It just occurred to me the same randomized reward mechanism mentioned in the article is the same one that occurs (for me, anyway) on the HN main page. Clicking refresh and not knowing what new awesome thing will be there.
How slot machines are designed to be addictive
151–160 of 201 posts
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#152Disclaimer: I design the machines and games for a living. 1) regarding near miss, with basic math knowledge you can easily calculate the odds of near miss. Eg. with 2 special symbols per 30 symbol reel, for a 3x5 reel game, you have a 1:5 chance of seeing the special symbol per reel, or once per spin for a 5 reel game. The odds of a 4 symbol near miss is (1:5)^4, which is 1:625, or once every 30 minutes. With a bank…
2) The employees are not gambling, so they are not exposed to the addictive product. 3) Incorrect. Standalone progressives and linked progressives adjust the payout based on the outcome of previous games. Either the jackpot is awarded and reset, or the increment is added and will be available as a future payout. Furthermore some markets have had a history of compensators (eg fruit machine markets / awp).
>Furthermore some markets have had a history of compensators (eg fruit machine markets / awp).
What do you mean by "compensators" and "fruit machine markets / awp", please?
Another dumb question I was too embarrassed to ask in a real casino, but everybody in the gambling industry probably already knows:
I've never read a slot machine "instruction manual", and the instructions on the slot machines in Amsterdam are in Dutch. So my experience is just walking up to them and pressing the buttons to learn how they work.
Some times when you put money into a slot machine, it starts out in this mode where it's only blinking between a few numbered lights but doesn't spin the slots, and it seems stuck in that mode, since I can't reliably get it out of that mode by pressing all the buttons. But sometimes I can, and it's not clear what I did that I didn't do those other times.
Sometimes I'm able to press enough buttons to get it out of that dumb mode and back to spinning the slots as I expected, but some times I just have to eject my money and move on to another machine.
Sometimes a machine will start out in this mode, not spinning the slots, but not usually, and other nearby machines of the same type will act normally (spinning the slots the first time you use them).
What's going on? Is there a reset button around the back of the machine that I don't know about? It seems like a really boring game, and I can't imagine anyone would become addicted to that mode.
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
Human psychology studies are a tricky thing, where everyone only focuses on data which matches their preconceived notions. I'm sure that some university group has researched the cost of fashion addiction, music addiction, car addiction, holiday addiction etc. yet no-one is talking about the social cost of fashion/collections/other vices people may have. There was a large Casino court case in Australia a couple of mon…
The problem in identifying addition prone candidates is a problem of ethics. The primary behavior that defines "the gambler state", and many other forms of addiction, is a neurological disorder related to responses of dopamine flooding. This is a physiological condition in the brain that can be observed, validated, and analyzed against trends. --- The addiction In the most simple of terms dopamine is a brain hormone…
>If you know somebody's basic decision making capability is damaged and you intentionally abuse that damage to your self satisfaction
Wouldn't this include a lot of advertisement? Simply informing a person that an option exists wouldn't fall under it, but so many advertisements use psychological tricks that take advantage of common flaws in our decision making patterns.
>If you know bombarding a person, whether or not in a state of reasonable deciding capacity, with messaging to influence that person contrary to their objectives or in excess of a reasonable period of messaging
And this fits advertising even more.
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's supported by what he wrote - he said its tricky, not invalid.
They also clarified tricky as meaning "where everyone only focuses on data which matches their preconceived notions". Reads like a general dismissal of an entire branch of science to me.
"preconceived notions" is a euphemism for "profit motives".
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#155To make matters worse, after all this effort to hook players in with a promise of a win just around the corner, it seems that casinos often don't pay up when players win big. Instead, they blame jackpots on malfunctions. Three cases of this from Ars: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/1-4-million-jack... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/sorry-maam-you-d... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/…
This is reasonable when machines list a maximum reward of say 10,000$ and then it says has someone win 2000x that. After all, the players did not make the bet thinking such a payout was possible. IMO, it is a sign the machines are not setup to follow the states rules. But, people are suing for the amount listed not trying to shut the casino down.
>This is reasonable when machines list a maximum reward of say 10,000$ and then it says has someone win 2000x
I disagree. It should be trivial to code a machine to not display a number greater then it's maximum bet.
Forcing slot makers to honor their machine's output will incentivize them to better bug test their products.
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to program in 1982 and these things were completely obvious at that time. However, you can patent almost anything, both then and today. Patents are more of a process than a science.
You could have made a fortune selling this to a slot manufacturer in 1982. So why didn't you?
Business is about understanding customers, not code. I was a 16 year old kid in West Virginia.
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
If malfunction voids all pays and plays, and if the casino can legally not pay what the machine says it should, then it should also be on the casino to track down every single person who's ever put money into that machine and give them a full refund. If a machine has the kind of coding glitch that could cause this sort of payout, who's to say it hasn't been stealing from players all along?
i agree in principle with your argument, but i imagine the only way to properly track historical players of that machine is if they kept some sort of ledger or database on every single user of the machine, which probably means they'd need to store your personal information somewhere indefinitely. not sure too many gamblers would be cool with that.
It's called a rewards card, and almost every frequent slot machine player uses them because they get perks.
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#158Sadly, the article does disservice to a lot of actual mechanics of the industry. And the amount of hard work that goes on to actually makes these games addictive. It is not for no reason that these are called one-armed bandits. * This industry is highly regulated; but it rarely does help those really in need. If the regulations were very strictly implemented (player wager limits, player time controls, self-regulation…
wouldn't a payoff of 97% means that with a fixed amount of money going in, over time you end up with $0? the payoff is exponential in the wrong direction, right?
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#159Unreadable. Too bad, the title seemed interesting. Also, sound?
I think this article is worth to activate JavaScript.
Re: How slot machines are designed to be addictive
#160Game developers are similarly employing psychologists to maximize addictiveness of gambling in games targeted and children and teens in the form of "loot boxes", and due to lack of regulation, they are allowed to use even more scummy techniques that the gambling industry had long been prohibited from using, in order to more effectively squeeze money out of players.