How do sound effects improve the online slots gaming?
A lot goes into creating a slot as it has to offer players an experience, rather than just being a game about winning and losing. Furthermore, with today’s gaming crowd who have been brought up on highly polished and immersive video games, a sub-standard slot gaming experience will just not cut it with such a savvy audience – also try Fishin Frenzy slot.
Admittedly, most slot players are not as immersed in the graphics of these games, as they would be whilst playing video games. Nevertheless, decent graphics are a plus and this goes for all the other elements that make up a slot, such as themes, special features, bonus rounds, music, and sound effects.
Slot players are indeed more focused on whether they are winning or losing, than whether a slot game has memorable sound effects and other production values, but they do add to the gaming experience in general.
Sound Effects and Slots
Sound effects including music, can set the scene of a slot and create a unique atmosphere within the game. Sound effects can also be cues for the triggering of special features. Most slot games use both visual and sound effect cues that a feature is about to commence. Slots can use sound effects to add dramatic effects to a game or to relax the player instead, such as in Butterfly Staxx.
Sound effects are also regularly used to signify a big win, and this can be experienced in games such as Book of Ra, ThunderStruck II and Divine Fortune.
Sound Effect Research
You may be surprised to discover that sound effects used in slot games have been at the heart of extensive research into slot player behaviour. This research has taken place at the school of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Australia and the University of Waterloo in Canada.
This research has unearthed some interesting discoveries about the effects sounds have on slot gamers.
The main discovery was that people gain a form of arousal from playing slots games, this is heightened when sound effects and music is added to the mix. It was also observed that sound effects that accompanied a win, were the most arousing of all the sounds slot games use.
Research Conclusions
These observations illustrate the importance of sound effects and music that accompany slot games. This arousal is part of the gaming experience and is present in video games as well. The major difference is that there is no gambling involved in video games, so sound effects cannot be seen as being detrimental to the health of the player.
An aroused slot player is highly likely to want to keep playing as long as they possibly can, and this creates problems such as slot addiction and overspending. The Gambling Commission recently decided that games will eventually have to remove ‘any sounds or imagery which give the illusion of a win when the return is, in fact, equal to or below the original stake value.’
Whether this will affect the overall experience for slot players is unsure because there are other elements of slot games that can get players aroused as well.