Predicting the attractivity of a sound by its features A tool for sound design in casino game industry

Casino Gaming Machines (“Slot Machines”) are used throughout the world. Slot machines have been continuously improved since the days of mechanical Las Vegas style steppers. In recent years, culture specific game design became more and more of a topic. Localizing graphics and or game themes lead to increased sales potential. The assumption is that this also applies to the design of sounds. Goal of this project is to get a better understanding if and why specific groups of players react differently not only to graphics but also to sounds. For that, player preferences should be collected via standardized player focus groups. Subsequently, the sounds will be analyzed with regards to psychoacoustic criteria with the ultimate aim at predicting player preferences. It was possible to successfully analyse the data of seven player focus groups to create an analytical model that is able to predict the attractivity of sounds. To do that, all sound samples were characterized by 175 music retrieval parameters, by sex and by geographical descriptors. Subsequently, the model was tested at a final player focus group in March 2010 with good results.