Psychology, Design and Economics of Slot-Machines

6 writes "Technology isn't just about design and hardware; sometimes it's about psychology, politics, sociology, and economics. The website of Stanford design prof Michael Shanks is hosting a student project by William Choi and Antoine Sindhu, a fascinating online course about slot machines. From the site: 'Much research has been devoted to studying gambling behavior from various points of view, including the psychological, social, economic, and political bases and implications of gambling ... [just the same,] focusing on slot machines reveals and inspires the study of many sociological issues that have come to express themselves specifically and notably on these machines. Here, we examine a number of these issues, attempting to link slot machines to them in an effort to better understand and explain them.'"

Comments

Fraud is a Crime

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The authors show a fundamental misunderstanding of what's going on:

Essentially, then, significant government regulation of gambling and casinos means protecting people from themselvesfrom their own innate psychology.

It's amazing how they could come to such a conclusion after detailing so many manipulative and deceptive practices. The lighting, the drinks, the drugged air the arrangement of odds are all lies. Because people do not know they are being lied to, it's hardly fair to say that regulating Casinos is protecting people from themselves.

Taking things from people you are lying to is called fraud. It is a crime and it is indirectly violent because the victim must work and make sacrifices to replace what was stolen. Casinos as they exist in the US are practicing fraud. Outlawing these disgusting institutions is no more paternalistic than banning other forms of theft. It's that simple.

You could have read the article.

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The lighting and drinks are lies? What does that mean? The drugged air? I've heard of that conspiracy theory, but as far as I know, it's only that -- a conspiracy theory

The article's authors believe otherwise and explain themselves before deciding that regulating fraudulent practices in casinos was some kind of paternalistic, protecting the marks from themselves move. Allow me to quote what they said because you are too lazy to read or to protective to acknowledge the practices.

The mark is kept unaware of the passing of time by artificial lighting.

In most Las Vegas casinos, there is a noticeable lack of natural light and of clocks. The gambling floor is always located away from the main entrance out onto the street to minimize the gamblers exposure to the outside world. ... This design keeps casino patrons in a perpetual (and artificial) daytime, exterior environment, whether they are gambling or not. Thus, those who are already gambling find it easier to keep gambling, and those who are simply walking around the casino are more inclined to start using a machine

Near misses manipulate the player's sense of odds

The most important of these is the inclusion of a system in the machine that yields a high frequency of near misses, or situations in which the player believes they have almost won. For example, the slot machine often displays two out of the three jackpot bars, a tremendously stimulating event which has greatly reinforced the players behavior at no cost to the casino. The ringing bells, flashing lights, and other sounds from their own machine and nearby machines are other secondary conditioning mechanisms that keep the player stimulated.

Manipulation of payout odd placement

casinos are planned such that there are slot machines lining walkways around tables. However, these slots are always tight. This cuts down on the noise and distraction to table players, and makes sense because the majority of players on these machines are playing spontaneously, with little expectation of winning. This demonstrates to what degree casino layouts are optimizedin this case, to the point that a complex system is implemented simply to clean up loose change from spontaneous players.

Drugging patrons.

It has even been reported that casinos have attempted to manipulate the air circulation in order to affect the behavior of gamblers. They may add extra oxygen to the circulation to keep gamblers more alert, or even add pheromones that make people feel more relaxed and at ease. Casinos vehemently deny these allegations; however, companies marketing these technologies do exist and do make sales to casinos.

"Free" drinks and ordinary odds are not deceptive like the above is. The mark is unaware of the powerful emotional manipulation at work. This is not a friendly game of cards, it's fraud.