# The gacha glossary

(Last updated Feb 2021.)

Vernacular for gacha game mechanics.

- __Gacha__: the core lootbox mechanic encouraging players to spend. You spend premium currency to obtain ("pull/summon/draw/roll") a random character or item (a "unit") from a predefined pool ("drop table"). [The term originates from Japanese gachapon, vending machine toys.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon)
+ __Multis/Multi pulls__: often, pulling 10 at a time from a gacha, rather than 1 at a time, is encouraged by offering an extra pull or a guaranteed rare pull (or both!).
+ __Gacha tickets__: an in-game item that can be exchanged for free gacha pulls. Often given out by events or gifts in lieu of actual premium currency. __Select tickets__ are those that let you choose the unit you want (often from a limited set of units, or with limited rarity).
+ __Cosmetics__: gacha pulls (or direct purchases) that don't influence gameplay other than appearances/sound. Examples: skins/live2D, in-game music, voice line unlocks, base-building/decor. Some gachas ("costume gachas") only offer cosmetics, and games where the only gachas are costume gachas are considered friendly to F2P players, as progression balancing is unaffected by spending.
+ __Banners__: a system where, rather than one general gacha, there are potentially multiple gacha "banners" at the same time -- one or two always-available "permanent banners", and periodically released "time-limited banners". Time-limited banners can boast unique loot pools ("limited-edition banners") or greater chances on featured rewards ("rate-up banners"), incentivizing players to spend on a limited-edition banner if they don't want to miss out. The term "banner" likely originates from the banner graphic advertising the possible pulls, which always accompanies the banner.
* __Paid banners__: banners which only take paid currency, but have extra perks, like guaranteed pulls.
* __Bait banners__: a limited-time banner could be called a "bait banner" if it encourages players to spend their accumulated currency prior to an even more desirable banner. The term is used in hindsight, "dang I already spent all my gems on that bait banner"
* __Fillers__: a limited-time banner that doesn't have anything interesting in it (that is, compared to past banners). Games without permanent banners need to create a new banner every month, and during uneventful times these new banners are often fillers.
+ __Guaranteed pulls__: an banner or ticket that offers a guarantee of a featured highest-rarity unit. This tends to be a higher-cost pull (for example, only available with paid currency).
+ __Limited units__: the idea of featuring units in a banner or event that are only available to get during that time. This entices impulse spending -- players need to buy NOW or else they'll never have it.
- __Premium currency__: in-game tokens primarily used to pull from gachas. Contrasted with common "free-to-play" currency. Although most gacha games offer a way to grind premium currency slowly (capped by daily limits), the main way of getting premium currency is by opening your wallet. Pricing is pretty consistent across gacha games: \$1 for 60, \$5 for 300, \$10 for 680, \$15 for 980, \$20 for 1280, \$50 for 3280, \$100 for 6480. Often, bulk purchases come with bonus currency attached, and your first purchase grants 2x, and events may discount these prices for a limited time.
+ __Paid currency__: games with paid currency distinguish between "free" premium currency obtained via in-game rewards, and "paid" premium currency only available via wallet. Both are still used for gachas, but the "paid" currency is often used for better gachas (like "paid banners", for example). Since generous premium currency rewards have become more of an expectation for gacha games nowadays, this paid tier of premium currency is used to both offer generous premium currency rewards, while locking new content behind the wallet.
- __Rarity__: a common scale for rarity is N<R<SR<SSR<UR, with SSR/UR canonically accepted as "highest rarity". This ranking often determines the rarity (pull rate) for the units in question -- for example, a limited-time gacha may advertise a 5% rate-up for a UR unit. It's also common for gacha games to use stars (as in, "5\* character") instead of this scale, where more stars indicate greater rarity.
- __Dupe system__: how the gacha handles duplicate units from rolls or otherwise.
+ __No dupes__: some games prevent duplicates from being pulled outright.
+ __Shard system__: some games convert dupes to "shards", the idea being you need X amount of shards to obtain or upgrade the unit. Alternatively, you need to spend currency or other materials to convert a shard into a unit. One benefit of a shard system is that it makes it easier and more common for events to give out free shards, compared to giving out units outright, as units are much more valuable than shards. In some games, shards are also added to the gacha drop table, which can also incentivize spending via sunk cost fallacy -- players may impulse buy pulls if they already have 9/10 of a unit!
+ __[Awakening system](https://crossingvoid-global.fandom.com/wiki/Awakening)__: some games use dupes to unlock exclusive powers for the duped unit. Note that the "unlock powers beyond" mechanic did not originate with the use of dupes. The earliest such awakening mechanic I found is from [Tales of Asteria](https://aselia.fandom.com/wiki/Awakening).
