This week, I sat down with friends to play slots at FreeSlots.com, courtesy of SimSlots Inc. (1999). While slot machines are typically reserved for adults at casinos, (18+ or 21+), this website did not seem to have a minimum age, and thus could potentially be playable by children. In particular, I chose the machine “Prosperous Fortune” due to aesthetics, and . After playing for a while (a period in which I won big, lost big, and then won big again), I emerged with a much better understanding of the appeal of chance games. Admittedly, I have never been one for gambling, however I noted how the game was designed to captivate my attention, and keep me pressing the button again and again. Overall, I argue that slot machines capitalize on powerful sensation aesthetics and the perceived fairness of random chance in order to lure in players and keep them addicted.
The “Prosperous Fortune” Theme
To offer an anecdote: When we first logged on the site, my friends and I were talking about how silly the graphics looked, and even poked fun at the notion that someone would enjoy using this website to play slots. As we started to make our bets in turns, we were watching the pictures as they appeared on screen, eager to see if we got any matches. However, as time went on, I noticed that the talking subsided and we were suddenly in a silent rhythm of clicking the bet button and waiting for any noise that indicated we won. At this point, some of us were reluctant to hand the laptop away when our turn was over, going so far as to accidentally continue betting. Furthermore, we started to attribute wins and losses to each other’s luck. For instance, when a friend of mine lost, he stated “I can never win! My luck sucks.” Frankly, it was alarming at how quickly we fell into the rhythm of inserting money, and if we had been at a casino, the night would have ended fairly quickly.
From a design perspective, there are many deliberate choices which contribute to the overall risk of addiction. For one, the slots are made of bright, eye-catching colors, with playful graphics that suggest that losing money is a game in its own right. As this week’s reading discusses, the slot machine’s history of disguising as “gum vending machines” may be one of its greatest aesthetic strengths. Whenever you win, flashing lights appear on screen to celebrate your victory. Furthermore, a little jingle plays, serving as an almost Pavlovian signal for a dopamine hit. Losses, however, are forgettable. Nothing much happens, which leaves you eager to try again. Notably, when you insert money (I was inserting 26 tokens at a time), your credits subtract and jump down in a second. However, when you win, the credits increase one at a time. This achieves the effect where you feel like you are winning a lot, because of how long it is taking for the machine to count up the prize, despite having just bet the same amount of money. All of these mechanics combine to make an addicting sensation aesthetic; all you want is to see your credits go up and to hear the little jingle. To be honest, I enjoyed the satisfaction of winning more than I would like to admit.
This is what winning looks like.
Furthermore, the element of random chance made the game feel surprisingly fair. Put aside the fact that humans are terrible at reasoning with probabilities, but I always felt that a win was around the corner. This is a very powerful mechanic which casinos certainly use to their advantage. Of course, their goal is to take as much of your money as possible, and if you keep playing it is a statistical certainty that they will. However, in the short term it feels like whatever happens is out of anyone’s control, giving you the sense that you could beat the house. However, as the reading states, it is not abundantly clear what one’s odds are in the game, making this notion of fairness incredibly misleading and dangerous.
Overall, I don’t think I will be playing slots again anytime soon. The perceived fairness perpetuated by the element of random chance makes each pull of the lever oddly tempting. And while the game’s flashing lights, catchy sounds, and vibrant displays help to draw in and provide short term bursts of dopamine, they are a quick pathway to a gambling addiction. And with the record I had playing on FreeSlots.com, such an addiction would be costly.
