The Main Weaknesses of Today's Online Slots

June 4, 2015

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In today's online slots world, we see a lot of patterns and methods of innovation. Unfortunately, not all of this is positive, and there are some major weaknesses that are going to have to be addressed if these games are going to reach their full potential. We're going to look at some of those weaknesses here, where they come from and what can be done about them. These weaknesses only hurt the experience for players, and that's a pretty big deal in an industry where the bottom line comes from how much the players enjoy themselves.

If you look at most of today's new online slot releases, there's a lot of building on what has worked in the past. The vast majority of new games use five reels with three rows, and while that's fine to a degree, the lack of innovation when it comes to the basic format of the games is somewhat demoralizing. The push from classic slots to video slots was a pretty big deal, but that happened more than a couple of decades ago, and there hasn't been a major push for a different type of slot format since.

Another area where these games are showing some major weaknesses is in the selection of bonus features available. Again, the vast majority of games either have free spins or a pick-a-box style bonus feature available. While a number of games have been using atypical bonuses, especially in recent years, most of them do not. This is a major issue since this is looked at as the pinnacle of gameplay aside from hitting major jackpots, and if it falls flat, then the whole experience is going to be underwhelming. This will lead to fewer players coming back to the games, which will hurt the industry overall in a major way.

Finally, we have the general attitude towards slots anyway. The basic idea is that players just want to sit and mash a button over and over again, so the focus is on each individual play. However, if play was to focus on the individual session, then they could get players in on the action for longer periods of time. Things like games that are based around long storylines with more involvement and interaction would be a big step forward in this regard. Overall, today's method of gameplay is just lacking in long-term effectiveness.

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