A few days ago I took a decision that radically changed the way I live life: I decided to quit all gacha games. I deleted my Hoyoverse account - something I'd like to talk in more detail in another post - and continued removing anything that had a gacha in it. To start fresh, and see how it feels.
And it feels awesome.
What Made Me Change Everything
What moved me to take a decision was the realization that I couldn't play games anymore. I know it sounds fun, and not so serious, but it's true: I had no interest in playing a game if it didn't have a gacha mechanics in it. So, I started wondering:
Am I still liking games, or the gacha mechanics that are all through them?
The answer was rough, but it help me realize everything: I was playing for the dopamine rush of the pull, for the short feedback loop of "new resources to pull with", and to being used to doing dailies, weeklies, and events all the time.
That was the moment when I realized I needed to stop if I wanted a chance to have a new beginning, and that it was achievable just by taking a decision that would state something. Not to the world, though: mostly to myself.
The fun thing is that I expected a part of me would've regretted that decision sooner than later. Than I would've cried over the thousands of hours I was throwing in the trash can. That I would've been desperate for all the converted money I'd end up losing forever.
The reality was far from that, including losing "time and money", that are actually not in the games in any way anymore: there are characters tied to an addictive mechanics that brought me nowhere.
My senses, my natural way of looking at things, my spontaneity, everything is coming back to me. It all began when I asked for help.
A Cry for Help
It was a while since the last time I reached out for my parents for a serious request of help.
After I spent 1500€ on Honkai Star Rail's "The Herta", in Eidolons and weapons, I knew that it was the time to give it a cut with that. It helped.
My parents were there for me, but, most of all, I think I managed to be there for myself as well. Something I've been unable to do for years. It was like finally managing to hear my own voice. The decision to put an end to all accounts was, in fact, mine as well, not from the family that came supporting me.
I'd like to talk a little about it.
The Videogames, and the Journal
I've been liking videogames since I was a little kid: I can remember the strong emotions of my little heart, for the games on my game boy. The strongest was the houses in Pallet Town (Biancavilla, in Italian) I saw for the first time. The idea I was exploring a world that was only in the cassette - it was, in fact, my first RPG - was incredible to me.
That passion is what, at a much later age, brought me exploring the world of Final Fantasy XIV. My journey moved to Genshin from there, as you may know if you watched the "The Herta" video.
I had the feeling I wanted to bring that love I take care of, in my heart, to you. That was what I was trying doing. The only moment where I was true to that idea was during the "Season one: Pocket Creatures" attempt I made on youtube, where I played creature collector games that were different than my usual gacha set. But I failed: the idea of covering just Hoyoverse games plus a few on the side was too strong.
Now that my heart is free, I can see many ways of doing that. I also see the difference between "loving a game" and "needing to play it".
Gacha Games, and How to Survive Them
This is a topic I'd like to expand in another article, and make videos about it, but I think it's a good moment to introduce it: I think there are a few gacha games that can be saved from being just a machine that makes you come back without thinking, and keep you sticking to the events.
There are three simple principles that are easy to apply, to check if it works:
Limited-time events should not be relevant: I realized how they influenced my daily life, to the point everything else was hard to access. Funny enough, this is even worse than the "gacha" proper itself.
The gacha pulling machine shouldn't ever be touched: I am extremely in favor of supporting a game you like, but I think gacha - the mechanics in its entirety, almost - is extremely dangerous, and my opinion is that it is to be avoided. You can support gacha games you ignore the gacha of by just buying a gem pack equal to how much you'd pay the game. And leave the gems untouched.
Story progression and core gameplay shouldn't be gated by the aforementioned mechanics: if you're forced to use the systems above even a little to proceed, I think you're getting into the loop, and it's not something one can close an eye on.
Games that let you do that probably exist, but are much fewer than expected: the real "freedom to play" isn't as common as the games want us to think.
I'll give a few examples of this:
The fact that experiencing the story changes a lot based on the characters you have on Genshin Impact makes Genshin Impact a game I won't go back to.
Even worse, Honkai: Star Rail is all about showcasing characters that are meant to be both in the story (most of the times) and in number-based trials, in a more relevant way than Genshin.
