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November 2, 2006 |
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With all the hoopla surrounding
server-based technology and its purported benefits, and with the
regulatory approvals completed or in process, a vital question may
have gotten lost in the shuffle: are casinos, and more importantly
slot patrons, ready to embrace it? As with any new technology, it
may take a while for long-time slot players to accept the change in
game play routine. For example, at Mohegan Sun, which is testing
systems from IGT and Cyberview, players were taken aback by the
speed with which games could be changed; apparently, they had gotten
used to seeing someone come in and physically open the door, break
the evidence tape, change the device media, inspect the machine,
reseal the tape, and close the door. Manufacturers need to take care
not to alienate players by taking away the ambience that surrounds
games, said Frank Neborsky, Mohegan Sun’s vice president of slot
operations.
Casino operators are also in a feeling-out process with server-based technology, attempting to determine the true impact the systems will have on the slot floor. For example, Neborsky said that the claims that the technology will make slots as easy to manage as table games could be exaggerated; he noted that the scale of managing several thousand slot machines exceeds by several-fold that of managing a few hundred table games. Neborsky’s experience shows that the human engineering challenges of a technology like server-based gaming are significant. As with previous technological innovations such as bill acceptors and ticket in/ticket out (TITO) systems, server-based gaming will greatly affect both the way gaming floors operate and the people who operate them. In the digital age, with the widespread availability of downloadable video games, music, movies and other content, it might appear on the surface that the gaming industry has been dragging its feet in not implementing the technology sooner. But casino operators can't be swayed by glossy sales pitches, however seductive. With one eye on regulators and the other on players, they have concerns about server-based gaming that go beyond the customary wariness toward the new and different. For instance, there’s the issue of compatibility with existing systems, and here the casinos have memories of fiascoes that attended the introduction of new technologies, such as TITO systems. When the first TITO systems came out, manufacturers were building them to their own specifications, with the result that the systems were unable to communicate with accounting, player management and other back-office applications. In response, gaming manufacturers adopted a standard way of communicating, Slot Accounting System 6 protocol, which resolved the integration issue. In the case of server-based gaming, two potential areas of incompatibilities exist, one between the server-based software and the gaming machines, and the second between the server-based software and the back-office applications. With the TITO experience fresh in their minds, manufacturers have rolled out two new communications protocols: System to System (S2S) for linking the servers to machines and Game to System (G2S) for linking the server to the gaming machines. G2S will allow game theme changes, game configuration changes, and other tasks to be managed from one server-based system for all machines, regardless of make and manufacturer; S2S will ensure that game theme or configuration updates are automatically updated on back-office apps. —By Steve Marlin |
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