The people who played the first and simplest machine slots back in the 19th century, with only three reels and one row, certainly couldn’t imagine how the slot industry will look like after only a few decades. Machine slots are a thing of the past, and except some nostalgic old-timers, nobody plays them anymore. Most people agree that machine slots in the 21st century belong to museums and passionate collectors. Because, who would want to play machine slots, with this many video slots to choose from? The design, interface, and technology of making video slots even better and more playable are getting better each day, and it seems that the next generation slots would be almost indistinguishable from video games. In this article, we will try to answer the question of where that blending of video slots with video games will lead us. On this online casino list, you can find the best online casinos with the best video slots offered and see how many of them are similar to video games already!
Main Differences between Video Slots and Video Games
Of course, no matter how similar they look, video slots, and any other chance game, primarily used for gambling, can never be the same as video games, which are used mainly for fun purposes, although things can become competitive if you reach the skill level which is high enough to play competitive, and even professional games.
That is the second major difference between video slots and video games – video games require lots of practice and playing hours to master them, and luck is not a predominant factor. On the other hand, the person playing video slots needs usually only a few minutes to learn about the interface of the game, and you usually just have to press several buttons to play the game. Or sometimes you don’t even have to press anything after putting the slot on auto-play mode, available at any modern video slot.
Another difference is in replayability. No matter how good the design of some video slot is, no matter how high the potential rewards are, it is unimaginable that any person would stick with only one slot for too long. On the other hand, some epic video games such as Warcraft III, Counter-Strike, Grand Theft Auto, and many others have fans that get back to those games even after a decade or more.
Main Similarities between Video Slots and Video Games
The similarities between video slots and video games start with the goal as well. Although we mentioned that video games are played purely for fun purposes, while video slots are played for gambling, and trying to win big money fast, this might overlap. Some people who play games can even completely change places with people who play slots! In the last couple of years, some of the most popular video games became e-sports. The best of the best became professionals and they are even paid for playing the game, in the nutshell. So, although all started with pure fun, it became a source of income, even a full-time job for some of them. Similarly, after many video slots providers started to offer demo play for free, many people started playing video slots for the sake of pure fun purposes.
Another thing that is similar between video slots and video games is the target audience – both target millennials. One of the main reasons why the video slot industry is evolving at this rate and going for blending with video games is because the companies recognized the potential in targeting a younger audience by making more complex and visually appealing video slots. Millennials played video games in their childhood, and recreating something which would bring them back to their school days is always a smart marketing strategy.
In the end, one of the most obvious things which are similar when you compare video slots and video games is the interface and graphics. You need to learn the interface and commands to play both video games and video slots, although the commands for video slots are usually way simpler than commands for modern video games.
Will Video Slots and Video Games Continue to Blend Together and Where Will it Take us
Most video slots created in 2020 have better graphics, unique interfaces and they resemble classic slot machines less than ever before. Some of them are playing with reels and rows, so they don’t form a classic, square-like design like they did in the past. With the inception of VR slots, the game field, which was strictly divided into rows and reels are now indistinguishable from some simple video games.
We believe that the blending of these different games, and even genres, will continue in the following years and decades, and in the, we will probably be unable to guess what is a video slot, and what is a video game at first glance.
Of course, this carries several major issues that will need to be addressed shortly. First, the legal age required to play video slots exists, and they are not allowed to minors. On the other hand, minors are the group that plays video games the most. Although there is a chance that a minor would be able to play a demo version of a video slot if he finds it fun or exciting, it will probably never be allowed. Because, no matter how many similarities you can draw between video slots and video games, video slots will always be gambling, chance machines, and video games are not in that group. Even if these two become completely indistinguishable in the years to come, we will always have to draw a line to protect the most vulnerable group of people – our children.
Summary
Video slots and video games will continue to blend in the upcoming years. Our task as a society is to keep the line between them sharp, and always visible because no matter how similar they look, they won’t ever be the same.