Exploring the Psychology of Entertainment Media Tiles and Why They Appeal to You
Across the world of entertainment media, a great deal of initial success relies on a single image tile. Whether it’s scrolling through a movie library, looking at the tiles on a streaming platform, buying computer games from a platform like Steam, or seeing which casino games to play online, much of your initial interest or willingness to click is based on a small tile. In the most competitive of these entertainment landscapes, that of casino gaming, it’s clear to see trends that continue to pay off.
Looking at the most successful game tiles
The online gambling market is huge and continues to grow. With states across the US joining the fold, it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 11 percent over the next few years. Much of the industry’s health is fuelled by its huge competitiveness, with platforms attracting new customers via welcome offers and several developers competing for attention. As such, the top games page on an online casino like Betway is a prime area that showcases what psychological premises work in game tile design. Here, five key angles stood out as common among these 56 successful titles: nostalgia, capitalization, associated themes, long-standing themes, and certain tags. Here’s what we’ve found.
Nostalgia power
An almighty tool, nostalgia has become one of the fall-back methods of bringing in customers. Albert Camus quotes nostalgia often, almost as a preferred state of being for most. It’s certainly a state of fondness, with memories of the past often being glorified by comparison to the present, when you have a greater sense of good and bad with each situation. It’s an overwhelmingly positive emotion, which is why entertainment creatives – particularly those in Hollywood – lean into it so heavily. We’ve seen it be the basis of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and the trailer campaign for Jurassic World Dominion, which is fixated on the returning actors Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum. At the online casino, two Jurassic Park and one Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) slots stood out as utilizing this name-recognition, nostalgia-fuelled way of catching attention. Older, proven brands still work very well across entertainment.
Going all-caps
There are several font selections that you can make for branding, logos, and titles, but the one aspect that appears to stick throughout online casino game tiles is going with all-caps. Of the 56 games on the top games page, 52 used all-caps on every word shown on the tile. In a strange way, those that didn’t use all-caps stood out more because of this, but the eye is still drawn to the bold lettering. This is because of how we interpret words in all capital letters. It immediately means shouting, which in turn infers loud, bold, and urgent. So, we read it as such, with the capital letters drawing the eye because of how important we consider such writing techniques to be for quick, essential information.
Luck of the Irish
The Irish and luck seem to go hand in hand, with the phrase “the luck of the Irish” being around for centuries. After all, Ireland is now the 14th highest-ranking country in the world in regards to superstition about good luck charms. While its origins may have meant something very different, the phrase has certainly been embraced by casino gaming, and this is a very well-recognized stance among spinners. Eight of the 56 top games had a theme in line with this, from Irish fields to pots of gold and rainbows. Somewhat strangely, the forever-associated creature known in Irish folklore as the leprechaun only features in one of these top-ranking games. Hitting terms like gold and luck is the main driver here, though, with the Irish setting being conveniently associated with them. They’re powerful words that conjure images of success, which slot players seek.
Historic familiarity with the epic
If there’s one theme that never fails to catch the eye, it’s that of mythologies. While many people playing casino games online aren’t from the countries where these ancient mythologies are from, the deities and settings are still very well known. The legendary heroes and weapons automatically inspire a sense of awe, god-like status, and power, which is what many seek in their entertainment time. In the casino gaming section, ten games drawing from ancient Greek, Roman, and Norse mythologies sat among the top spots, with several entertainment mediums continuing to do very well in the themes. For example, Stephen Fry’s mythological retellings are very highly rated and continue to sell well, and God of War Ragnarök looks to be one of the biggest releases of 2022 in video gaming.
It’s a new release
One several of the top games, a tag was attached on top of the game tiles. Some had “jackpot,” others had “exclusive,” but the most prevalent one was “new.” In business, it is accepted that those looking to boost revenue growth need to launch new products and services. While the platform doesn’t make its own games, it’s clear that showing that it has new ones is important to customer preferences. A total of 13 carried the “new” tag, so while the games may not stick around once they stop being fresh, being new certainly appeals. This is because we’re conditioned to seek something new as discovering novelties activates dopamine pathways.
Many methods are used to try to grab your attention, but in the realms of casino gaming, capital letters, nostalgia, associated themes, and the term “new” are all clear winners and embraced a great deal.