+ __Fusion__: some games allow dupe units to be fused into a higher-tier unit, making dupes essential to progression.
+ __Substats__: some games attach random stat bonuses to every unit to distinguish dupes.
- __Safety net/Pity system__: any number of systems to make a player feel better if they are down on their gacha luck.
+ __Pity pulls/Gacha ceiling__: if a player fails to obtain a rare unit after X number of pulls, the Xth pull is a "pity" pull guaranteeing a rare unit. The X counter is the "pity counter" or "ceiling".
+ __Pity breaker__: rather than guarantee a rare unit, some games instead increase the rate of rare units on every failed pull. AKA step-up gacha. The rate-up resets (breaks) once you draw that rare unit, hence a "pity breaker".
+ __Sparking__: similar to pity pulling, every pull grants a unit of currency that can be used to directly buy specific units. The term originates from the 300 Cerulean Spark cost in Granblue Fantasy. AKA mileage, or 「天井」 (tenjou, "ceiling")
- __Events__: limited-time content that often boasts limited-edition units and faster progression. Pushes potential players away from quitting the game, as they don't want to miss the event opportunity (FOMO).
+ _note_: There are so many unique event types, I'd love to see a list of them but for now I'm noting down the most common event mechanics.
+ __Event points__: a common event mechanic is to offer event points for engaging with the event activity. Usually, there is a daily limit on points obtained.
+ __Event shop__: a store with limited items in stock that only takes event points. Often stocks gacha tickets (free pulls). The limited stock encourages players to buy out the store, and to do that, they need to max their event points.
+ __Welfare units__: a unit given for free upon completion of an event, to encourage player investment into the event. If the welfare unit is too powerful, it might upset the game balance, since you can assume everyone has that unit by the end of the event.
+ __Collabs__: when the game publisher collabs with existing IP to add that IP to the game. In gacha games, this is often in the form of characters from that IP being featured in an event banner as a promotion. This can bring fans of the existing franchise to the gacha game, as said characters are often unobtainable after the event period.
+ __Reruns__: when a previous event is run again. (Collabs are rarely rerun due to licensing costs -- thanks /u/dxdydzd1!)
- __[Appointment mechanics](https://grantsgames.com/2014/08/26/appointment-mechanics/)__: a catch-all term in the free-to-play game industry for getting players addicted (AKA "increase player retention") by encouraging habit formation. Below are some appointment mechanics common in gacha games:
+ __Dailies__: daily login rewards, daily quests, daily shop restocks, daily bosses, daily PVP, etc, all referring to rewards available every day. There are also "weeklies" and "monthlies". Often these rewards are significant enough that not doing them hinders progression by a lot, so players are incentivized to log in every day and do all the daily tasks, like a day job. (Especially when there is a rewarding daily quest that says "Complete all other daily quests.")
+ __Stamina system/Energy system__: where a player must spend "stamina" (or "energy") to progress, and stamina regenerates slowly to a max cap, encouraging the player to progress so they don't lose out on regenerating stamina. Stamina systems set the pace of content -- the game can afford to take more time on content if it can guarantee 99% of players will take at least two weeks to get through the latest update. I've also seen the term "timers" being used refer to stamina, but I've also seen "timers" to refer to things like ad timers and dailies.
+ __Dispatch system__: a system of sending characters off for some duration to get a reward to be collected after that duration. Encourages the player to obtain and utilize unused units, and more importantly, encourages them to schedule opening the app again to collect said reward.
+ __Online time rewards__: simply put, rewards given for being online for a certain amount of time every day. The logical conclusion to "how do we make players keep the app open for longer?"
+ __Bonus time/Happy hour__: either a period of time, or a predefined window of time every day, where XP is doubled (or a similar reward, like halved stamina costs). For most gacha games, this is only active during events. Another incentive for players to make room in their schedule to log in and play. Also goes by other names, like double xp weekend.
+ __Daily calendar__: every daily login stamps a calendar day giving a predefined reward for each day, and players get a generous reward for logging in every day of the week/month (or a majority of days).
+ __Gift/usage/shop limits__: a system of daily or weekly limits on in-game actions (acceping gifts, using an item, buying from a shop). This is meant both to limit progression and to entice players to max out the action every day. In particular, a shop item purchasable with premium currency once a day may entice whales towards spending the maximum premium currency every day.
+ __Mailbox__: Gacha games periodically deliver rewards through an in-game message system. These rewards have an expiry date (normally 7 days or 30 days) upon reaching the inbox, which means you can't sign out for a year and then collect all the free giveaways.
