For this week’s critical play, I played World Series of Poker: Texas Hold’em Game website. To preface, I have played poker through both the WSOP mobile app, website, and in analog forms, but I played through the website for this critical play. The game of Poker was not developed by any singular person, but it is believed to have originated as an American mod of various European games in the 19th century. The app and website is developed by Playtika Ltd and is intended for adult audiences. World Series of Poker: Texas Hold’em Game lowers the barrier to entry for poker players through the affordances of its design choices and virtual screen while presenting its various game modes as games of increased chances of winning or pure skill, thereby encouraging addictive tendencies from players who are prone to gambling addictions.
Immediately, the player is hit with a barrage of popups and bright colors. Similar tactics of user interface design are used in casinos and mobile games to stimulate the player’s dopamine receptors. Already, the player can click through, collect 500,000 chips, and watch their bank value rise.
Similarly, the home screen also contains these design elements, with the added red notifications for a slot machine, bonuses, and other rewards.
Clicking on the slot machine opens up a traditional slot window. As discussed in the reading, slot machines give players the illusion of autonomy and decision making by allowing the player to hit the stop button. This makes the player feel they have an effect on the outcome of the slot machine. Unfortunately, the slot machine has more addictive properties built in. For this slot machine, there are five possible ways to win, demarcated by the five different colored lines running through the slot machine. These lines may make the player feel like they have increased chances of winning since they have five, rather than one, way to win at the game. Interestingly, this mirrors the previous topic of players’ understanding of probability. When players see larger numbers of the same odds, they assume they have a better chance of winning because of said larger numbers when in reality, their chances might be the same (or in this case even lower than a normal slot machine) because the odds of this slot machine are not viewable to the public.
The view of the poker table is relatively standard. The player sees their hand and is able to fold, check, raise, and bet. There are some advantages to playing virtually however. For example, players can see their relative hand strength with the “Hand Strength Bar” in the bottom right corner. This heavily differs from analog poker as players aren’t required to remember the different hands and their strengths. By reducing this barrier to entry, online poker more so relies on the players’ ability to calculate the probabilities that other players have specific hands. Simultaneously, this may also feed into players with addictive gambling habits as they can claim that the game now has a higher skill ceiling since all players are given this “Hand Strength Bar.”
Generally, however, when playing online players, there tends to be more randomness. The money players use to bet cannot be translated into real money (although egregiously players are able to buy virtual currency with real money in the in-game shop). The game is also extremely generous with its currency, rewarding players for almost anything they do (betting, routine logins, watching ads, etc), so players are incentivized to make irrational decisions for entertainment value. On the other hand, when players do win a hand, you might often see the game equate their win to skill. “Haha, I bluffed!” or “Should’ve folded” are some of the chat options presented to players when they win, and “Nice Hand!” or “Good bluff!” are some of the responses other players at the table can give. Analog poker itself is significantly more skill-based than online poker as in analog poker, players usually play with a set group of people for an extended period of time. They are able to track the tendencies of other players, and they themselves are able to condition the table into thinking they play one way, only to subvert that expectation completely on another hand. This is not possible in online poker as players are able to join and leave the table as they please.
Overall, virtual poker in the World Series of Poker: Texas Hold’em Game creates an environment that encourages addictive behaviors through its design choices and reward systems. Hopefully, through the understanding of these mechanisms, players and designers can better navigate the fine line between engaging gameplay and responsible gaming practices, avoiding promoting and engaging in games like WSOP without first including preventative measures such as playtime timers and break reminders.
