To be able to cope with this,
they need a mental decelerator – an activity where they can
focus and step aside from daily-life demands -.
Technology
has boosted a profound change in our home entertainment and
communication habits. Some people chose watching TV, others
prefer movies and many others join gaming sites in the
Internet.
Playing
on-line is a relatively new practice. Most of our elders
were born long before computers and the Internet, and some
of them are still reluctant to get on board .
Cyber
gaming runs 24 hours a day: millions of players from all
over the world, with different time zones, play in the
Internet.
Definitely
a globalized activity .
What is the reason for this success?
1) Because it is essentially a mental decelerator… an
activity that entertains isolating the player from daily
stress…
2) The increase in social insecurity moves people to stay
in-doors.
3) Population ageing : People live longer. They have more
time to enjoy the pleasures of life … and gaming has no age
limit.
Each
of these gaming sites becomes a community, with members from
all over the world, that live hundreds or thousands of miles
apart, but share the same passion for a particular game.
And this common interest gives them a sense of belonging
that drives them to build a virtual community of “friends”
on-line.
The Bridge is not immune to this new phenomenon called...
Bridge On-Line.
There
have been several bridge On-Line gaming sites in the
Internet for years. But the most popular and largest site is
Bridge Base Online.
The
key of this success is that it offers free on-line games in
open social clubs, tourneys and team matches, and throughout
the year, broadcasts the most important bridge events in the
world.
The
BBO community includes from novices to star players ,
juniors to elders. In peak hours you can find around 17,000
players interacting on line. (Less than a year ago the
average log-ins was 10,000). The Bridge Base Online today
has over half a million members and keeps growing day by
day.
A
surprisingly growing group within the community are those
who are retired, the seniors. They have plenty of time to
spare and have found their way into BBO… it keeps them
busy, entertained and mentally and socially active.
Another
emerging group are the junior and youth players who receive
support and empowerment: free lessons, partnering with the
best world-wide players, exclusive WBF tournaments.
A
successful formula: …. Internet + Bridge = Bridge On-Line…
Bridge
Base Online was launched on April, 2001 and since then has
been constantly evolving and growing.
Today
players of some of the tourneys on-line are earning
masterpoints which are accrued to national and world
rankings.
In October 2008...
IMSA,
the International Mind Sports Association, organized the
1st World
Mind Sports Games
in Beijing, China.
Bridge
was one of the five mind sports comprising IMSA; the other
four were
chess,
draughts,
go
and
xiangqi
(chinese chess).
Bridge
was by far the best attended section of the World Mind
Sports Games.
In
2009...The WBF is launching the first Bridge On-line Youth
Tournament which will be held on February 21 & 22, 2009.
Masterpoints
will be awarded as per the WBF Online Masterpoints scheme.
The
CSB (Southamerican Bridge Confederation) events on BBO are
awarding online Masterpoints for the Southamerican ranking.
The ACBL
(American contract Bridge League)
events on BBO are awarding online Masterpoints for the ACBL
ranking.
Today
Bridge On-Line found its place in the world’s sports
structure.
This is basically a result of their success in congregating
the largest bridge players’ community in the Internet.