+ __Ad rewards__: a feature (which is a plugin for mobile games in general) that offers in-game rewards in return for watching 30-second ads. A popular way to monetize F2P players by offering "free" premium currency or doubled rewards. Ads are often voluntary and locked behind a daily or hourly timer, or are only available after doing a task, so players are encouraged to voluntarily consume ads regularly for rewards, rather than be put off by watching many ads at once.
- __Gating__: when a gacha game locks progression behind a certain mechanic that isn't playtime. Universally seen as a negative to players, but is often implemented to slow-drip content when a game can't provide content fast enough. AKA "wall".
+ __Gacha gating__: when a game essentially requires getting good units from the gacha in order to meaningfully progress. A game that's too gacha gated may require rerolling to progress, and maybe players would rather quit.
+ __Time gates__: things like "Quest complete! Here's a 8:00 hr timer till the next quest unlocks" which can be bypassed via premium currency. Overly restrictive stamina systems are also considered a form of time gating.
+ __"Gated by dailies"__: when a player's progression is gated by dailies, it means progression is capped by daily rewards. Often occurs when dailies are so valuable (like when all F2P premium currency is offered through dailies) that the limited amount of daily rewards are what determine progression.
- __Monthly pass__: the ubiquitous high-value \$5 microtransaction that grants 3000 premium currency over 30 days. Every gacha game I've seen has this exact product (or similar), which means it's very lucrative (for the publisher). The player has to log in every day for the reward, so it's essentially like buying a daily login reward you're now financially invested in collecting. I've also read that its high-value cheapness makes you more open to opening your wallet for future purchases.
- __Battle pass__: a system of daily/weekly/monthly quests that grant exp towards the next tier. You start at tier 1 and get a new prize at every tier. You can also pay \$10-\$12 a month to unlock a second premium track of far better rewards. The main deal is that your tier, and all potential rewards, resets every "season" (1-2 months). This encourages players to play more in order to tier up and get the maximum amount of rewards before the reset. Also, the end of the track often has a powerful limited-edition item, which is very incentivizing. [Battle passes originate from Dota 2.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_pass)
- __VIP system__: a system where in-app purchases increases a VIP level meter based on amount of money spent. Each VIP level grants additional perks beyond the actual purchase. These are often player cosmetics, but sometimes they include perks that reduce the tedium of grinding, providing an additional incentive for grinding F2P players to spend money.
- __Unit levelling__: units gain EXP through play. However, to benefit from this EXP once it hits the cap, the player must use level-up materials on the unit. Depending on the game and unit, unit level-ups can increase their power, or unlock extra art, or unlock voice lines. As unit levels are the main indicator of power in these games, all progression ultimately bends towards upgrading units. This system makes it extremely time-consuming to fully max every unit available without spending money. Although this grinding system is definitely not specific to gacha games, gacha games often make levelling only apply to units obtained from gacha, focusing the game on gacha pulls and making the gacha valuable. Includes affection/bond systems.
- __Rune system__: I don't mention specific kinds of units here, since there are so many, but runes are particularly cash-grabby. The idea is, it's equipment, except you need to equip a set of like-category runes (a "rune set") in limited equipment slots in order to get the benefit. It's basically shards with equipment slots. Except players need to upgrade each rune individually.
- __Mats__: level-up materials, required to level up units. The most desired mats tend to be gated by daily tasks. Admits more complex grinding, so players aren't as bored about simply increasing a number. Although not specific to gacha games, gacha games often make mats only useful towards upgrading units obtained from gacha, making the gacha valuable.
+ __EXP items__: EXP-granting items. Units can obtain EXP though play, but if EXP items exist, then the EXP required scales so quickly that the only realistic way to level up past early-game is by grinding EXP items.
+ __Fodder__: in games where you consume items of the same category to upgrade an item, you quickly get lots of low-value items ("fodder") whose only use is for upgrading ("feeding") your main items. In these games, fodder is the new EXP. To make things more complex, many games also feature random 2x EXP chance when feeding, subject to some mechanic (like a higher chance if feeding to an item of the same category).
+ __Material tiers__: in games with material tiers, early-game materials quickly get obsoleted by higher-tier materials, for which you need to do higher-tier tasks for progression. This discourages players from always grinding the same low-level content, as they can't progress as quickly.
+ __Character materials/Equipment materials__: related to material width, there may be certain materials that exist only to level up a specific unit, and this material is often obtained through unique methods. This differentiates how different units are levelled up, adding complexity to grinding. Importantly, the difficulty of obtaining these unique materials makes players really focus on levelling up specific units, rather than equally levelling all their units.
- __Achievements__: not strictly a gacha game thing, but gacha games often attach claimable premium-currency rewards to every achievement, in order to get players to explore all available content. In addition, achievements are often sorted into groups, with a big reward after obtaining all achievements in a group.
