This was a random topic I suddenly found interesting and looked into a little bit:
Who are the people designing casinos? Have you ever heard in random “fun fact” videos about the science behind casinos, how they take away windows so you lose track of time, or use ugly carpet so your eyes go towards the games tables? What’s the job title for someone like that? “Customer Experience Designer? Game Developer? Strategy Associate?” Is it something a college student could intern in, either at a firm or a corporate casino company? At a party, does one of these guys introduce themselves as a “Casino Developer?” “Oh yeah, I actually designed the now-patented seat weighing technology to increase luck on someone’s first spin to get them hooked…”
This is one of the most random things I’ve thought of in a while, but I was wondering if any of you had any experience or knowledge you could share to answer some of these burning questions of mine.
Gaming companies. Major ones like MGM run many subsidiaries. Specific technologies like slot machines are designed by specialized companies like International Game Technology. Aside from the floor-level employees, they employ programmers and mathematicians to design the games, designers and UX guys for the visuals, human factors specialists for the layout. They have to comply with laws, which in places that specialize like Nevada they are substantial, so a legal team and administration to make sure they aren’t running anything illegal, so to speak.
That’s interesting to me. My college offers an Experience Design program, which focusing on designing positive user interactions within apps or interactions. This is an example (not my college but the same concept). I wonder if designing slot machines or casino interfaces could be a capstone project or internship path in that field.
Possibly. UX is popular in a lot of industries. If you’re looking to try to get into the industry, universities with relationships with casinos might be a best bet, good career nights and networking.
There’s many demons who have their hand in slot design and the overall casino gaming experience.
Slot manufacturers:
Ainsworth
AGS
IGT, as mentioned
Aristocrat
Bally’s
Konami
Everi
Light and Wander
WMS
Casino properties:
//MGM//, as mentioned
//Caesar’s//
//Penn//
//Boyd’s//
Whatever tribe, if the casino is located on a reservation
In certain states, the lottery
There are several conferences, conventions, and trade shows where those in the casino industry network.
An honorable mention, ///Oregon Surveillance Network///. Oooooof! Not a mind behind slot machines, but they can play an important role in the gaming experience.
My employer has an entire department dedicated to casino layout. I’m sure the other slot vendors have the same.
In Scarcity Brain, Michael Easter visits a casino that is operated entirely by psychology researchers. A LOT of social psychologists go into this field (as well as gaming, marketing, etc.) because it pays very well.
That segment in the book is a very interesting read if you want to learn about the evolution of slot machines and why slot machines are designed the way they are. Slot machines used to have very low payout. The casino operator who figured out that random rewards lead to increased profits feels kind of bad about it.
I like Michael Easter’s writing, the problem is he explores these issues and teeters always on the edge of awareness that these systems are massively exploitative and immoral, but always backpedals and ends up at Personal Responsibility. They always do.
@scudsucker may have some insight
My experience is mostly in the software, not the user experience.
But I was (sorry, everyone) responsible for sending out a good amount of spam.
I agree that it is a massively exploitative industry, no different to your local heroin dealer - except, your dealer does not give you free samples if you have not visited for a while. Online casinos do.
Fun fact: long before they became better known for a certain blue hedgehog, Sega made slot machines. One can be seen in the 1964 movie Carry On Spying.
