Technology’s advance has changed the way we live our lives quickly.
Imagine for a moment being without your phone for a day, or without the internet for a week. Many of you would feel isolated, cut off and adrift. We rely on technology to get us out of bed, keep us healthy and to help us navigate the world. In a Pew Research piece on the future, a number of academics discuss the further implications, suggesting that technology will only serve to make our lives longer and easier over time.
That will lead to us having more time to enjoy ourselves, in whatever form we prefer. Our mobile devices have allowed us to remain connected with friends, communicate with strangers and to play games wherever we go. If you are on a train, in a hotel or on your couch, games are right there at the touch of a button. European Gaming reveals how one provider is experiencing strong numbers in early 2020, a trend seen increasingly across several platforms, demonstrating how online gaming is becoming a go-to pastime in the modern age.
How do online slots work though? As a gamer, can you be sure you are getting a fair deal, and what technology is powering them? In the old days of just physical casinos, slot machines were all cogs and wheels, with certain patterns players could exploit, but how does the modern-day online player know the tables have not been turned on them?
Online providers use software, rather than actual components to generate a random outcome, generating a potential return to a player, which is often displayed next to the game you are playing for transparency. When you click the mouse, or tap your mobile device, it tells the software to produce a random outcome. That outcome then corresponds to the display on your screen. If you are lucky, your tap will produce three reels the same, or four or five depending on the game, and you take home a prize. This process is controlled by a Random Number Generator. A feature by Gala Spins explains how online slots use an RNG to determine whether a player has won or not; similar in many respects to other online ‘loot box’ scenarios on multiplayer role-playing games. Even in console staples such as Mario Kart, an RNG is used to determined which bonuses you pick up as you go around the course. In terms of online slots, the industry is heavily regulated and the RNGs they use must be checked and certified, which protects the gamer as much as possible. If you are intending to play an online slot game, then you should make sure the provider has accreditation, which should be easy to find.
That really is it for the tech behind the games. Most smartphones, both Android and iPhone, are more than capable of running online slots, as are tablets and laptops. All current generation hardware makes easy work of the fancy graphics and sounds produced by an online slot machine, as they are no more heaving on the processing power than a basic mobile game or even scrolling through social media. Technology has moved us to a stage where slot machines, once a dark art understood by only a handful of people, really have been reduced to nothing more than random numbers and clever programming.
Note: This is a collaborative post with Willie Carson. Fill out this form to learn more!
