[ SECRET POST #5965 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5965 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #853.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I mean, quite frankly, if as a grown adult you can't set a budget for something and then stick to that budget, you have issues that run way deeper than gacha.

I say this because I know people who have blown massive amounts of money on non-gacha things for the exact same reasons. "I was stressed so I bought things to make me feel better" only all they did was end up running up huge credit card bills on stuff they didn't actually need.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think this is quite the same. Skinner boxes are effective on people in a different way. Like, "retail therapy" generally doesn't involve gambling/loot boxes of variable gains, and people who splurge on stuff to feel better at least are guaranteed whatever item they buy, and aren't lured in by casino-like "just one more pull" mechanics.

Like the gambling aspect is literally scientifically proven to be more addictive than plain old shopping.

It's like saying someone who is addicted to opioids and someone addicted to weed is the same and it's all about their personal self control. It's really not. Some things are legitimately more addictive than others.

[(Anonymous)]

It's the exact same philosophy behind it, though. "I feel shitty, so I'll get this cute skirt and then I'll feel better." And sure, you get the skirt, but it doesn't actually make you feel better, so then you think "well if I buy some shoes to go with it, THAT will definitely make me feel better," only that doesn't make you feel better either, and you just keep going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole and buying more and more stuff in the hopes that the next thing will be the one to magically fix whatever is making you feel bad. I've seen it happen to people multiple times, which is why I don't think it's something related to gacha specifically but rather an issue of trying to use spending money on something you want as a form of therapy.

Spending money when you're stressed and feeling lousy is a recipe for disaster, period, because it's way too easy to fall into the trap of "I'll just buy one more thing because SURELY that will make me feel better."

[(Anonymous)]

+10000

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, I just remember the people who managed to get into insane credit card depth because they were addicted to buying all the crap from homeshopping channels back in the day so I'd say it's kinda similar after all.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like that kind of thing was actually way more predatory because they would deliberately obscure the true cost of the items by doing things like saying 'this can be yours for only 5 payments of $19.95!' without ever mentioning that 5 payments of $19.95 is effectively $100. So you'd get people thinking they weren't spending that much because they were only paying $19.95 at a time without ever stopping to look at just how much it cost in total once you put all of those payments together.

At least with stuff like gacha, you're paying the full amount for each charge up front so it's not like you get blindsided by how much you spent in total.

[(Anonymous)]

Not until you go back and add up how much you've spent in total on this "free" game.

Realizing that I spent more on a fucking cookie game I just casually dick around in than the cost of multiple AAA games was um. Not my favorite realization.

(Ironically it wasn't even the gacha mechanics that got me, it was the farmville mechanics.)

[(Anonymous)]

I meant in the sense that if you buy, say, a $50 pack, you know right up front that you're spending $50. It's not being marketed to you in a way to make it sound deceiving when it comes to how much you're actually paying.

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, there's a reason microtransactions are so popular in games, and it's because even if you're great at budgeting it gets hard to notice all the little amounts you spend, especially if it's over weeks.

It's easy to get caught up in the bundles and sales and promotions, too.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly this ^^^

[(Anonymous)]

Do... do people just never look at their emailed receipts or something? I love it because it lets me keep track of exactly how much I've spent at a glance. I have a folder in my email specifically for Google Play stuff so it's easy for me to look and add up just how much I've spent in any given time period.

[(Anonymous)]

No. Why would I, when I could be playing my game?

[(Anonymous)]

But surely you look in your email and see the receipts and are reminded that you spent money?

[(Anonymous)]

No. Why would I? I already spent the money. I was there when I did it?

[(Anonymous)]

If you're keeping track of how much you're spending then you're not what I'm talking about. I'm referring to the idea that "even if you're great at budgeting it gets hard to notice all the little amounts you spend, especially if it's over weeks." To which I say, how do you not notice unless you just spend money and then never ever look at the receipts you get from it?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't really keep track of how much I'm spending, other than in the general. "Oh, look, I have money in the bank, so I'm good." I actually just looked at my April budget this morning and I can't immediately account for half my discretionary spending. No idea what I spent it on. I'm not gonna go into my receipts to figure it out. I have better things to do with my time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, instead of putting the onus on each individual person to go to the effort and the time that many don't have to track the most minutia of spending, how 'bout we make the things that have been proven to be psychologically dangerous to people's mental health and well-being illegal?