Sound in Electronic Gambling Machines - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 2

INtrODUctION more structural components to slot machine

gameplay. Many of these structural components
have been adapted from computer games, such as
cut scenes, bonus rounds and specialist plays. And
while the arm of the “one-armed bandit” remains
on many slot machines, more commonly players
use simple rectangular or round blinking buttons
very similar to those of many arcade games.
There are also, of course, some notable dif-
ferences between computer games and electronic
gambling machines. Historically, the vast major-
ity of EGMs have been exclusively installed in
casinos, where the usual age for entry is 21, thus
effectively excluding young people from game-
play. However, this is changing as the companies
attempt to capture a younger audience and the
machines proliferate in non-gambling environ-
ments (Rivlin, 2004). Today, EGMs can be found
in bars, restaurants, arcades, hotel lobbies, and
entertainment and sporting venues. There are
also, of course, virtual slot machines online, and
these represent a significantly growing propor-
tion of slot income. Research has further shown
that casinos and gaming companies are seeking
to target women, particularly those over 55 as its
main demographic, although as the venues change,
the target market is becoming younger.
Electronic gambling machines today are also
much faster to play than their mechanical and
electronic ancestors. Now, the average player
initiates a new game every 6 seconds (Harrigan
& Dixon, 2009a, p. 83), playing up to 600 games
per hour, and there are even artificially intelligent
machines that adapt to the speed of the player—
when they start slowing down, the machine will
slow down with them, but work to build them
back up after a little break. Many games aim for
“immersion” (what might be best described in
terms of Csíkszentmihályi's concept of “flow”,
characterized by concentration on the task at
hand, a sense of control, merging of awareness
and action, temporal distortion and a loss of self-
consciousness—see Csíkszentmihályi, 1990).
It is, however, often possible to jam the button

A much neglected area of research into computer
game sound is the use of sound in electronic
gambling machines (EGMs; also known as slot
machines, video slots and video fruit machines).
To put the influence of EGMs into perspective,
the computer game industry in the United States
contributes approximately $8 billion in sales each
year to the country's GDP (Seeking Alpha 2008).
The slot industry, on the other hand, generates
approximately $1 billion a day in wagers in the
United States alone (Rivlin, 2004). Moreover, this
amount is increasing as slot machines grow in
popularity and are increasingly found outside of
designated casinos. In 1980, an average of 45% of
the gaming floor of a Nevada casino was devoted
to slots, whereas today this number is at least
77%, with machines generating more than twice
the combined revenue of all other types of games
(Schull, 2005). Although they are also increasing
in complexity (see below), slot machines are at-
tractive to players because they require little or
no training or previous experience, they are quick
and easy to play and, perhaps most importantly,
they elicit a number of sights and sounds that make
them striking and exciting on the casino floor.
EGMs have many similarities with commercial
computer games, particularly arcade games. In
fact, many of the early video arcade game com-
panies also had a long prior history manufacturing
slot machines, including Bally and the Williams
Manufacturing Company. As such, many of the
creators and designers of slot machines today
have also worked for computer game companies.
In fact, much of the sound design and music of
slots is still outsourced to game sound designers
and composers, such as George “The Fat Man”
Sanger (composer of 7 th Guest , Wing Commander ,
and others).
Furthermore, until the 1990s slot machines had
fairly standard mechanical or electro-mechanical
reels and parts. Today, however, with the digitiza-
tion of slot machines there are now considerably