Gacha mechanics have been compared to those of loot boxes.

A gacha game (Japanese: ガチャ ゲーム, Hepburn: gacha gēmu) is a video game that implements the gacha (toy vending machine) mechanic. Similar to loot boxes, gacha games entice players to spend in-game currency to receive a random in-game item. Some in-game currency generally can be gained through game play, and some by purchasing it from the game publisher using real-world funds.

Most Gacha games are free-to-play (F2P) mobile games.[1][2]

The gacha game model began to be widely used in the early 2010s, particularly in Japan.[1][2] Gacha mechanics have become an integral part of Japanese mobile game culture.[3] The game mechanism is also increasingly used in Chinese and Korean games, as well as Western games.[3][4][5][6]

Gacha games have been criticized for being addictive, and are often compared to gambling due to the incentive to spend real-world money on chance-based rewards.

Model

Price anchoring

A marketing practice where deals of a product are being shown to the consumer so they perceive what they’re buying as a good deal. This is used in gacha as extra roll deals and virtual currency deals to get the consumer to buy more. Studies show that consumers buy on the basis of the price of a single product and not all of the products prices combined which entrepreneurs take advantage of. Customers only look at the price at hand of a product and compare that to the deal and not the sub charges of the product. In mobile games this is used by a cheap product to set the anchor then the more expensive ones that shows deals making the player feel better for a purchase because they have more value.[7]

Intermediate reward system

Makes the player more engaged by giving the player reward intermediately throughout the game so the player must work for these rewards in order to get what they desire. Making the player either have to play to get these rewards or paying to get an advantage and getting the rewards without having to play. An example of this is getting a free gacha pull by doing certain tasks in game.[7]

Near miss tactic

Showing the player rare items that they want and when the player does a gacha pull and does not get the desired item. The player wants to spend more to achieve this item because they feel that they were close to getting the item and that the next roll they will get the item. When the player starts a roll it passes by the items in that banner then stops on the item the player obtained while teasing what items were next to or close to the item they got making the player feel as if they have missed the desired item.[7]

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

Limited time rewards promote a sense of urgency in getting the item for bragging rights or because the item gives the player an advantage but is only available to obtain for a certain amount of time. If the player has not saved up the in-game currency required to get the limited items, the consumer is more likely to directly purchase the means to obtain the item. Limited time events also conditions players to continue consistently playing the game because the player may fear missing the next limited event and its associated limited items. This is also seen in daily login rewards that promote the player to open the game each day in order to collect limited time daily rewards.[8]

Rolling/pulling

A gacha game will have collectable characters, cards, or other items. Many of them are obtainable only through a "gacha" mechanic,[3] wherein the player exchanges in-game currency for "pulls" or "spins", each pull yielding a random collectable "drop". The "pulls" are analogous to spins on a slot machine or roulette wheel.

Some of the "drops" drop less frequently than others. As such, drops can often be categorized into rarity "tiers". Historically, gacha games did not always share their droprates. Those that did so were called "open gacha" and those that didn't were "closed gacha". In many jurisdictions it is now legally required for the item rarities to be public information. As such, virtually all contemporary gacha games share this information.

Between rarity and limited-time availability drops, players are incentivized to roll while their desired item is available.[3]

Pity

Some gacha models use an "eventually guaranteed drop" mechanic called "pity": the player will be guaranteed a given drop after pulling for it a large number of times without success. Pity mechanics can be "soft" or "hard". "Soft" pity increases the probability slightly of getting a rare item with every pull, counting up and recalculating the probability until the rare item is received, while "hard" pity uses a counter to keep track of the number of pulls and automatically dispense the rare item after reaching a preset number of rolls.

In-game currency

Gacha games often feature several in-game currencies with intricate conversion methods, obscuring the actual value of non-premium currencies. While players can earn the "premium" currency during gameplay, it's available in strictly limited amounts.

