Question Difference Between Netent and other Software.

[dunover]

OK, we've had a heated discussion on the subject of Netent releases, and the there seems to be a consensus that the paytables make the games 'feel' different to say MG and IGT and Playtech for example. They have created the 'perfect storm' of making the games true to their TRTP yet making it very hard to ever get ahead and hit a quick profit and make a withdrawal. Players have stated that the worst of both worlds occurs, with the high-variance trait of frequent very small wins yet very few 'balance maintenance' wins. Therefore once down say half your balance, you are almost certainly doomed as the 'recovery' win necessary is so rare to hit.
Of course TFTUT and smeg-o-matic have been mentioned in this context many a time.

I think I (we) have overlooked the obvious here. What is missing from the Netbent paytables I ask you all???

Yes, payment of 1x stake for 2 scatters in the case of MG/Playtech and 2 x stake on many IGT games like Cleopatra.

Do you people think this affects gameplay as they are quite frequent awards, absent from Netent?

 

[miso]

Oh, definitely Dun.

I always see two scatters win as a compensation award. Because two are just no good at all.
All they do is get in the way of other symbols and breaking a winning combo.

So basically we get a lot of two scatters just to fill the grid and popping out where you
need them the least (the worst being the "screenshot that sucks" scenario of wild,wild,scatter,wild,wild)

It happens with every software, but mostly with a 1 or 2x bet wink.

 

[dunover]

In DoA you get 2 x for 2 scatters and this forms quite a lot of your turnover, and adds substance to those who say that for a HV slot you can often get quite a long game for your money.

 

[lotusch]

Yeah I have noticed that also Dunover...
Many many Netent games do not pay anything when hitting 2 scatters which annoys me greatly as a 1x bet return would be fair.
I defo think this effects to overall outcome of your session as 2 scatters tend to drop a lot on Netent slots as they don't pay anyway,except machines like DOA ofcourse.

 

[zreb]

The presence of 1x and 2x and similarly small/meaningless wins (for a given RTP %) are actually what allows a slot to take more of your money without giving you a chance to win.

For example, take the game of single-zero roulette: on average, you get a big 36x win once every 37 spins, and a whole lot of dead spins with no pay. The house edge is about 2.7%.

But now imagine, a two step roulette game is played: first, if the ball lands on 0, you lose. Otherwise, a coin is flipped - if the result is heads, your stake is returned to you regardless of the number, with no win or loss. If it's tails, the number is checked, and you get the normal 36x payout if it's your number, and lose your stake if it's the wrong number.

So how does this compare to the normal roulette game? The house edge is the same at 2.7%, but it's now harder to come out a winner. You have to play twice as many spins to get the same sort of gamble as a regular game - around 74 spins to get a 36x win. But you can still hit the zero on any spin. This means the "real" house edge is effectively doubled, even though it's the same per wager.

Small 1x and 2x wins on a slot machine are essentially the same sort of thing, meaningless "wins" which simply make you play through your stake more times - which means more money for the house. This is fine if you value playtime, but not ideal if you'd like a better chance of coming out ahead.

The only way you can construct a paytable which pays a reasonable, fair RTP while maximizing the house take is to make a slot as low variance as a player is willing to tolerate.

A similar sort of slot which doesn't make the house as much money but can be similarly unfriendly to players is what I'd call a "hole in the middle" slot - a slot that seems generally low-variance, yet has a few slightly rare, but large payouts that a player might never see. Since it will be nearly impossible to come out ahead without one of these large wins, a player may feel like the slot just chomps down on their money without any big wins to make up for it. (DoA has some elements of this, but has enough RTP invested in the 1000x+ stake wins that it's possible to get far ahead on the slot. However, if you didn't know about these wins while playing it, it might feel like a money guzzler.)

Of course, this all assumes the slots are fair and random.