Gaming, Gambling and Addiction: “A Game Ruling It All.”

 

Name: Shamiha Labiba

Date: 25/11/23

Section: 30

 

We have to admit that these three words are terminal and even more for the youth. Youth are heavily discouraged when it comes to both drugs and gambling. So, the game developers cracked a devious pathway for the youth to enjoy gambling through games. One of such games mentioned is popularly known as Genshin Impact created by HoYoverse, available in PC, PlayStation and mobile. The game features an anime-style open-world environment and an action-based battle system using elemental magic and character-switching as summarised by Wikipedia(click here to know more). So where does gambling fits in these one might ask and the answer to your question ‘gacha’ which in Japanese means toy vending-machine. Gambling in the gaming world is known as gacha and it all depends on the player’s luck such like how real-life gambling works. Genshin’s gambling system is simple, there are character and weapon banners. The players need to have primogems which they’ll convert into fates to obtain their desired character. To explain it simply 160 primogems gets converted into 1 fate so 1600 primogems is equivalent to 10 fates. Now here comes the twist, each 10 fates guarantees and a four-star character and every 50 fates or more guarantees a five-star character. However, another twist would be that you are not always guaranteed your favourite five star as promised, you might win the gamble or lose to another random five-star character. The gambling part comes when the player continuously grinds through the game to accumulate primogems to pull their favourite character just like how a slot machine works in a casino. All these causes the game to be so addicting and releases an infinite pool of serotonin until your primogems runs out. The developers yet again planned a wicked way to milk money right out of their players. They introduced a shop where you can exchange money for genesis crystals. The math is one genesis crystal is equivalent to one primo-gem so to ensure 10 fates you’ll need 1600 genesis crystal. Here is an image collected from the official game page to help you understand better:

As we can clearly see this game is robbing their players blind behind the curtains of a beautiful game. Indeed, Genshin Impact is a beautiful game with excellent story adaptations, lore, combat style and most importantly gorgeous characters. The game was able to attract one of biggest fandoms in the world, the anime community. The game also promises to entertain players who don’t want to spend any money so their only cost is their effort in the game. Those players have to accumulate primogems by opening treasure chests, doing quests and limited events. Those who spent money can get multiple five-stars but those who don’t have to settle for less. The game builds up a hierarchy in this way, Pay-to-play and Free-to-play players. But gambling isn’t the only addictive part of it, the players get lost exploring the beautiful open world for hours. Every frame, even pixels of the game is captivating like a distant Neverland. The way the characters move around, talk, and fights leave the players in bursting euphoria. So, when playing Genshin both the addiction and the gambling comes naturally to the players. Some might wonder why am I talking so much in-depth about this game and the answer is: “Yes, I am a Genshin player and have invested real money in this game.’’ I do have a bit of regret but for now I’ll go with the motto let bygones be bygones. There are many gacha games out there but I really hope that I don’t fall in yet another rabbit hole again.

Below are some links to know more about the game:

(Genshin Gameplay)

(Genshin Characters)

(Character selection animation)