Virtual item

Many kinds of virtual items can be in the loot table for a banner. Gameplay units such as cards, characters, equippable gear, or more abstract loot such as "experience" are all possible.

Login and task rewards

In many games, gacha rewards are essential for players to make progress in the game.[6] Players are generally given free or discounted gachas in low amounts on a regular schedule, in exchange for logging in or doing in-game tasks.

Common mechanics

Banners

Banners are "pools" of available items (characters, loot, cards, etc) that players can "roll" on. Offered banners can be perpetually available or can have a limited duration. Games generally have some of both, with player retention efforts and in-game advertising emphasizing the limited availability of some or all of the items in the latter.

Limited banners

Sometimes, these banners are limited, such that specific prizes can only be obtained within a specific event time-frame.[3]

Stamina

Stamina is a resource that is required for, and consumed by, core in-game actions such as (in a fighting-oriented game) beginning combat encounters. It regenerates over time, often only up to a cap. It can typically be regenerated or gained instantly through some form of microtransaction or premium currency spending. The name for this resource is usually different on a per-game basis, but stamina is typically the general term used for this type of currency in general across games.

Variations

This is a list of game mechanics that may be used in a game's implementation of gacha mechanics. Some mechanics are nearly or entirely obsolete due to regulatory requirements.

Mechanic Description
Complete gacha "Complete gacha" (コンプリートガチャ), also shortened as "kompu gacha"[9][10] or "compu gacha"[11] (コンプガチャ), is a monetization model popular in Japanese mobile video games until 2012, when it was made illegal by Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency.

In this scheme, there are desirable items. The desirable item cannot be rolled for directly. The player must collect (that is, pull) a specific set of other items, and upon completion they unlock the desirable item.

The first few items in a set can be rapidly acquired but as the number of missing items decreases it becomes increasingly unlikely that redeeming a loot box will complete the set (see coupon collector's problem) since eventually one single, specific item is required.[10]

Box gacha Box gacha is "pulling, without replacement". There is a slate of items in the box or banner, in specific quantities rather than via "with replacement", each-roll-is-independent probability. Over successive rolls, the set of possible "draws" shrinks until the player has all of the items.[12][13]
Redraw gacha Redraw gacha allows the player to "re-roll": to give up the rolled item in exchange for another roll and so a chance at a different result. the gacha, returning their drawn item in exchange for another opportunity to draw, so as to potentially get something else. Some games offer this feature for free.[12]

Games commonly offer some free rolls at the start, e.g. during a tutorial. Players might "re-roll" by creating new accounts and doing the starter rolls on each until they get the draws they want.[14]

Consecutive gacha Consecutive gacha improves the chances of receiving rare rewards when the player spends in bulk. As opposed to spending a set amount for individual rolls, a player can spend a larger amount in order to roll several times in a row for a slightly discounted price.[13]
Step-up gacha The player's rates are improved for each consecutive roll or instance of spending within a single session or a limited time period (e.g. five checkpoints; must roll five times or spend five times within half an hour to get the rewards for step one, two, three, four, and five in succession.)[13]
Open versus closed gacha Gacha that show (open) versus hide (closed) the exact probabilities of pulling rare items.[12]

Appeal

Game developers have praised gacha as a free-to-play monetization strategy.[15][6] Most developers that work primarily with free-to-play games recommend it be incorporated into the game starting with the concept for maximum monetization potential.[6]

It has been debated what makes gacha so addictive to so many players. Proposed mechanisms include playing on the hunter-gatherer instinct to collect items, as well as the desire to complete a set,[6] effective use of the "fear of missing out", or, simply the same mechanisms that drive gambling.[15]

The model of gacha has been compared to that of collectible trading card games as well as to gambling.[15]

