Second Life Users Genuinely Grumble About Gacha-Based Gambling

Unsurprisingly last week's post about gachas taking over much of the Second Life economy generated a lot of comments, both here and on Facebook. (And "taking over" is not an exaggeration, see above -- in the SL Marketplace online, over half a million items are tagged with "gacha".)  For some readers, they've soured their engagement with the overall virtual economy:

A world gone gacha is a nightmare. Gacha actually ruined SL shopping for me. I miss buying what I want, the color and style that I want, right away, without having to think about missing out on anything because everything was always in stock whenever I wanted it. I didn't have to trade with others for anything. It was less complicated. I used to shop every day while exploring the grid. Now I might shop twice a year. Gachas, exclusive body mesh, limited clothing and accessories for exclusive body meshes, are three changes that have ruined shopping fun for me. The flip side is that I have managed to save a lot of money as a result.  -- Dusky

One reported complaint is price inflation:

Back when gachas were new in SL they cost me between 1 and 30 Lindens per go, with mostly similar items in varying colors and styles. Alas, over the years, they've rocketed to now often stupid prices (recently saw some over 150 lindens a go) and the widespread use of split up outfits and furniture really puts me off. I know some people can afford to throw cash at a machine to get the full set, but a lot of people can't, especially with the seeming average new norm of 75 lindens a go. I tends to hit up the market place for things I really want from events now, but even then I feel bad leeching off people who can afford to play and it's not really fun. --  QD

Patchouli Woollahra makes a very interesting point: The prevalence of gachas in Second Life more or less makes the never-ending question "Is Second Life a game?" moot:

The fact that SL has gone a bit gacha-goo-goo ironically places it closer to being a game. Many games with some aspect of online function now have such gachas in one form or another. There is something to be said for a firmly fixed product at a firmly fixed price, but the frisson of excitement from pushing one's luck with a run at a gacha one wants is about as good as it gets for younger people and folks who live in states barred from the gaming sims of SL.

In fact, maybe a more interesting question than "Is Second Life a game?" nowadays is, "Do gachas in Second Life constitute gambling?" Just don't answer too loudly, because Attorney General Sessions may be listening.

Comments

[William Gide]

I've been away from active SL use for several years, and have recently been spending more time in world again. The gachas are a really skeezy and unwelcome development, in my opinion. They are manifestly a form gambling.

[Flo]

It's funny actually I am a creators (barely) but many creators have been talking and strangely it seems they are ALL are fed up with Gacha and SL events too.

The Arcade now takes 5% of each creators earning, doesn't sound much right? but calculate that against the normal 6 weeks work effort to make the gacha prizes for the creator x 100 creators at the end and shockingly these 'event" organizers are taking probably in excess of 100,000 USD out of creators each year and many of those creators if you equate hours are hovering around minimum wage. So creators put up lack luster work, born out of tired and stressed work, and us consumers suffer because we were silly enough to support gacha.

How do we as users, creators, consumers change SL ? Events have become a blight for many creators, but also a necessary evil for those who rely on SL for RL income. Creators have to keep hitting deadlines, creativity goes down the plan, creators burn out. And we end up not realizes we just brought the same mini skirt 20 times over from different creators in a year in essence. Where are the Paper Couture folk, the innovators who gave us a wand that created a tornado, and the beautiful quirky designs that transformed our second lives.

I strangely believe that given time, it will be the "invention" of the gacha event that actually leads to just a place becoming too much like the RL weary treadmilll of life versus the our world our imagination platform that held so many possibilities. Full of grey, drab, over baked mini skirts with thigh boots (Epihany Event, this round again haven't we seen ALL of this before? put on Daz models to try and fool us this looks new!)

The people who have the power to change this is NOT creators. It's us shoppers. Let's shop our favorite creators of each main store release, drive up their traffic, blog their main store releases, plurk them, Facebook them and help show our fellow SLers that main store releases are creative, fun and value as you can tell the difference between a creator doing something they love, versus a creator cowing in fear of missing the Arcade set up deadline (as if you are even a minute late a FULL week before the event opens, you better bet you are on the "special list" and booted out of the event).

Let's take SL back from this hellhole it's become on events! Let's make SL about (our alternative) Main Street again.

[Pulsar]

With gacha, I spend a bit more, because I can get a nice item for few 10s L$ rather than 100s (that I won't buy). I have fun looking for deals in gacha yards; that's how I buy them 99% of the times. Someone even gave me some extra for free, when I bought from her, wanting to get rid of the duplicates.
I rarely actually play it, unless it's cheap, cute and there isn't a true rare: whatever I get is good and I can buy 2 or 3 more without frustration. I can give some to friends as gifts, as the items are transfer (which is something I like). I know people who are addicted to gacha, spending thousand L$ every time, and I don't want to end up like that. I'd rather spend that amount of money for a beautiful and realistic boat.

[Oobleck]

As a co-founder of PocketGacha I will chime in from a slightly slanted perspective. I often respect Wagner's perspectives and conversations but I do feel that in this case the comparison (or question of it being) is sensational at best. Gambling in its purest form is winning or losing. In the case of Gacha there is no direct loss. You still get an item. You can give that item away. You can sell that item. That item cost much less than a single purchase would have been. In the process you MIGHT also get something truly valuable, sometimes considered the "rare." I am not sure of any casino where you still get something for your bet when "losing" and if you don't get what you want you can sell your "loss" to another. I think Wagner's "Attorney Sessions" comment at the end is hyperbole at its finest. Some like Gacha, some don't. At PocketGacha we at least attempted to bridge the gap slightly by also allowing a direct purchase of full sets in Copy/No Transfer. Others, like DrD, also allow you to trade in your Gacha item for a copy version. Further, an entire cottage industry has been built in the trading and bartering of Gacha that assists the SL economy in general. While I think we have seen a settling occur already with the trend of Gacha it is still a wonderful way for creators to put together cohesive sets that tell a story and promote a concept release that would be less attractive as a simple single item.

