Advancement of Technology: Where Are Online Slots Headed?
To stay on top of the latest trends observed in the world of gambling as well as the advancement of technology, the developers need to keep honing their craft and reshape the design of their games as necessary. As such, online slots games have undergone certain changes in the last couple of years merely to meet the ever-increasing player demands.
Where flashy visuals used to be enough to seize the day, in the modern times, the focus lies on making the features more engaging. While the former serve as the hook to get the player interested in the first place, it’s the latter that keep them engaged and retain their interest over a prolonged period of time.
The question becomes: what gameplay changes to implement to keep them coming back for more? What about the state of technology? Keep on reading as we delve into it some more!
The popularity of online slots
The reason why online slots in Australia has such a wide user base is because the game genre has a low learning curve, thereby making it easy to get into for anyone who’s interested. Compare that to blackjack, for instance, a game that requires a complex knowledge of odds and tables to play out every situation in the most optimal manner. You’ll find that online slots are designed to effectively remove all barriers to entry. That alone is a key step to achieving mass market popularity.
Adaptation is crucial to survive in this competitive industry
Since the market is finite in its size, everyone is out to get the biggest slice of the pie. Once a developer comes out with a revolutionary new feature, game mechanic, or concept that turns out to be successful, others are likely to follow suit. It wouldn’t be too far flung to say that innovation and the willingness to adapt is what drives the innovation and evolution of online slots.
Has virtual reality finally matured enough to play a role?
Numerous industry gurus have touted the VR technology as the next big thing in online slots. Until now, however, the steep costs of VR equipment have remained enough for a deterrent that the technology is still far away from reaching mass adoption. In turn, the pool of people who would be interested in playing VR slots is much smaller than the potential numbers we could be looking at.
In other words, this is a specialized piece of technology that is designed to accomplish one thing only, so it’s unrealistic to expect that everyone would be willing to invest in it (whereas living without smartphones and computers is almost hard to imagine these days). At the same time, this could all turn around if VR equipment reaches the point of consumer-grade accessibility.
VR is a promising technology, but it’s still not within many consumers’ reach.
Innovative features will pave the way going forward
As the genre evolves, we will see more technologically-driven features such as sharing the score (or even a replay of the craziest in-game moments) with one’s friends through social media. Gamification is another driving trend. In essence, it involves expanding beyond the basic premise of the game without making it overly complicated. A good example of this is adding storytelling elements to the game, letting the player accumulate experience points, being able to purchase certain items that unlock special powers that influence the state of the game, and so forth.
Conclusion
No one knows the exact direction the genre is headed towards, but one thing is for sure – online slots remain the players’ favorite. The main challenge involves introducing new gameplay elements without taking away from their inherent simplicity. Will the industry’s developers be able to come up with something groundbreaking?