Numerous papers examine the relationship between gacha mechanics and gambling, however, few enquire about what attracts players to gacha games. This is the focus of this thesis, asking players, from their perspective, what are the elements of gacha games that keep them engaged. It also queries why, after having stopped playing gacha games for a period of time, players return to these games. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with five players who play gacha games at least 20 hours a week and who took a break from these games for at least one month. Results indicate that players are initially attracted to gacha games due to their aesthetic and that players value narrative elements associated with the games and the gacha characters. Interestingly, the gacha mechanic itself was not pointed out as the reason for engaging with the game, rather it is used as a means to acquire a desired ingame item. Nonetheless, strong emotional attachment is associated with successful and unsuccessful pulls; a low amount of pulls to acquire a desired character or item is described as a strong joyful memory, whereas not being able to acquire the desired gacha character or item despite a large number of pulls is associated with intense frustration and sadness. Collectionism was pointed out by players as a motivation for acquiring gacha items, with players placing a higher value on items they need to complete their collection rather than necessarily on high-rated game items. The results also indicate that burnout can occur when a game stops or slows the release of new content, eventually leading players to stop playing that game.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and examine how gameplay experiences differ in the gacha game Genshin Impact (miHoYo, 2020). In particular, there is a focus on the economic systems of the game along with the general play experience. People can have different perspectives as veteran players or newbie players, so the objective is to find differences in how these players approach the reward systems of the game, and how their relationship to these systems is affected. This is done by utilizing a mixed-method approach, using aspects of both formal analysis and autoethnography. It is further explored how players interacted with these economic systems, with a focus on the harder to acquire, premium currency of Primogems. The characteristics of reward systems in Genshin Impact, particularly the content unlocking mechanisms of the game, are discussed further, as they have implications for both types of players. The paper goes deeper into discussing dark design patterns, which are prevalent in the experiences of both players. As Genshin Impact is a large game with a variety of content, this is further explored and related to relevant theory to better facilitate a discussion about possible design implications. By comparing and analyzing the experiences of both players in regards to relevant theory, it was concluded that at a certain point the game no longer concerns itself with rewarding players adequately. This was further compounded by the game offering less and less goals to work towards for players, as they simply run out of meaningful content to do. Players are distracted from this lack of a goal by expertly crafted dark design patterns, introduced to the players in such a way that they have all but no choice, but to engage in these patterns willingly.

The monetization model Gacha has spread from its country-of-origin Japan and become a global phenomenon. Genshin Impact, a Chinese Gacha game, is currently one of the highest grossing mobile games in the world. Despite its high revenue, Genshin Impact is free to download and play, all purchases in game are voluntary. A question can then be asked: What aspect of Genshin Impact games makes players spend money? This paper aims to answer that question through qualitative interviews with Genshin Impact players and their reasons for paying for in game items. The results show that players chose to spend money on Genshin Impact because they formed emotional attachment to content, and that the enjoyment of the game justified the money they paid. Further research can be conducted on the difference in opinion between players who pay for in game items and players who do not.

An exploratory discourse analysis was performed on a community of practice based on Discord, an instant messaging platform. The community of practice is a group of gamers (people who play video games), dedicated to the cross-platform free-to-play game Genshin Impact. A corpus of messages was gathered from the community’s public message logs, which spanned a period of three days during the release of Genshin Impact’s most financially lucrative character banner. From the corpus, numerous themes in players’ discussions have been observed; such as reactions to the gacha’s probability system, displays of problem gaming, sexualization of female characters, and opinions regarding monetization & the game’s developers. This study would be beneficial for future studies that pertain to player behavior and gamer culture that can also use communities of practice on platforms such as Discord, in order to gain insight into niche communities of engaged users. / En utforskande diskursanalys utfördes på praxisgemenskapen baserad på Discord, en plattform för snabbmeddelanden. Praxisgemenskapen var en grupp spelare dedikerade till det plattformsoberoende gratisspelet Genshin Impact. En korpus av meddelanden samlades in från gemenskapens offentliga meddelandeloggar, som sträckte sig över en period av tre dagar under lanseringen av Genshin Impacts mest ekonomiskt lukrativa karaktärsbanner. Från korpusen har många teman i spelarnas diskussioner observerats; såsom reaktioner på gachas sannolikhetssystem, visningar av problemspelande, sexualisering av kvinnliga karaktärer och åsikter om intäktsgenerering samt spelets utvecklare. Framtida studier som avser spelarbeteende och gamerkultur kan också använda praxisgemenskaper på plattformar som Discord, för att få insikt i nischa gemenskaper av engagerade användare.

Lootboxes currently cause a frequent debate in the games industry where the discussion is often focused on the connection to gambling. In this thesis an addition to this debate is made by taking a closer look at Gacha design – a way to design games around monetization – through theory and player opinions. Conclusions point to that if Gacha is viewed as a spectrum of strength the discussion can benefit from an increased understanding of all monetization systems within games regardless of their abstract definitions. The data was collected through focus groups and analyzed based on current research of the common topics that surfaced during the focus group discussions. The thesis found that overall knowledge surrounding Gacha was lacking and by looking at Gacha as a design method opened up for a broader discussion with connections to Lootboxes. / Lootboxes orsakar för närvarande en återkommande debatt inom spelindustrin där diskussionens fokus ofta är kring kopplingen till hasardspel. I detta examensarbete görs ett tillägg till debatten genom en närmre undersökning av Gacha design – vilket är ett designverktyg för inkomstgenerering – genom teori och spelares åsikter. Slutsatserna pekar mot att om Gacha är sett som ett spektrum av styrka kan diskussionen nyttjas för att bidra till en ökad förståelse av alla former av inkomstgenereringssystem inom spel oberoende av deras abstrakta definitioner. Data samlades genom fokusgrupper och analyserades utifrån nuvarande forskning runt de vanligaste ämnen som uppstod under fokusgruppernas diskussioner. Detta examensarbetet fann att den övergripande kunskapen kring Gacha var begränsad och genom att titta på Gacha som en design method öppnade upp för en bredare diskussion med kopplingar till Lootboxes.