An aspect of monetization commonly found in the financing of gacha games involves a model where a large part of the game's revenue comes from a very small proportion of players who spend an unusually large amount of money on gacha rolls, essentially to subsidize the game for other players who may spend smaller amounts of money, or even free-to-play players that spend no money at all. The high-spending players are often colloquially referred to as "whales". A player who is called a dolphin spends a moderate amount of money on microtransactions in mobile games. A player who is called a minnow spends little to no money on microtransactions in mobile games.[14][16]

Criticism and controversy

Resemblance to gambling

Studies done in Europe and the United States show that more than half juveniles who participate in gacha around 5 percent of them developed bad gambling habits and 10 percent were starting habits. The gacha industry invokes gambling addiction and 30 percent are students who spends 256 to 1280 dollars of which these students have no steady income.[7] As of 2020 the EU parliament has regulated form of gacha on the basis of consumer protection because of the exploitation of the industry. The parliament looked for alternative basis player protection in hoped of finding a better solution.[17] This has been considered for regulations many times by many countries but only a few of them have actively taken action against gacha. Belgium has banned loot boxes, China has made a requirement on showing chances of obtaining a particular item, UK has adapted to a wait and watch. As of 2019 55 percent of the highest income in UK games are loot boxes and gacha on mobile and 36 percent on pc.[18] Players with already set gambling problems are a lot more susceptible to spending more money on loot box and gacha games. This is largely because there is no committed limit for how much the person will spend on pullls or opens spending more because of it. 30 percent of the revenue from gacha and loot boxes are players who are moderately at risk for gambling addiction.[19] UK does not consider loot boxes and gacha gambling because the virtual item have no real monetary value outside of the game. As studies show the brain likes randomness and surprises which gacha is a surprise in a way that what the player might get will be amazing or poor. this is because the brain likes to predict what reward they will get from the pull and makes the player excited at the possibility of getting something that they desire. just like cards the buyer will always get something just maybe not what [20] the consumer wants to get unlike gambling.[21] Gacha games go by the philosophy of all or nothing when pulling the player either pulls till they get the desired item or they stop half way getting nothing of value. Gacha games are not inherently bad it is based upon the developer of the game making the gacha a requirement to continue the game or if the items are just to help the player continue the story or main quest. Pay to win is also dependent on the game itself as not all gacha games are pay to win but most gacha games let the player buy advantages to help them in the game.[22] ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) does not consider gacha gambling because the player is guaranteed to earn some sort of prize which gambling does not. "The Netherlands Gambling Authority" has stated that gacha violates "the Betting and Gaming Act" and "the Belgium Gaming Commission" states that is it gambling because of its random chance. Illegal third party sites make it so players can sell virtual items for real money making it closer to gambling because at that point it deals with outside game currency.[23] Gacha items has rarity which means by proxy it has a value which therefor can be sold on third party sites for real life money depending on rarity. Similarities can be drawn from crypto games because of the breeding method turning two crypto game into a new one by a set random chance just like the random chance of gacha.[24] One big criticism is pay to win give an advantage to players with more money and gacha is one that has been criticized for pay to win. From a survey they used 46000 users and out of them 586 where pay to win and has purchased loot boxes or gacha to gain an advantage. 50% of those users where high risk gamblers and low level education. [25] Gacha is one of the most grossing industry in gaming aquaring $6300000 a year making it one of the most lucrative.

In May 2012, an article was published in the Yomiuri Shimbun, that criticized social networking games and specifically gacha for exploiting the naivety of children to make a profit. The main complaint of the article was that the gacha model too closely resembled gambling. The paper called for an investigation by Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency to prevent abuse of the system.[26]

Several cases of teenagers and even younger kids spending equivalents of over US$1000 have been reported in the media.[27][28] Shortly after, the suggested investigation was performed and the model of complete gacha was declared illegal by the Consumer Affairs Agency. The Consumer Affairs Agency stated that virtual items could be considered "prizes" under existing legislation written in 1977 to prevent the complete gacha practice in the context of baseball trading cards. Within a month of the statement being issued, all major Japanese game publishers had removed complete gacha rules from their games, though many developers found ways around this.[10][29]

