A book review...well... kinda

 I have just completed my book; I thought it would be a good idea to store all of my thoughts (some of them whilst I read the book; others now that I have completed the book) in one place. I am also trying to tie everything together for myself, I thought to bring you along for the journey of doing this (in case you might want to read the book at some point, but also for my fellow peers who haven’t read the book yet to provide some more context - as well as hearing some of your thoughts). I think now is the time to warn you (if you do intend to read this book in the future), this blog post may contain some spoilers.

I will link a bit to my previous blog post, as I fear that if I do not, I run the risk of being repetitive. In the previous blog post titled 'Podcast ideas and thoughts around my book' where I provided a short synopsis of the book as well as some things I found interesting (and vital to speak about in the blog). 

Rating and reasons:

Overall, I would rate Addiction by Design by Natasha Schüll a 9/10 

Reasons:

Stylistically: There was a lot of information in each part (or even each chapter) but I loved how the author managed to tie these all together. At the beginning and the end of each chapter, she would link topics discussed in the previous chapter and briefly touch on some aspects that will be explored more deeply in the next chapter. The book was written in a novel-esque manner which made it flow easily; and overall the book was well written making it easier to understand the complexity of slot machines, gambling and the zone. 

Content: I loved the multiple perspectives in the book: there were mixes of panel discussions {the global gambling expo} gamblers anonymous meetings, interviews from various game specialists {this is my umbrella term for all of the people involved with making the games possible, from the interior designers to the game designers, casino managers to mathematicians and more}, interviews with gamers and advertisements {this provided a nice link between what the designers were trying to communicate with fellow game specialists as well as the general public}. I felt like the book was overall a comprehensive cover of all the people involved and it provided good insight into the reasoning of all the people involved. 

To be honest, I did not know I would be as invested in slot machines in Vegas until reading this book. I think it did a great job of including all the disciplines that would be a part in the analysis of Vegas. As mentioned in the previous blog post, we spoke about the role of architecture, psychology, technology, sociology, digital design (to name a few) in the formation, but also to explain why the machine zone exists. But because of the multiple perspectives spoken about in the previous post, I felt I got a rich understanding (and this also kept the book interesting).

The topics addressed in this book, made me thing of other technologies and how some of the same things that are addressed in this book may be employed to those other technologies. 

Some thoughts on the content: 

I will divide this section up into the four parts that the book is split up into. Here, I will include my some of my thoughts as I read these sections. Furthermore, I added one quote from each chapter that stood out for me (and really contributed to the thoughts I had on each section). 

The Machine Zone:

“On TV they express it by pulling—the bodies actually disappear into the screen and go through the games of the computer. That’s what gambling on the machine’s correlates to: for the time that I was there, I wasn’t present—I was gone… You go into the screen, it just pulls you in, like a magnet. You’re over there in the machine, like you’re walking around inside it, going around in the cards.” She went on: “My body was there, outside the machine, but at the same time I was inside the machine, in the king and queen turning over.” Ironically, the heightened attention that player-centric design pays to gamblers’ senses and bodies—ergonomic seating and consoles that mould to natural human posture, immersive audio effects, capacitive touchscreens that respond to fingers with transactional confirmation—has the effect of diminishing their sensory and bodily awareness, suspending them in a zone where the continuity of electronic play supersedes the physical and temporal continuity of organic being.” Lola p.311

I will begin with the machine zone (this was a constant theme throughout the book that tied everything together, in this section I pulled ideas that arose throughout the book). All the game specialists were intrigued by this concept and spent more money in ensuring people stayed in this zone (the more the machine zone was stretched out, the more profit made). For gamblers themselves, there was an intrigue in the zone because it almost pulled them out of their reality (as mentioned in the previous blog post, the zone could be considered a trancelike state almost where individuals are sucked into the machine. Some gamblers described this as, an area where time, space, social identity is suspended (p.51) others described it as magnet that draws you in and just keeps you there (p.67). Others used the zone as a form of escapism; escape from their social realities as well as body related things (“I’d drink soda water with a little lime, and play, and zone myself away from the nausea”) p.377

The most shocking aspect of the zone was finding out about the heart attacks. People were so tuned into the machines, that someone could be having a heart attack next to them and they would just continue playing, entranced in the machine. This really emphasised the depth of the machine zone. The zone is not about winning for gamblers, it is about being within this state. Furthermore, the zone provided a suspension of common things of importance within society (such as care for others, as mentioned above; time; money; food; bodily functions).

