Mykhailo Zborovsky: How VR, AR And the Presence Effect Are Changing the Face of iGaming

VR, AR and the “presence effect” have long gone beyond narrow-profile technological experiments. Technologies are becoming the factor that shapes new rules for user interaction with digital products. If digital entertainment was previously limited to viewing on a screen, today's technologies allow you to be inside the environment. It is this paradigm shift that is becoming a key point of transformation in the iGaming sphere.

In his public materials, Mykhailo Zborovsky, an expert in the strategic development of iGaming products, emphasizes that VR, AR mechanisms are shaping a new type of behavior and expectations. A user immersed in a VR space expects natural movements, intuitive logic of interaction, instant feedback and clear boundaries in the digital environment. And this is where the main challenge and opportunity for iGaming opens up: when the game ceases to be a matter of the screen and becomes a space of presence.

Technologies That Create the Effect of Presence

The effect of presence is not just a buzzword, but the subjective feeling of being in a virtual space that occurs when a digital environment is so organized that the brain perceives it as a real place. This feeling is at the heart of why VR and AR can change the user’s interaction with a product not only visually, but also behaviorally.

• Visual and sensory interfaces that simulate reality: VR glasses (Head-Mounted Displays, HMD), accurate tracking of head movements and posture (pose tracking), high-quality graphics and a high level of scene realism;
• Audio, tactile and multi-sensory signals;
• Interactivity and feedback: One of the key sources of the feeling of reality is to interact with it in the same way as in the physical world. In materials analyzing the Ukrainian market segment, Cosmobet is often used as an example of discussing elements of such design. This is not about VR products, but about an approach to the interface structure and interaction logic, which should ensure predictability and minimize excessive stimuli;
• Social and psychological aspects: The presence of other users or avatars can change the perception of the environment.

Research also shows that the user's cognitive and emotional reactions (for example, the perception of the expected interaction or identification with the avatar) affect how strongly the feeling of presence arises.

In the context of digital casinos and iGaming, these technologies allow:

• Replace the viewer behind the screen with a participant in the space;
• Create interactive scenarios;
• Increase emotional involvement and motivation;
• Move from traditional UX to environment design.

Together, these factors form the presence effect that Mykhailo Zborovsky talks about. Not just a technology for a cool picture, but a structural component of a new model of digital interaction.

Why Traditional Models of Responsible Gaming Are Stopping Working

In his materials, Mykhailo Zborovsky repeatedly emphasizes that regulation creates a framework, but does not shape a behavioral culture. This means that the law can set boundaries, but cannot control how a person experiences the game, how he reacts to stimuli, and how the digital environment influences his decisions. In classic online games, this was enough, because the player was aware of the very fact of participation in the game. But the emergence of highly realistic digital spaces and personalization has changed the very nature of interaction.

• Time or spending limits are effective only when a person separates himself from the game, realizes that he is participating in an entertainment activity, and controls the level of emotional involvement. But if the environment creates the effect of full presence, the brain reacts as if events are happening in real life;
• Self-exclusion tools work only when the player recognizes that he is in the game, is aware of the emotional pressure, and understands the need for a pause;
• Risk warnings become invisible during deep immersion.

When a game becomes highly realistic, the brain reacts to it in the same way as to events in the physical world. The reward system is activated, emotional reactivity increases, and critical thinking and self-control decrease.

That is why, as Mykhailo Zborovsky emphasizes, formal rules are not enough. In an environment where design, algorithms, and immersion form the behavioral background, the decisive factor is not the text of the regulation, but the culture of responsible interaction. Laws can limit abuse, but only the ethical architecture of the game can prevent it. Against this background, market operators, including Cosmobet, are gradually adapting their approaches to audience interaction, focusing on more predictable, safe, and understandable product design models.

Responsible Interaction Is the Protection of Reality

In such an environment, traditional mechanisms of responsible gaming (time and spending limits, self-exclusion, standard warnings) lose their behavioral power. It is here that Mykhailo Zborovsky’s idea comes to the fore, that not only individual rules or blocks of code, but a culture of responsible interaction becomes the protection that preserves the boundary between digital experience and reality.

Formal restrictions can set boundaries, but only an ethical architecture of interaction that takes into account psychological mechanisms of perception and behavior is able to provide the user with deep immersion. Cosmobet, like other market operators, adapts its approaches to changes in user behavior and new models of digital interaction.