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How is Playing Slots Different than Playing Video Poker?
Based on the number of players who access these games and the length of time they spend playing them, we can say that slots and video poker are the two most popular games at Everygame EU. The question is: “Are the people who play slots the same people who play video poker? If so, why? If not, why not?
This is not a trivial question. In our desire to satisfy the gaming needs of all of our gamers, we are always looking to better understand the men and women who play the casino games we offer here at Everygame EU. We really do want to know what motivates slots players and what motivates video poker players and if we drew a Venn diagram of these players, how much would they overlap?
The Random Number Generator
The random number generator or RNG controls every game at online casinos so it alone is not a factor in why some players prefer slots and some prefer video poker. Even at land-based casinos, where slots and video poker are the two most prominent games that use a RNG while so many other games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, keno, and bingo are all played “live”, the RNG cannot be a major factor in players’ preference for one over the other.
The answer to our search actually lies in the gaming experience.
Slots and Video Poker Offer Two Very Different Gaming Experiences
Slots have a few elements that are unique to them and are not a pronounced part of the video poker experience.
- Vicarious experience and enjoyment.
- Many varied elements of games.
- Slots allow us to expand our use of imagination.
This is all quite fascinating. While we might have thought that slots are “just a game” the truth is that slots provide an experience that many people need. Slots come in many theme categories and sub-themes within those categories. Our game provider, Real Time Gaming, comes out with a new slot every month because the gaming public wants a new and exciting story line. We run a promotion based on the new slot every month but the promotion is not why RTG brings a new game out every month. They do so because the slots playing public wants a new vicarious experience.
The Role of Museums
We said above that this is a fascinating concept and, in fact, the people who like to go to historical museums and many other different types of museums are very similar to the people who like to play slots. There is no limit to the different histories that historical museums can tell.
An historical museum might be very local or it can be entirely national. A national historical museum will try to cover all of a nation’s history. Such a project might require a very large building and might offer guests a full day of historical sleuthing.
Slots are not as broad as museums but someone who wants to play online casino games and choose to play slots might travel from ancient Rome to modern day Europe, from the native civilizations of Mexico, Central America, and South America to modern day story lines such as the story in Mariachi 5.
The Game Side of Slots
The term gamification is being bandied about a lot these days. This term simply means that our modern societies are turning many everyday activities into games. Turning a work environment into a game environment is said to make people happier at work and thus more productive.
Modern slots have evolved in enormous ways since the old-fashioned three reel slots with one win line of yesteryear. We could very reasonably say that modern slots have gamified the games! Think about the slots features that didn’t exist a few years ago such as scatter symbols, expanding wilds, cascading reels and so much more!
So, we can conclude that slots players like the various story lines because they allow them to have great vicarious experiences and expand their imaginative talents. Slots players also love the ever-enlarging gamification of slots games!
Video Poker Appeals to People Who Want to Think Actively
There aren’t any scatter symbols in video poker. There aren’t wild cards in most video poker variations although deuces wild remains a big favorite among video poker players. Video poker serves poker lovers, and people who like to evaluate situations
These two aspects of standard video poker players seem to be in direct contrast to slots players. It seems that slots attract players who look to experience a range of situations while video poker players just want to play poker.
How Slots and Video Poker Merge
We have finally reached the point in the Venn diagram where there is overlap between vide poker players and slots players. Here is one of the biggest insights in online casino gaming: there is no reason to think that a thinking game player can never also be a vicarious experiences player and the reverse, that a vicarious experiences player might not at times want a thinking person’s game.
Online Gaming Brings These Diverse Personality Types Together.
At a land based casino, players sit at the same terminal for long periods of time. Players often play one or possibly two games in a long weekend at the casino simply because it is so inconvenient to give up their seat and look for a different game. They don’t know when they get up if they will find another game to their liking.
So, at land-based casinos, players stay put! The Venn diagram of overlap between slots players and video poker players at land-based casinos shows very little overlap.
At Everygame EU and other online casinos, gamers can go from game to game as they wish! In terms of giving players who generally like the vicarious experience—mainly slots players—a chance to also play thinking people’s games, online casinos have a tremendous superiority over land-based casinos.
Another aspect of this is the range of vicarious experience gamers can have at online casinos. Instead of playing one slot for hours on end, online slots gamers can go from ancient culture to ancient culture to humorous slots to scary dinosaur slots and hundreds of other variations.
Online Casinos Also Give Video Poker Players a Taste of Vicarious Pleasure
Now we are getting into the large area enclosed in our Venn diagram. Whereas, in the past, a gamer may have played a form of video poker—that is poker with no bluffing—modern video poker players can play multi-hand video poker.
What a pleasure it is for some gamers to play 100 hands of poker at the same time! In the entire history of gambling, which goes back thousands of years, there was never a chance for a single player to play 100 hands at the same time!
An Inexorable Conclusion
The only conclusions we can reach are these:
- The people who play slots are mostly not the same as the people who play video poker.
- At Everygame EU, there is a lot of overlap between slots players and video poker players.
- There is a difference between vicarious experience gamers and thinking game players but the very convenience of online casinos closes this dichotomy tremendously!
We hope you understand that online casinos offer so much more in the way of a well-rounded gaming experience than land-based casinos do, that you will make Everygame EU your go to casino for vicarious experience, thoughtful gaming, and just plain fun!
