The aspect of gacha is addicting. What’s gacha? It’s the concept of spending currency (whether real or in-game) to pull for a randomized item. The easiest example of gacha are those little machines that have stickers or the capsules with toys in them.
Gacha machines aren’t really expensive, especially not when you compare it to in-game gacha. When I last visited Akihabara in Japan, I spent around $30 USD total to get the My Hero Academia pins that I wanted, so all in all, not bad at all.
Genshin Impact is an example of a gacha video game, and arguably the most popular gacha game on the planet right now, which is even more impressive considering it only came out in 2020 during the pandemic. The in-game currency, primogems, are most commonly used to pull for rarer 5-star characters or weapons. You can get primogems for free just by playing the game, like all other gacha games, but it’s a time sink as it’s a pretty slow process. In the end it really comes down to your luck with each roll.
Gacha games are all businesses. They’re all trying to make money to flourish. And to do so, they need to market well and tap into human nature. Part of the reason we’re driven to pull gacha is due to dopamine. You can think of dopamine as the ‘reward’ brain chemical. You know the high when you’re chasing after someone hitting milestones in the early stages of a relationship, or when you receive a promotion, or really any kind of reward? That’s dopamine. The motivation we have to chase after those rewards is the same in gacha concepts. We want the reward of pulling a 5-star, and it drives us to spend money in hopes of getting what we want.
I won’t deny that they tap into the vulnerable psychology of our minds to get us to spend a regrettable amount of money (for the average person probably). But then again, isn’t that just all marketing? I’m not trying to shame how people want to spend their money, but rather teach how to have a healthy balance of spending on these kinds of games.
What I like about Genshin is that it has 2 options to get more primogems without destroying your wallet overnight. One rewards you for logging in daily (Blessing of the Welkin Moon) and the other rewards you for doing weekly missions over the length of a month (Battle Pass). They’re $5 and $10 respectively.
Here’s how I think about spending on F2P logically. I normally might pay $60 (or even $70 now for PS5 games) for a new video game that may interest me for as little as 10 hours (if it’s really short or just so boring I couldn’t continue). That entertainment cost me $6/hr. Now gacha games are usually free so it’s essentially $0/hr, but they can get dull and boring fast. If I’m enjoying a game though, I don’t really feel bad spending some money on it. Let’s say I do the above options in Genshin, spend $15 this month and end up playing 50 hours from some extra motivation. That’s a cost of 30c/hr! The alternative is that I could’ve gotten bored, bought a new game or two and spent way more for way less time.
On the other hand, there’s also a thing as too much.
If I really think about it, spending $5-15 a month on Genshin is really nothing. I spend more on 1 meal, and sometimes the food is bad (or makes the next day painful). Other people splurge on designer bags, fancy food, travel, convenience, comfort, and so much more. So why is it so bad to spend money on a free to play game? The short answer is, it’s not. What’s bad is having poor money management and spending more than you should on a game. What’s also bad is giving into desire and making regretful decisions with your money (but this is a lesson in everything in life).
This is a very formulaic way to think about spending money on gacha games and justifying my purchases. You could also just do what makes you happy and not give a shit what other people think. In the end, you do you boo.
