The Impact Of Gacha Games On the MMORPG Scene

mmorpg.com:

No matter what your favorite game is or how long you’ve been gaming for, chances are that you’ve got an opinion on gacha games and mechanics. 

It’s quite a divisive topic in the community, with some gamers loving the fast-paced and engaging nature of gacha games and others disapproving of their habit-forming mechanics and apparent focus on high-spending players.

Here, we’ll be taking a look at how gacha mechanics have impacted MMORPGs so far and what we might see popping up in the gaming world in 2024.

It’s important to note that we won’t be looking at the legal aspect of gambling in games in this post. Make sure to check your local regulations if you encounter anything you’re unsure of. 

First, let’s establish what ‘gacha’ actually means, as there’s some debate over what falls into the gacha game category.

The term ‘gacha’ or ‘gachapon’ is Japanese in origin, originally used to describe vending machines that typically provide random toys and collectibles in return for money.

Games with gacha mechanics follow the same principle. There are different kinds of gacha systems –for example, a box gacha or a redraw gacha – but generally, a player can spend a currency to open a digital box/roll on a digital loot table and get a randomized item. These items are usually characters, skins, or weapons and other in-game items. 

It’s important to note that gacha games aren’t always just focused on the loot and characters that players can pull. There are heaps of games with gacha mechanics,  ranging from MMORPGs to strategy games, and the amount of emphasis placed on the gacha mechanics will vary from title to title.

The finer details depend on the specific game, but for the sake of simplicity in this article, we’ll assume that