ONLINE POKER
Poker, emotion, and the attention economy: Why Halloween matters more than you think
In today’s fragmented digital world, attention is the most valuable currency. For iGaming and poker brands alike, competing for time, emotion, and engagement now outweighs competing for clicks. And nothing proves that shift more vividly than the rise of seasonal, story-driven experiences, like
Devilfish.com’s recent Halloween avatar collection.
P
oker has always been a game of psychology, theatre, and human instinct and traits that naturally lend themselves to storytelling. In the attention economy, those same traits have become essential to how brands build emotional connection.
BEYOND THE HAND: THE POWER OF NARRATIVE IN PLAY The recent Devilfish Halloween Collection wasn’t simply a set of avatars; it was a playable narrative. Each design, from the Skeleton Shark to the Pumpkin King, carried a personality. They invited players to project identity, emotion, and intent, all while engaging in familiar gameplay. In a market where digital fatigue and transactional repetition dominate, emotion has become the rarest commodity of all. Cognitive scientists refer to this as emotional anchoring, when a player links feeling to experience. It’s the same principle that drives nostalgia in land-based casinos or the adrenaline spike of a live tournament bluff.
In digital poker, where frictionless play has replaced physical tension, those emotional cues are harder to recreate. That’s why visual identity, humour, and seasonal storytelling are becoming new vehicles for player connection.
JJ Williams, CEO, Devilfish Poker
THE EMOTIONAL ROI OF DESIGN Design now carries commercial weight beyond aesthetics. An avatar, for instance, isn’t just cosmetic. It’s a badge of belonging, a digital signal that says, I’m part of this community. That’s the same psychology behind NFTs, fan tokens, and loyalty tiers – ownership that feels emotional, not transactional. The Halloween Avatars at
Devilfish.com succeeded because they played in that space between game and culture. They tapped into a universal moment – Halloween – but filtered it through the language of poker. The result? Something instantly recognisable, yet deeply native to its audience.
28 NOVEMBER 2025 GIO
A LESSON FROM THE DEVILFISH TABLE
The late Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, the brand’s namesake, understood this instinctively.
He turned poker into performance, an art of charisma, timing, and connection. That philosophy still resonates today. In an age of automation and algorithms, it reminds us that people don’t remember the hand they played, they remember how it made them feel.
For operators, marketers, and creative teams, that’s the new high-stakes table: earning not just attention, but emotion.
ATTENTION IS YIELD. EXCITEMENT IS MARGIN The challenge facing poker operators today isn’t just user acquisition, it’s emotional retention. Players will try a platform for novelty, but they stay for meaning. Creating moments that spark social sharing, identity, and pride gives the product gravity and, in turn, loyalty. In behavioural terms, it’s about generating micro-dopamine spikes, those quick hits of reward and anticipation that drive human focus. A well-executed campaign, whether a Halloween drop or a live-streamed competition – isn’t just marketing theatre. It’s a neurological engagement loop. Attention is yield. Excitement is margin.
FROM ATTENTION TO AFFINITY
C-level leaders in gaming often talk about “player lifetime value,” but what’s increasingly clear is that value is no longer just financial. It’s emotional. Players who feel seen, understood, and part of a narrative will naturally engage longer, advocate louder, and return more often.
The Halloween campaign proved a point beyond its theme: players don’t just want to win; they want to feel something when they play. Emotion – not odds – is becoming the deciding factor in the new iGaming landscape.
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