Zenless Zone Zero has a story that looks like having the characters that take part in it always on trial. It looks like it's playable for a certain amount of hours without interacting with any other system than leveling up, and that's possible by doing a 1 minute daily. Considering the lowered level requirement to play the story, I think the rest of the game: limited-time events, the character pool and the gacha, and the endgame trials, can all be ignored.
Rhythm games as BanG Dream and Project Sekai have songs locked behind a resource that can be gathered by passively progressing events. Those rewards are tied to a leaderboard that depends on resource usage and money, and your team's effectiveness depends on the gacha. Those mechanics are harder to exclude, but it is possible to play with a full three-star team and getting songs little by little by obtaining those resources passively. Keeping oneself at using only three stars and stopping at the lowest amount of points possible to just claim the song resource is the best way to ignore everything else.
It's still hard, considering the game make you see the gacha place much of the time, anyways. Some games are more invasive, while others are much less, but it's not something to take lightly. There are examples for this too, I'll use the three games I mentioned being playable with lower interactions with the machine:
Zenless Zone Zero presents the new characters through pop-up news about them. Accessing the warp menu is one click away. The good part is those characters can usually be played for free in the story, but, one may be tempted to change the teams and play them in story stages that don't belong to them, or in trial stages in the endgame. Both are unadvised. Only trial characters are the thing, if we want to exclude the gacha part of the game.
Project Sekai has a lot of pop ups that remind you there are "special offers" and other paid items. You can ignore that, but it's pretty invasive. New character cards are also often introduced.
BanG Dream does the same in a less invasive way. It doesn't have popups that is not the one for stamina, that can be disabled, and character cards' automatic introduction at login.
These games can be played in a non-gacha way with the proper attention, it looks like, but I may change my mind on it. All three, if played like this, are likely worth your time if you like the genres (action RPG with a street fantasy twist for ZZZ, JPOP / EDM rhythm game for the other two).
Another game that I've been thinking about is Pokémon Unite, that now has a gacha for skin. The gacha itself is easy to ignore, but the skins that keep popping up in-game are impossible to disable and could be a source of stress in the long run.
None of these four games is completely "free to play": with playing them, there comes the risk of feeling right into the loop. There are checks that can be made to make sure we are not:
We are not playing any limited time event, EVEN if it's a fun minigame. That's a trap in any situation, and is to be avoided at all costs: you should be the one deciding when to play something, and, in general, limited time events are there for "premium" resource collection.
We are not checking the gacha to see if we like characters / character cards, or not: those characters / character cards shouldn't exist in our experience with the game.
We're only aiming to collect the gameplay-related resource that's needed to unlock content: account level for hoyo-like games, or song-convertible resources in rhythm games.
I'll be streaming this approach to see if it's possible on brand new accounts too, discuss it with you, and make videos about it, so, if you want to play games this way, be sure to check them out!
There's a fourth point that I kept asides, and it's probably the one I can see extremely clearly from here:
We're having fun with the game: if we find the story content boring, or the gameplay without the gacha not to be interesting, then we should immediately drop the game.
I don't think there's any natural way to play Genshin Impact with the base characters only, or the same with Star Rail, so they're both off my chart.
A World Uncharted
The world of games is MUCH wider than this: there are so many games that don't have any gacha mechanics. I'll be so glad to go back to "season 1" of The Videogame Journal, and talk about incredible indie games that, for a one-time purchase, give us so much.
I'll always take an eye out for you for any addictive mechanics new games may have, and talk about them on the channel. I want the channel to be a much more dynamic exploration-focused place that may help you find what you're looking for in the sea of games we all love - and that some of us, me included, make. Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you'll join the journey too.
I've been thinking about this for a long time: how can I talk about the most important topic of the channel so far the best way possible. After a while, though, I realized I'd like to do it my own way, in the simplest, most spontaneous way possible. After just a couple of days, my eyes are filled with a new world, a world that my heart can perceive again. It's not about effectiveness, efficiency, optimization, planning. This world is about perception, hope, dreams, and the yearning that's typical of an adventurer, to reach out for all that and other people. Things are changing so fast: my days are full of colors: people, real-life events, weird happenings, and random, deep interaction with people around me. And, on top of that, I can feel my love for games coming back, stronger and stronger.
This is a new Nero Atlas. Logging in.