In the early 10s, some corporate bigwig in Japan had a horribly genius idea. He was rapt in cacophonous laughter at the thought.
“Let’s take gachapon machines and put their structure into our latest mobile game,” he probably said to his room of game designers. They looked at their boss, a man probably about sixty with white hair like papal smoke, and gulped.
They were hesitant, but they complied. And now the evil has been released on the land and it is spreading forever onward. The land was coated with coins and premium currency. Only the largest spenders made it out alive.
Let’s take a step back for a second. What are gachapon machines? What are they doing in our mobile games? What can we do to stop this? Do we want to stop this? I know you have a lot of questions, so let’s take them one at a time.
First, gachapon machines are little insert-coin vending machines that dispense capsules with one of a series of figurines inside. You see them here in America, too. I always see them at the local CiCi’s Pizza. Except instead of figurines, they have fake tattoos and probably contaminated needles or something. The idea is that you get a randomized output (one out of a list that is often presented to you) for putting in a coin.
Recently, this format is becoming increasingly popular in the mobile game market. Some of the more recent “gacha games” as they are commonly referred to include Nintendo’s "Fire Emblem Heroes" and "South Park Phone Destroyer." Their structure is incredibly similar to that of the gachapon machines. You spend the game’s “premium currency” as its called (typically something like orbs or gems) and you receive one out of a predetermined list of characters or items. If you want to get more characters or items, you’re going to have to spend more money. Often there are ways to get premium currency without paying money, but that small supply is there for you to get addicted. Drip, drip, drip.
Now, if this sounds a lot like legalized gambling, that’s because it is. There’s a real dopamine rush when you push that button and see which character you’re going to get. A lot of the time, the drawing will be preceded by a cool animation, like a puff of smoke or a flash of light, to build tension. I, myself, play a couple gacha games, and I have fallen into the trap of micro-transactions many times.
Don’t let yourself get suckered in by all the pretty lights. You need to have self-control and not support predatory mechanics like this. It’s alright to play, but the more you pay, the bigger the dollar signs in their eyes get. "Puzzle & Dragons" is a Japanese gacha game that has the distinction of being the first mobile game ever to raise a billion dollars in revenue. That’s a whole lot of money. If you don’t think that other video game companies are going to want a piece of that pie, then you are sorely mistaken. Once you start paying, that’s when they gacha.