Out of interest, has anybody worked out what this means, given it is part of the latest changes we've supposedly seen on slots in the past month:
- The removal of features that speed up play or give the illusion of control over the outcome
My initial understanding was that this would mean no access to games (or version of games) where we were given a choice on something that was pre-determined.
Ie on something like The Goonies when we get a key it wouldn't be able to offer us a selection of 3 keys and "give the illusion that if we always pick the middle one it HAS to be bonus boost soon..." they'd have to either remove the game from UK casinos, or create a version where the key glows and then just gives you a random feature without the picking part.
That was clearly wrong though and I can't say I've noticed any change in relation to this section. So what has (or should have) changed?
Obviously the first part of this change has been implemented and now there are almost no games that let you click through cut scenes or skip win count ups. Cheers for that UKGC.
It's that fucking idiot Chip that caused this. I used to watch his streams and he'd make out that quick spinning after getting nowhere on autoplay made a difference.
His devoted crowd of Universal Credit followers believed anything he said. He got a big win once a couple of spins after quick spinning. A muppet in the comments made out quick spinning always makes a difference. I told him it makes no difference but no.....Chip was right, how could he be wrong.
I believe its things like on some of the games it gives you the option of betting a little higher stake to give a better chance of the bonus coming in, but if the game is random then this cannot really be the case, it may offer more bonus symbols/scatters in the game and give the 'illusion' that the game is easier to bonus, but if the game is truly random then the chances of a bonus won't really change in my opinion a significant amount to warrant the extra cost. I believe that they see this as encouraging people to bet higher stakes for the same potential reward as a lower stake because the win structure is the same.
paul1980 - 10/11/2021 at 09:56
I believe its things like on some of the games it gives you the option of betting a little higher stake to give a better chance of the bonus coming in, but if the game is random then this cannot really be the case, it may offer more bonus symbols/scatters in the game and give the 'illusion' that the game is easier to bonus, but if the game is truly random then the chances of a bonus won't really change in my opinion a significant amount to warrant the extra cost. I believe that they see this as encouraging people to bet higher stakes for the same potential reward as a lower stake because the win structure is the same.
Yeah all that sounds about right - but on that basis you'd have to remove almost all slot games or at least make huge changes for them to be legit to play in the UK!
All seems a very weird thing to try and police if it is something they do wish to control?
Weemonk23 - 09/11/2021 at 21:54
It's that fucking idiot Chip that caused this. I used to watch his streams and he'd make out that quick spinning after getting nowhere on autoplay made a difference.
His devoted crowd of Universal Credit followers believed anything he said. He got a big win once a couple of spins after quick spinning. A muppet in the comments made out quick spinning always makes a difference. I told him it makes no difference but no.....Chip was right, how could he be wrong.
weemonk,
The core issue here is that a lot of people who gamble are not as educated or well informed as you. The game providers, casinos and indeed streamers, whether they intend to or not, perpetuate these misapprehensions for their own gain.
Genuinely, anyone who believes that the quick spins provide a different result should perhaps not be gambling at all. The very fact that Chip indicated that this was his belief simply indicates a total lack of undetrstanding on his part. All quick spins really do is to increase the rate of turnover and perhaps Chip understands this perfectly well.
With regards to the illusion of control question posed by the OP my take would be as follows:
The predetermination of the results of any given slot machine is just simply a matter of how they function. As I think i had put it to you in an earlier thread.The outcome of a game is already fixed upon the initial click and the rest of the spin is just theatre.
Where it becomes a little more arbitrary is where there is a gamble feature and let's take an example here of a Blueprint slot like The Goonies. You have clicked the start button and three bonus symbols are on the screen.
At this stage how much have you won for your £1 stake? Let's just assume that the predetermined outcome was a win of £10 - no matter what you do the result is a £10 win. Why would even bother with the gambling feature if the payout would be fixed anyway? The reality is that you are gambling your £10 win on a gamble feature that appears like a 50/50 chance so the outcome of a successful gamble ought to be a £20 win and so on. The reality is that the "theatre" offered by some game providers is wholly misleading and the true odds of the gamble are well below 50/50.
An example of this would be on the dreadful "Pub Fruits" games where the hi/lo gamble on either a two or an eleven where the odds should be 10/1 against a loss are clearly manipulated. These gambles lose around half of the time. For any reader who is sceptical of this go and find a play money site and check it out.
Distorting the odds in the favour of the house using misleading graphics is unfortunately commonplace. The addition of pecentages, as long as they are accurate, on games such as Centurion Megaways would have been an eye opener to quite a few players and especially on the final gamble where the positive outcome only arrives on 23% of gambles. To me this needs to be shown even more transparently.
My initial reading of the UKGC changes made me conclude that the intended changes were to adjust the player experience whereby the £1 stake spin resulting in a 40p win (actually a 60p loss) was not accompanied by a fanfare of bells, whistles and music. The game providers are probably a little ahead of the UKGC here. Have a look at games like Big Bass Bonanza where there are a lot of dead spins however these runs of dead spins are interspersed with bonus teases (also dead spins by the way) to give the player the impression that they are winning or at least very close to it.
Perhaps if an edgy games studio likes No Limit City was to provide a closing bonus screen with "Congratulations you have staked a quid on this slot, achieved a bonus and on this occasion you have won F*** All" that would be quite refreshing.
I hope everybody is having a great Saturday
That's an interesting take on things
I'm a nerdy old fella who steadfastly listed 'maths' as his favourite subject through school, so the idea of the numbers behind spins has always intrigued me. Would love to know what the true odds were on games where (presumably) the win you are going to get changes based on your decision - like your example on the Blueprint games of taking a feature or gambling to either move up / get a mystery win. Is it 50/50 like the wheel shows or is there a skew in things? And of course, it'd be even more intriguing to know if it truly impacts your payout (which I'm sure it must!) or if the moment you press the spin it's already decided you'll get (say) a 10x pay regardless of which feature you take / mystery win you end up with.
It gets even more extreme when you see some of the high roller games Stop & Step used to play on FOBTs. There were probably only 16-20 segments on wheels but certain features (ie Big Money) literally never land and were clearly not 1/20 shots in spite of the graphics.
Pretty sure that'd never be something that appears on games though, for the same reason as RTPs get hidden away in the depths of the help menus.
FWIW I never really minded the gambles on the old pub games as they were a great way to know how a machine was playing and either walk away or work through to certain features / force JP streaks. That's the fun that came with compensated games that obviously can't be a thing in this new online world. Were far more fun IMO than any modern, random, slot machine!