A new study has discovered the potential effect that poker machine sounds have on players. Michael J. Dixon, a neuroscientist at Canada’s University of Waterloo has discovered that pokie sounds can cause players to misinterpret their results.
96 individuals were involved in the study. Each individual was required to play two sessions. The first session included sounds while the other did not. After each session, they were asked how many times they thought they had won.
When playing the session without sounds, players overestimated their wins slightly. During the session with sounds, players significantly overestimated how much they had won.
This is because pokies play positive sounds regardless of the result. Whether a player wins $.50 on a $5 wager or $15 on a $5 wager, the game plays the same sounds. As such, players are made to believe that they are winning more than they actually are.
This is quite an interesting study, and it is the first of its kind. We are certainly interested to uncover future results on the same topic for more insight into how pokies’ designs influence player behaviour.