[Oobleck]

@Flo. While I think you started with the conversation of Gacha you ended up diverting more to a conversation about events as a whole. Are there merits to some of your arguments? Yes, but it seems a bit off topic as to Wagner's original blog in questioning if Gacha is Gambling and good/bad for Second Life. I have attempted to argue that in my comment above.

In regards to Events I think that perhaps yes, there are too many. However, Is it putting pressure on creators? Well, since when did creators become "forced" to do so MANY events? Simply choose wisely and focus on quality. A blight? Has Etsy or Amazon become a blight for artists, craft people, and small businesses in RL who look for access to larger markets in a collective form? What in essence is an art gallery in an urban center that develops a rotating event to showcase artists? To say that events are killing creativity in SL could be considered misguided in that many talented creators have actually found their recognition and brand awareness through the exposure of events. If the quality of their items decreases as a result, well, that is not the event owners fault but the creators for allowing it to affect their work. Seems the solution is simple, do less events and focus more on quality releases.

So while I agree with you that there may be "too many" events in Second Life, I see the solution as one that will eventually find its way with creators choosing only the events that best fit their brand and offer them a positive and collective way to showcase their new releases. One would fully expect that the current level is not sustainable and that in time will organically find its footing. Business is funny that way.

[Lacy Featherwood]

Nobody is forced to buy gachas, creators are not forced to participate in gachas. Now flood me with the 'but but but but' , no, there is NO but.

Point blank the market will bear what people are willing to pay. I have personally made a few thousand dollars-not much admittedly, but enough to pay a quarter of my car off early-reselling gacha.

Some of you seem to think that people who organize these things do not deserve to be paid a penny and I believe that comes from not knowing how management and logistics work. People planning and putting it all together spend a really huge amount of their time doing so, and if they can get paid doing that, more power to them. But see it from both sides and try not being so myopic.

Instead if whining that things cost too much and it's not fair, you have a choice to participate . WHEN YOU BUY YOU ARE CHOOSING regardless of price to participate. A large segment of marketplace shoppers see value in inflated price for x item. I have tested this theory and have found that items priced about 250 or higher sell , end of. I have tried reselling gacha at pull prices and guess what? Even the popular items don't move!

Evolve or die is the new game in SL.

[Thea Dee]

Evolve by learning how to create your own items instead of trying to make profit off someone else's work. The resale market is out of control with people marking up commons way above machine prices to capitalize on the gacha creator's effort combined with the desire of people to get what they want without playing the machine. I am a collector first and reseller second - I don't sell commons for more than pull price and I don't support those who resell commons for more. I support the creators by playing the machine and frequently see people playing machines for things they don't even want because they think there is a high resale market for them.

Gacha is optional and plenty of good creators who make gachas also make plenty of mainstore releases. The things are not mutually exclusive in most cases.

[Lacy Featherwood]

'Evolve by learning how to create your own items instead of trying to make profit off someone else's work. '

It's almost as if you're trying to imply it is theft in some way. That is not how capitalism works. If those items were never meant to be resold, at any price mind you, then the creators can put the brakes on having them transfer in the first place. You don't get to sell items that are transfer knowingly and then complain because someone bought it from you only to turn around and sell it for a bigger profit.

Say I pay someone 100 USD for a day of standing around and playing particular machines for me to get a certain gacha, which I do. I am paying outright several times for a copy of gachas, they are MINE to do with as I please within the rules of gacha-that includes reselling for profit.

You hand wringers are just pissed that people are making money on flipping them is all because you're either lazy or don't know how to do it yourself. Btw for October I am up to 800 USD in sales for gacha alone. I am pleased considering that all told I've only spent 300 bucks since the last round of Arcade started and also buying cheap gachas on Market to flip for higher prices. In business terms thats an excellent return on investment and I'm not even trying hard! lol@you

[Clara Seller]

Has Gacha been good for SL? No. But it's a good fix of Cortisol and Adrenaline to keep the hamster wheel spinning.

The wheel never stops spinning with Gacha. The most fun is that you never really know if it's going to rez or explode every time you want to use it or if it's going to make it in delivery on a resell. It's an addiction and that's why people feel so passionate, rabid, and irrational about it.

Are you implying I'm an addict? It's Capitalism, babe. It's just the way it is.

[madeline blackbart]

To be honest I like gatchas and I like events. There's nothing wrong with either of those two things...but I do feel, as a shopper, a bit of burn out on them sometimes (more so toward events the gatcha really but still). I mean like there's so many events with similar themes. When there was only a few a year they were special but now there's so many every month it's a bit...overwhelming. TBH I do use fairs to try and discover stores but it would be nice if there was another way outside of fairs (and hunts to an extent) that you could do this.

[Aliasi Stonebender]

I don't care for gatchas simply because I prefer my items to be copy/mod, which is (obviously) not possible due to the nature of them.

I like to kitbash and make new looks. I dislike being kept from doing so.

[Gwen]

Gacha needs to end. The game industry right now is getting hit hard over this. Gacha has also encouraged more copybotting because things are no copy. Almost everyone I know in sl makes copies of their gacha. I miss when you could just buy what you want not play gacha for a chance at winning what you want. Also should point out a good friend of mine who does things for every gacha event, also sells rares of their own stuff in another avatar to make more money.