Several lawsuits have been filed in Japan against companies publishing gacha games, sometimes resulting in decreases in stock prices.[30][31][32] Japanese mobile game developers, including GREE and DeNA, worked to establish a self-regulating industry group, the Japan Social Game Association, which was an attempt to push developers from these models, but it did not prove successful, and the Association was disbanded by 2015.[29]

The mechanism has come under scrutiny for its similarity to gambling. Some countries require drop rates to be made public, or have banned certain practices (e.g., complete gacha).[33][34] Many players also feel regret after making purchases in these games according to a survey.[35] Gacha games have also been criticized for exposing children to gambling-like mechanics where they will also potentially have the ability to make in-game payments.[36]

A 2019 research paper has noted that "the gacha system has proven to be addictive and problematic" and speculated that the loopholes in the gacha system could be exploited for international money laundering.[30]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Toto, Serkan. "Gacha: Explaining Japan's Top Money-Making Social Game Mechanism". Serkan Toto: CEO Blog. Kantan Games. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 "'Fire Emblem Heroes' Is a Gacha Game - Here's What That Means". Inverse. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Japanese gachas are sweeping F2P games in the West". 2 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "Nintendo's Mobile 'Fire Emblem' Is a 'Gacha' Game, Here's What That Means". Waypoint. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Nakamura, Yuji (3 February 2017). "Nintendo treading on shaky ground as new mobile game takes 'gacha' global". Japan Times Online.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Heinze, Johannes (18 July 2017). "How gacha can benefit Western game developers". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Leahy, D. (1 September 2022). "Rocking the Boat: Loot Boxes in Online Digital Games, the Regulatory Challenge, and the EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive". Journal of Consumer Policy. 45 (3): 561–592. doi:10.1007/s10603-022-09522-7. ISSN 1573-0700.
  8. ↑ Dang, Viet (2023). "The Addictive Design of Mobile Gacha Games" (PDF). theseus.fi. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  9. ↑ "Kompu gacha freemium systems banned in Japan". VG247. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 Akimoto, Akky (16 May 2012). "Japan's social-gaming industry hindered by government's anti-gambling move". The Japan Times. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  11. ↑ "Social Games' "Compu Gacha" Model Officially Declared Illegal". Siliconera. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 Koeder, Marco; Tanaka, Ema; Sugai, Philip (June 2017). "Mobile Game Price Discrimination effect on users of Freemium services– An initial outline of Game of Chance elements in Japanese F2P mobile games" (PDF). 14th International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Asia-Pacific Regional Conference: "Mapping ICT into Transformation for the Next Information Society". Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 December 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 Toto, Dr Serkan (14 March 2016). "How Japanese Mobile Game Makers Go After Whales: 5 Popular Gacha Mechanics – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog". Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  14. 1 2 Flachner Balázs (22 July 2020). "Virtuális kemény drog tolja a mobilos játékok szekerét". Index.hu (in Hungarian). Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  15. 1 2 3 Will Luton (2013). Free-to-Play: Making Money From Games You Give Away. New Riders. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-13-341124-9.
