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How slot machines are designed to be addictive

theguardian.com

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Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#21

Post by phil248 »

byron_fast wrote: post #18

It may be this stuff is true for current slot machines, but it isn't immediately obvious if you try one. In fact, current slot machines are an incoherent mess. When I played recently, I couldn't tell whether I had a near-miss or even a win until credits counted upward. I couldn't feel any excitement because I didn't know what was going on. It would have taken me several hundred dollars worth of play to even understan…

I'be had the same experience, though you will start to get the hang of more complicated machines after a couple dozen spins.

I wonder if that complexity adds to the allure. "Now that I understand this complicated machine, I better not let that that hard earned knowledge go to waste"

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#23

Post by aaron695 »

Personally I think this is less intelligent design and more evolutionary.

It's an important distinction because scenario one is a stack of evil old men cackling away, scenario two is just people doing their jobs.

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

has a corollary I think "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by evolution"

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#24

Post by solipsism »

jnordwick wrote: post #19
badminton1 wrote: post #12

Many gambling games exploit a cognitive bias known as the gambler's fallacy (e.g: the fallacy that playing more will increase your odds of winning). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy

With modern slot machines, isn't this actually true though? I thought one of the benefits of computerized slots was to be able to control the pay outs better.

No, it's not true. Every draw is independent, so past performance has zero bearing on future performance.

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#25

Post by gelatocar »

username223 wrote: post #10
kschmit90 wrote: post #3

The content of this article is fantastic and frightening. However, viewing this page on mobile, you can’t help but appreciate the interactivity that feels as though it’s been designed with the mobile reader in mind. It’s marvelous.

I assume this web page has words and images. But without JavaScript, it displays only trash: https://i.imgur.com/DEHdKy5.png

It is an interactive article so it kind of requires js. It would need to be rewritten to make sense without the interactivity.

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#26

Post by bricksmart »

duncan-donuts wrote: post #20
Buttes wrote: post #15

In 10 years: How Facebook is designed to be addictive

People are already talking about social media and how it's addictive[1]. 1) https://www.google.com/search?q=how+social+media+is+designed...

He's pointing out that the material in this article has been discussed ad nauseam and this doesn't present any new ideas.

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#27

Post by solipsism »

byron_fast wrote: post #18

It may be this stuff is true for current slot machines, but it isn't immediately obvious if you try one. In fact, current slot machines are an incoherent mess. When I played recently, I couldn't tell whether I had a near-miss or even a win until credits counted upward. I couldn't feel any excitement because I didn't know what was going on. It would have taken me several hundred dollars worth of play to even understan…

Perhaps you just aren't familiar with basic slot concepts? A typical slot player will sit down and first figure out the shape of the lines. Once you know those, it's trivial to notice when you got a near miss.

Slot machines have complex bonus games sometimes, but the base game is almost always quite simple, as long as you understand the basic concepts.

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#28

Post by bluedino »

kschmit90 wrote: post #3

The content of this article is fantastic and frightening. However, viewing this page on mobile, you can’t help but appreciate the interactivity that feels as though it’s been designed with the mobile reader in mind. It’s marvelous.

Loaded perfectly on my two year old iPhone but man the sound effects were annoying and unexpected

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#29

Post by a_t48 »

Buttes wrote: post #16
mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading an article years ago where a video-poker machine manufacturer "trained" the machine using real playing behavior of famous poker stars... For German machines I can say they're not a target market for ML or other "experimental" stuff given the ultra strict regulations here. More or less illegal online casinos however are the new Wild West of the gambling industry.

There have to be verifiably fair ethereum gambling contracts right?

Apparently, yes. I wonder how legal it is, it's probably got pretty good margins.

Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive

#30

Post by AgentME »

joezydeco wrote: post #6

The original patent on virtual reels was granted in 1984 and is known in the industry as the "Telnaes patent" https://patents.google.com/patent/US4448419A The original design of virtual reels was more about decreasing the jackpot odds, since a high-payout combination was no longer bound to the physical stops on the reels. Machines that offered higher jackpots were more appealing, and also gave birth to things like pr…

Using a random number generator to pick the spot a wheel stops spinning is enough for a patent?
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