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Disinhibition through Abstraction

In this article

• Three different kinds of players
  
• Attitute towards money and chips

The profit and of the gambling industry and the success of poker pros has to do with the abstraction of money to a minimally important role. The greatest boom to the curators of casino games was the introduction of chips. Instead of using imposing bills with the stern faces of puritanical American presidents drawn on them, like hard earned money, all you get is some pretty colored chips.

A bank note is already an abstraction of work or value on which it is based. People who are not good with money forget how hard they have to work for it. Chips are an abstraction of an abstraction, and thus even further removed from reality. Everyone knows what can be bought with cash, but you can't use your chips in a store, for all their glittering. Their appearance suggests a cool lifestyle. The send enticing messages to the subconscious. Hoards of product designers and psychologists have put strenuous effort into making the perfect play money. Play money that can be easily thrown about.

A further revolution was the introduction of online casinos. Now you don't even get chips in your hand, no haptic sensation to remind you of their worth. Online chips don't have to be shoved around the table. Online chips can be moved with a simple click of the mouse. The door and gate for disinhibitation both stand wide open.

Next article: Virtues of a Poker Player