  16. ↑ Tulinen, Teija (2022). "Entertainment or exploitation : discourses on in-game monetisation and gacha mechanics in video games". jultika.oulu.fi. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Tang, Anson Chui Yan; Lee, Paul Hong; Lam, Simon Ching; Siu, Summer Cho Ngan; Ye, Carmen Jiawen; Lee, Regina Lai-Tong (2022). "Prediction of problem gambling by demographics, gaming behavior and psychological correlates among gacha gamers: A cross-sectional online survey in Chinese young adults". Frontiers in Psychiatry. 13. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.940281. ISSN 1664-0640. PMC 9389446.
  18. ↑ Xiao, Leon Y.; Henderson, Laura L.; Nielsen, Rune K. L.; Newall, Philip W. S. (1 September 2022). "Regulating Gambling-Like Video Game Loot Boxes: a Public Health Framework Comparing Industry Self-Regulation, Existing National Legal Approaches, and Other Potential Approaches". Current Addiction Reports. 9 (3): 163–178. doi:10.1007/s40429-022-00424-9. ISSN 2196-2952.
  19. ↑ Drummond, Aaron; Sauer, James D.; Hall, Lauren C. (May 2019). "Loot box limit‐setting: a potential policy to protect video game users with gambling problems?". Addiction. 114 (5): 935–936. doi:10.1111/add.14583. ISSN 0965-2140. PMID 30746800.
  20. ↑ Sztainert, Travis (2018). "Loot Boxes and Gambling" (PDF). greo.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  21. ↑ Griffiths, Mark D. (February 2018). "Is the buying of loot boxes in video games a form of gambling or gaming?". Gaming Law Review. 22 (1): 52–54. doi:10.1089/glr2.2018.2216. ISSN 2572-5300.
  22. ↑ Chen, Canhui; Fang, Zhixuan (2 March 2023). "Gacha Game Analysis and Design". Proceedings of the ACM on Measurement and Analysis of Computing Systems. 7 (1): 6:1–6:45. doi:10.1145/3579438.
  23. ↑ Scholten, Oliver James; Hughes, Nathan Gerard Jayy; Deterding, Sebastian; Drachen, Anders; Walker, James Alfred; Zendle, David (17 October 2019). "Ethereum Crypto-Games: Mechanics, Prevalence, and Gambling Similarities". Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. CHI PLAY '19. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 379–389. doi:10.1145/3311350.3347178. ISBN 978-1-4503-6688-5.
  24. ↑ von Meduna, Marc; Steinmetz, Fred; Ante, Lennart; Reynolds, Jennifer; Fiedler, Ingo (1 November 2020). "Loot boxes are gambling-like elements in video games with harmful potential: Results from a large-scale population survey". Technology in Society. 63: 101395. doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101395. ISSN 0160-791X. S2CID 225303114.
  25. ↑ Old, Vintage is The New (9 November 2023). "Do gacha games make money?". Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  26. ↑ Yomiuri Shimbun (May 29, 2012). "Social networking games must be responsible".
  27. ↑ Russell, Jon (6 May 2012). "Japan Mulls Ban on Controversial but Lucrative Game Genre". The Next Web. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  28. ↑ "Heroines Are A Dangerous Drug: Japanese Users Spend Massive Money On Imaginary Idols". Kotaku. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  29. 1 2 Hood, Vic (20 October 2017). "What the UK can learn from the Far East's battle with loot boxes". Eurogamer. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  30. 1 2 Pramanta, Rio Akbar; Utomo, Tri Cahyo (26 September 2019). "Psychoanalytical Approach to Transnational Money Laundering Utilizing Japanese Mobile Online Games with Gacha System: A Forecasting Study". Journal of International Relations. 5 (4): 646–652.
  31. ↑ "$6,065 Spent in One Night Shows Dark Side of Japan's Mobile Games". Bloomberg. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  32. ↑ Barder, Ollie. "Japanese Mobile Gaming Still Can't Shake Off The Spectre Of Exploitation". Forbes. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  33. ↑ Feit, Daniel. "Gacha Watch: Japan's Social Game Industry Shifts Gears After Government Crackdown". WIRED. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  34. ↑ "China's new law forces Dota, League of Legends, and other games to reveal odds of scoring good loot". 2 May 2017.
  35. ↑ "Gacha Watch: 60% of Japan's Social Game Players Have Buyer's Remorse". Wired. 27 August 2012.
  36. ↑ Liu, Kevin (1 July 2019). "A Global Analysis into Loot Boxes: Is It 'Virtually' Gambling?". Washington International Law Journal. 28 (3): 763. ISSN 2377-0872.
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