Random thought that came to mind: but when the designers spoke about the ergonomic seating and moulding the machine to the natural human posture {please refer to the quote above} did they consider differently abled individuals? What does the natural human posture speak to specifically? In one of our previous seminars, we spoke about the introduction of seatbelts and how this was tailored to men originally. I wonder if something similar was done here. 

Part one: interior design and architecture

“At a Gamblers Anonymous meeting I attended in 2002, a young man named Todd recounted how a simple walk through a casino to lunch with friends earlier that day had become a harrowing ordeal of environmental temptation… “I started shivering and shaking right there at the entrance of the gambling floor. When I started to walk across, the noise just hit my nervous system—it was just driving my nerves. I told myself to look straight ahead and just walk, but I didn’t know where I was “going. I stopped to ask someone—it was a change lady and she was paying somebody off at a slot machine, and I told myself Don’t look at the machine, don’t look at the machine. I walked a little further and I was still lost, so I stopped to ask another one, and she’s paying somebody off too and I’m saying to myself Don’t look, don’t look. Finally I got over to the buffet, but my friends weren’t there yet, so I just sat on the bench and kept my eyes on the floor, tried not to hear all the machines around me. On the way out, afterward, my eyes found all the machines I liked to play—I knew exactly where they were, and I’ve never even been in that casino. I was hyperventilating; I had to practically run out the door.” p. 136-137

As an individual who is interested in the design field, this was one of my favourite parts in the book. Here, we spoke about the design of casinos. The main aim was to draw attention to the machines and as such, architects and interior designers worked together to ensure they communicated with individuals on a more subliminal level. Individuals worked together to create an organised maze, working on concepts such as lighting, ambience (music and sound and more to draw people into the space.

Architects and interior designers worked together to create curves (these curves started from the outside of the casino) and once the individuals went into the casino, the curves would form a maze (an organised maze) drawing the individual further into the maze. The aim of these curves was to minimise the awareness of the gambler as they walked in. Furthermore, each individual would be given their own little enclave because this provided individuals with a sense of safety. “I would gravitate to the corners… where I would feel safe, and I could get into the zone” p.115.

For the actual game itself, individuals worked together to ensure the sound, visual elements, and touch (the introduction of haptic touch), of the game was optimal. The second chapter delved more deeply into this (as well as discussed, some advertisements). Furthermore, the chapter spoke briefly on the evolution of technology (for example, how the creation of bill acceptors as opposed to coins made it easier for gamblers to get back into the zone).

Part two: Feedback

Lola spoke of her body as a corporeal remainder of sorts: “My body was there, outside the machine.” Left unattended in this way, her body continued to function and express itself—abjectly so, at times. Twice she unwittingly vomited on her shirt front during sessions of play, and once wet herself… A retired firefighter with diabetes named Pete recalled a day when he felt his blood sugar level drop while at play, but was unable to cash out and stop playing; he stayed three more hours until his credit was depleted, by which point he was slipping into a diabetic coma.” p.320-321  

This section reminded me of the social dilemma on Netflix. Looking at how technology was curated to influence (dare I say manipulate) the individual to stay in the one. Through elements such as customisation (downloadable games); live data tracking and more. There is this emphasis on what the customer wants (taking on a user-centred design approach) and curating the game to achieve this. I found this part scary, it really got me thinking about the ethics behind this. For example, the chapter spoke about introducing a loyalty card system; and for people who did not have loyalty cards, the machine would take a picture and store this on the persons ‘card’ (this made me uncomfortable, because would the casinos be transparent with the client in letting them know this is what will happen?). As mentioned in the quote above, individuals spoke about how they felt like they became the machine to the point where they ignored their bodily needs.

