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The casino in your pocket

blog.curtii.com

211–220 of 265 posts

Re: The casino in your pocket

#211
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the time has come when android and ios should make a special versions of their online shops for children and teenagers and simply ban those types of games from those shops. IMHO this shouldn't [have to] be any of Apple or Google's business. It's a parent's responsibility to parent their child, not some conglomerate's.

>It's a parent's responsibility to parent their child Most won't. Call it lack of time or attention, ignorance of the problem, apathy... ultimately parents can't be aware of everything. We have shit like micro plastics in the water to contend with. What's the effect on society?

Every time you stack on more crap to worry about, more parents will fail to do the right thing. That’s just how life is.

Policing electronics and internet access is a huge pain in the ass that wasn’t a concern at all, not that long ago, and more-recently was a ton easier than it is now. I don’t even control all the devices in my house, some belong to the kids’ schools that for some reason won’t stop giving them goddamn computers. I can solve these problems but it’s a big pain, and most parents realistically cannot. It doesn’t help that all parental controls are pretty bad, usually for no good reason.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is regulated. If it looks like a die in a game of chance then it is a fair die. If it looks like a deck of cards, it is a fair deck of cards. This is written into the gambling laws of each regulated gaming jurisdiction. And like most regulations, these rules exist precisely because someone tried exactly this scheme at some point. And the regulators saw it and said "Oh hell no" and made a rule. As the saying goes,…

Does it apply to video slot machines as well? Is there some leeway?

The majority of game mathematicians work on video slot machines. These games have somewhat complex payout structures, seeing that they may have 40 or 50 "lines" (directions in which identical symbols trigger a payout), one or more "scattered symbol" prizes (payouts based on the appearance of a minimum number of special symbols, regardless of lining up), wild symbols, multiple progressive jackpots (individual and shared), one or more bonus games, free spins (often at an increased payout multiple, with the possibility of triggering jackpots), and possibly more gameplay features.

Incorporating all of these features into a single games with an acceptable "hold percentage" (theoretical percentage of wagers that result in casino profit) that is still fun to play that gives players a feel that they have a good chance of winning and generates repeat play, is a difficult task that every slot machine vendor is trying to achieve, and the mathematicians are tasked with balancing frequency of payouts with amount of payouts to keep players playing.

Right now Aristocrat Gaming is the most successful, they have the most titles (and the top spots) on industry-wide slot performance surveys.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#213

This reminds me of the claw machines you see in malls. They look like something you can be good at - place the claw more accurately, choose a toy placed at a cleaner angle - but what they actually do internally is randomly give you a (say) 10% chance, if you hit it you will grab the toy (unless you're REALLY far from one), if not you won't. The illusion is there, but the profit is stable and guaranteed.

Also applies to other supposedly skill based games at arcades, like "Cyclone"[1]. Interesting to contrast this to how pinball machines were considered gambling for a while, even though they were not[2].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBfwgwT1nQ

[2] https://www.history.com/news/that-time-america-outlawed-pinb...

Re: The casino in your pocket

#214
post #165
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Casino game developer and mathematician That sounds like a kind of incredible job description to me, what does it mean exactly to be a casino game developer?

Sounds about as exciting as being an actuary. Or probably less so. I'd rather be a mathematician making boardgames or cardgames, because they are allowed to have strategy. Casino games are by and large really dumb.

What value are you adding here by shitting on another poster's job? Just because it isn't something that interests you personally, is it necessary to announce that?

Re: The casino in your pocket

#215
post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

> It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. A step worse too: they are being trained that being bombarded with adverts is acceptable. Genuinely heard (couldn't avoid hearing, the voices were fairly loud) on a train the other week a dad explaining to his charge how he should “watch t…

I shuddered at that. There are times that parents have to resort to screen time to entertain children (e.g. a long train ride), but there are many other less harmful options than adverts or gambling-adjacent games.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#216
post #17
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like: "There's absolutely no reason for the executive to embezzle - they don't need to, they already have the cushy job." Cheating means greater profit, and (unless caught) more-reliable profit.

Except they're competing. If players think they win more at Casino B than Casino A, Casino A makes less, not more.

If a person was somehow collecting all that mass statistical data in advance and acting upon the mathematical expected return... they wouldn't be a gambler in any casino in the first place.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s there half because it’s a tabletop system and half otherwise there is a break in causality. Just having a random chance of success or failure isn’t very obvious and you don’t see near misses and so on. For most people showing the action is more satisfying. The underlying system comes from D&D so is full of quite crunchy randomness where results are usually rolled in front of everyone so you get a much more soc…

My main complaint about BG3 is actually how far they changed it from D&D. My favorite games are owlcat’s two Pathfinder games which is a tabletop system far crunchier than the streamlined D&D 5e. But you are missing what I said. The information is great, the unskippable animations are not.

At least on PC, you can click a couple times to avoid the animation. I tend to when the outcome is pretty likely (trying to roll above 10 with a +8 modifier for example) but the anticipation is exciting to my monkey brain if it's a tougher roll.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main complaint about BG3 is actually how far they changed it from D&D. My favorite games are owlcat’s two Pathfinder games which is a tabletop system far crunchier than the streamlined D&D 5e. But you are missing what I said. The information is great, the unskippable animations are not.

At least on PC, you can click a couple times to avoid the animation. I tend to when the outcome is pretty likely (trying to roll above 10 with a +8 modifier for example) but the anticipation is exciting to my monkey brain if it's a tougher roll.

Not all of it, it has about a second before and after that are not skippable. All I do is spam clicks during those damn dice-rolls.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#219
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the pity counter stored on the server?

The gaming data is all stored server side and subject to the tightest controls imaginable. You would never be able to twiddle bits and get an advantage in the game. Your PI however is sold to all and sundry, as well as being made available in an S3 bucket with no permissions for anyone who doesn’t want to pay for it.

What PI do mobile games even collect? Is it just payment history?

Re: The casino in your pocket

#220
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you ever regret working on this kind of software?

I played F2P games for a number of years and spent probably thousands of dollars on one. I don't regret it. I made a lot of friends, one of whom I still hang out in real life, learned leadership skills, and it was a pleasurable pasttime. I don't think it should be demonised.

Demonized? Maybe not. But these games should be 18+ like any other gambling product.
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