By Reed Richards
If you have a phone or play games at all, you’re probably aware of mobile games. These games are extremely popular and usually exclusively for phones, but in some cases it’s a mobile port for a computer game. These games are usually the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality because they follow the formula of daily check ins and repetitive daily gameplay to keep you coming back for more rewards because, of course, you probably have your phone on you 12 hours a day. Within this cesspool of garbage and predatory monetization tactics is the subgenre of the most popular and most profitable mobile games: Gacha games.
Gacha games run on chance. You gamble in these games. These virtual, child friendly casinos are, of course, my games of choice. There are no benefits to Gacha games, but there are a multitude of them that differ in quality. You have probably heard of the popular ones like Genshin Impact, Fate Grand Order or, if you’re cool, Cookie Run Kingdom. I did extensive research (scrolling the Gacha game Reddit page), and my favorite gambling outlet is only making 4 million dollars compared to the biggest games making 60 million (that being Cookie Run Kingdom.) I have played Cookie Run Kingdom for around 3 years, and I keep coming back because of the methods that I stated above, and I genuinely enjoy the game. Optimizing your toppings, making your kingdom look pretty, getting the newest meta (best) cookies, and with so many things to do every update the game is addicting! But those couple weeks between updates is insufferable.
This new wave of internet gambling that mostly just uses your time as currency for the spins or rolls is damaging to our youth and the general population. Games on popular sites that are primarily populated by kids, like Roblox, are having this disgusting new wave of “RNG” (Random number generator) games where it’s just “free” gambling. Trust me, I know, I played 560 hours of Roblox in the last 7 months. The amount of terrible RNG games that provide no value to the site is insane. And this prominence of bad games that promote gambling to kids can and will affect the youth—youth that are already damaged enough because of the fact that we live in this very antisocial time with parents that allow kids ample amounts of screentime, which can have unfavorable effects. Adding a gambling addiction, which is very expensive, only spells ruin for the psyche and personality of kids and adults, as well.
The protection of our youth from gambling and other addictive activities should be a bigger priority than it is currently. Regulating these online casinos and putting legislation in place to stop these companies is a step in the right direction for the protection and preservation of our minds and kids’ minds, as well.
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