I began questioning the role of the game specialists in ethical considerations here. The game specialists and their knowledge of their craft is a good way to ensure people stay in the zone but… how much is too far? At what point should we start taking care of the person who will be using the machine (i guess one could argue it is not their responsibility to ensure people are taken care of, however I would argue that as designers (regardless of discipline) surely you have a responsibility to the people you are creating the product? I do not mean to make it sound as though the person gambling has no autonomy or agency, however; if people are so drawn to the machines that they are wetting and vomiting themselves, nearing diabetic comas and so stuck in the zone that the people next to them would have a heart attack and they wouldn’t notice… surely one needs to take a step back and figure out how to ensure that the machine is safe and for the greater good? This part truly made me think, at what extent are we losing our humanity to technology?

Part 3: Addiction

“Ten years later, Patsy’s gambling had progressed to a point where she played video poker before work, at lunchtime, on all her breaks, after work, and all weekend long. “My life revolved around the machines, even the way I ate,” she recalls as we talk outside the Gamblers Anonymous meeting where we had met. Patsy dined with her husband and daughter only when the three met in casinos; she would eat rapidly, then excuse herself to the bathroom so that she could gamble. Most often she gambled alone, then slept in her van in the parking lot. “I would dream of the machines; I would be punching numbers all night.” Eating alone, sleeping alone, Patsy achieved a sort of libidinal autonomy. Her time, her social exchanges, her bodily functions, and even her dreams were oriented around gambling. “When I wasn’t playing,” she tells me, “my whole being was directed to getting back into that zone. It was a machine life.” p.331 

It was weird to hear about the gambling culture in Los Vegas as compared to South Africa. In Vegas, the gambling machines were available everywhere, casinos - convenience/ drug stores. This made me think of gambling in South Africa, the first gambling area that came to mind was Grandwest. I have never personally gone into the gambling section (I have walked through it to get to a restaurant on the other side) and the security is so tough. To even get to the restaurant, I needed to provide my ID and for a friend who did not have their ID they needed to be escorted by the security to the restaurant (to ensure that the friend did not gamble) there are signs that speak about gambling wisely. 

Here we spoke about the zone; and how the value of money and time was suspended when in this zone. 

Part four: Adjustment

“Should consumers be expected to regulate their own play through the practice of responsibility (or, failing that, through therapeutic and pharmacological remedy)? Alternatively, should regulators require that machines bear messages informing consumers of programmed odds and illusions? Should “control aids” like the RGD be added to machines, helping consumers to reflexively monitor and regulate themselves more responsibly? Should the task be allocated to algorithms running in the background, tracking risky play to manage its multiple liabilities? Or should machine design be reconfigured to protect players from potential harm?” p.507

This chapter included the debates that around machine gambling. I was excited to get to this section because this was all the questions that I had when reading the book. In the first chapter of this section, the author spoke about therapeutic methods and how some of the methods employed were similar to machine gambling. The second chapter spoke towards ethical considerations and debates around machine gambling (as seen in the quote above). There was an acknowledgement about the capitalist system and how often the responsibility is on the individual to manage their own gambling habits. There was considerations of how technology can aid in this (so using AI that is used to track individuals for marketing purposes, to also track for possible risky behaviour), encouraging gambling responsibilities through various campaigns; encouraging people to track their spending (such as setting a gambling account and when the money runs out that is it); setting up staff (everyone in the building including janitors) to look our for signs such as playing on the machine for over three hours, dry eyes, trembling, continuous trips to the ATM as well as being transparent with clients of how the machines work, what the chances are of them actually winning and more. The aim of the responsible gambling campaign is not to stop players from gambling, rather to shift their gambling habits from possibly risky to moderate. 

I think this is great, I would even go a step further than this, the government can intervene by taking away gambling machines in convenience stores (rather limiting them to casinos where staff are equipped to watch out for risky behaviour and have automatic external defibrillators should there be a need for one), furthermore, I think there should be a limit on machine gambling play (for example, if a player has been gambling for more than five hours I think there should be a cut off for the rest of the day or something along those lines). I doubt it would happen (as mentioned above, we do live in a capitalist society where the responsibility falls on the individual however, I think this would be beneficial overall). I think initiating a pause on the machine after two of continuous play to allow the individual to go to the bathroom (or do something that will temporarily take them out of the zone). I would love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on the book in general (or even the ethics section).