How Gacha Games Cause Gambling Addiction

i've always been skeptical about gacha games and industry around it something about it never felt quite right i couldn't really understand why i felt like this until i took some time to really think it over and research my hypothesis but then i realized that my hunch may have been more important than i thought that something was definitely wrong with the gacha game industry if you look beyond the surface these companies are doing all sorts of sketchy things like using anime characters to promote gambling marketing gambling mechanics to kids and using some of the most popular youtubers in the world to convince their audience to buy into gambling with cute anime girls after i realized all the industry was doing i knew i had to write this video and let the world know all the horrible things the gacha games industry is doing unchecked so today i'm going to expose the gacha games industry and show you the true beast hidden under the curtain before we dive into the ethics of gacha games i want to make something clear i'm not attacking any of the creative figures behind these projects more likely than not they hate the industry they work in as well rather i'll be criticizing the business aspect of these companies also i should probably define what a gacha game is before going deep into their practices so in order for a gacha game to be a gacha game in my opinion all you have to do is implement methods of gambling into your game meaning if a game has loot boxes it is considered a gacha game in my eyes the game doesn't need to have an anime art style or be from japan to be considered a gotcha game however my expertise lies within anime style gacha games so i'll be focusing on those today now let's get started with the video of course we have to ask what are these companies doing and should their practices really be considered gambling in a game like gentian impact or fake grand order there are two ways to get good characters you can either play the game for hours and use the resources you get while playing to roll for the chance of getting a good character or you can pay money to skip the grind entirely meaning it's hypothetically possible to get cool characters without spending a cent but this will take hundreds of hours of boring gameplay to complete and the hit rates are so low that it becomes nearly impossible to get good characters without paying so in effect you either pay money to get cool characters or you can play a monotonous game for dozens of hours most would agree that this is very annoying to deal with but is it really gambling unfortunately all my sources say yes according to merriam-webster gambling is defined as the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet this means that as long as you pay to bet on something that is considered gambling when you bet on who's going to win the world series that's gambling when you bet that you're going to get 21 in blackjack that's gambling and when you bet that you're going to get a cool character in a phone game that's gambling just because it didn't happen in the casino doesn't mean it isn't gambling by every definition of the word gacha games are gambling it doesn't matter that it's free not in the casino or that it's on the app store so let's treat it for what it really is gambling now that we've been able to link gotcha games to gambling can these games really lead to addiction unfortunately they can gambling addictions usually start with casual experimentation usually they'll glow with some friends to let off some stress when the person wins they get a rush of dopamine which is a natural drug that your brain produces whenever it experiences excitement then they try doing the same thing in order to get the same high they had before but it's less strong than before and you need to bet higher and higher bets to feel the same high you got the first time and then your body physically craves the dopamine and will do risky behavior to get their next fix this is generally referred to as the cycle of addiction in the world of psychology and is the reason why gambling addiction has such a powerful psychological effect on people most people are aware of the dangers of gambling addiction and because of that casinos are now one of the most regulated industries in the world but gacha games have been able to take the mechanics of a slot machine and put it into a phone app with no restrictions whatsoever this can lead to the same negative consequences in the people who play these games in fact i'd argue that these games may be more powerful than the casinos at least with the casino they won't bother you once you leave but gacha games are on your smartphone which is an important part of life in the 21st century and we can see the dangerous power they wield in their profit margins gotcha games like engine impact and fake grand order are actually far more profitable than their aaa counterparts genji and impact has made over 870 million dollars globally since launch and fake grand order makes around 2 million dollars a day at the time of writing just to put those numbers into perspective legend of zelda breath of the wild sold around 20 million units globally assuming that nintendo profited around thirty dollars for each copy that means that breath of the wild made six hundred million dollars in four years so gentian impact a mobile game made by a relatively unknown company was able to beat the nintendo switch's launch title in 5 months i can virtually guarantee you that a lot of gentian impact's profits are from addicts so that's what makes this number far more unethical than a company like nintendo but it also makes you feel even worse when you know who their main target is while many people would argue that these companies don't target children specific that doesn't really hold up when looking at their game design as a whole let's take a look at genshin impact again when looking at the art in the gameplay ask yourself who is this being made for while these games are not made for children exclusively they definitely attract them most anime fans around the world tend to be younger in age so why not use cute designs to increase the hype among younger audiences this is very similar to how other companies have marketed to children in the past and to make it even worse gadget games have no restriction on the app store or google play so they can do whatever they want on those platforms fake grand order ganshin impact and princess connect redive are all rated teen on the google play store despite the gambling mechanics that are prevalent in their design this is easily the most concerning part of the equation for me the fact that apple or google are not only allowing underage gambling on their platform but indirectly supporting their practices by saying it's safe for teens i don't think it's bad to market to kids and teens but i think you need to operate your business with their best interests at heart and these companies have shown no regard for children's well-being in other words using cute anime girls to convince children to download your gambling app probably isn't ethical and you should definitely change your business practices in my opinion there needs to be discussion within the community about the ethics of these games but often this discussion is very limited by companies that make gacha games they don't false flag videos like some companies do but they do influence discussion in another way almost all of your favorite youtubers are sponsored by these games in one way or another if the video you're watching claims it's sponsored by a gotcha game no matter how big or small the channel or the game is they are still being paid to say positive things about the game and the gacha game industry as a whole this is the reason why no big youtubers will ever say anything bad about the gacha game industry but because of this no one really thinks about how exploitative or unethical these games truly are to these companies this plan is genius it not only acts as a way to get the word out about your new game but it will also make sure that no popular youtubers will speak out against them and their industry in a meaningful way so by giving popular youtubers sponsorship money you're ensuring that they will never say anything bad about your game the goal of this video is not to encourage you to boycott youtubers who are sponsored by gacha games because they may not even understand the harm they're causing but we as a community need to realize how these companies can manipulate people into doing their bidding and hopefully we can become aware of how companies will use these tactics to make their products more popular this video wasn't intended to scare anyone away from playing these games some of these games are absolutely beautiful and very engaging but i think we need to talk about the very real harm these games can cause if you have kids who play these games you don't need to take them away just make sure your kids can't access your banking information without your permission and also educate them on the very real addiction these games can cause if you or any loved ones have any symptoms of gambling addiction i've listed earlier please get therapy or treatment your pain is real even if it isn't the traditional way society views game like addiction and please talk about this topic with people you know in the end this video is only going to get as many views as it'll get but if people spread the word about these games and their toxicity maybe we can make some very real changes in the gotcha game landscape thanks for watching my youtube video i've been dying to make a video on this topic for a long time if you've enjoyed my content please give me a like and if you want to see future content click the subscribe button hit the bell icon to hear what new content releases thank you and until then see you next time

Channel: Weebus Supremus

Views: 14,518

Keywords: gacha gambling addiction, gambling addiction, gambling addiction stories, genshin gambling addiction, genshin impact gambling addiction, addiction, gacha, gambling, gacha addiction, gacha games, fate grand order, genshin impact, princess connect re dive, genshin impact controversy

Id: mRGJllCd6qc

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 23 2021