- __Crafting__: not exclusive to gacha games, but a lot of them allow a crafting system in which materials can be turned into higher-tier materials or units. In gacha games, crafting can be essential to progression and be a big sink of common currency, and become why players want common currency. (The other big sink is level-up costs.)
- __[Referral rewards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referral_marketing)__: more of a core mobile marketing strategy than a core gacha game mechanic. The game offers rewards for players who get other people to install the game via a referral link. Often this reward is only granted when the new player makes a purchase. This can also manifest though generous rewards distributed to all players once the game reaches a milestone number of downloads or social media followers -- players are encouraged to market the game through word-of-mouth in order to hit these milestones.
- __[Apologems](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=apologems)__: when a game bug negatively impacts the game experience, or the game has to conduct unscheduled maintenance for the same, a gift is distributed to all players via the in-game mail system as an apology. This keeps ratings high by keeping players happy. Notably, this is one way players differentiate gacha publishers -- for example, Cygames is known for offering very generous compensation for even small things like typos.
- __QoL__: quality of life, a general game design term for features that make the game less tedious to play. In gacha games, these mainly target the grinding experience.
+ __Autoplay/Speedups__: a button that makes tedious manual grinding tasks faster or more automated. Gacha games now design around autoplay as a core feature, rather than have autoplay be locked behind VIP levels or other purchases (though that also exists). AKA auto combat/autobattler.
+ __Sweep system__: a system that lets players skip doing a mindless grindy task entirely while still giving the reward. Some systems allow players to do multiple sweeps in bulk. Discourages players from dropping out of a game due to heavy grind.
+ __Sweep tickets__: Alternatively, a game may offer "skip tickets" for the same instant gratification, as long as you have skip tickets.
- __[Helper system](https://dragalialost.gamepedia.com/Helper)__: the mechanic where players can pick a "helper" unit from a friend for use in their next (solo) quest. Adds some level of social collaboration in the game, which is a known factor in keeping players playing. AKA friend system. Gacha games take advantage of this mobile game mechanic by making the helper's role very important, which both incentivizes having friends with good units and incentivizes pulling units that are good enough for your friends to pick. When game content is scaled to the level of powerful event units, the helper system also lets players progress without being gated by event gachas.
- __Friend points__: currency obtained by doing multiplayer or co-op tasks, encouraging multiplayer play. Always good for a gacha game to encourage multiplayer play as it reinforces the social interaction aspect and can bring in new players.
- __Stages/levels__: a style of progression in which players complete levels with the goal of "3-starring" them for rewards. Since 3-starring may require a high degree of luck, it gets players to replay the same content over and over, making stamina limits very apparent. I don't think this is at all a gacha-specific mechanic, more like a mobile game mechanic.
- __[Kompu gacha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gacha_game#Complete_gacha)__: a style of gacha where you need to obtain all units A,B,C,D,E,F to get the special edition unit G. This monetization system is known to be so predatory/susceptible to RMT that it is illegal in Japan. Mechanics that approach kompu gacha are eyed with greater scrutiny. AKA "complete gacha".

Gacha player behaviors.

- __Gacha player lifecycle__
+ __Honeymoon phase__: the phase in a gacha player's lifecycle where the player is still learning about the game mechanics. Rewards are plenty during this introductory period to keep the player learning and playing. This ends as soon as the player's motivation for playing becomes "for dailies".
+ __Grinding phase__: the phase in a gacha player's lifecycle where new content comes slowly due to hitting e.g. level restrictions (the "roadblock/wall/story lock"). Progression is slow and capped ("gated") by dailies. This tends to pressure paying players towards paying to progress faster, and encourages F2P players to log in and grind daily to hit their progression limit.
+ __Coasting phase__: the phase in a gacha player's lifecycle where they have an abundance of level-up materials (e.g. due to having run out of units to level up). They only need to roll for units they don't have, and upon doing so, they can level it up to max immediately. Often, coasting is the subconsious goal or win condition of gacha players.
- __Grinding/Farming__: when players spend a chunk of time playing to obtain rewards, like common or premium currency or mats. Tends do include doing all dailies and spending all stamina, among other things. [Example video of grinding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOeY8VteWcU).
- __Hoarding__: when a player withholds from using their premium currency for purchases, ex. "I'm hoarding my gems until the new banner is live"
- __Rerolling__: most gachas give you free pulls at the beginning of the game, often with boosted rates, to get new players hooked on the dopamine high of rare pulls. Rerolling is the F2P practice of repeatedly restarting the game to get a good pull from that free boosted initial roll. (Some games even implement "infinite reroll" banners to streamline this process.) This is common during event banners, when a F2P player really wants the featured unit. AKA [「リセマラ」 (risemara, short for "reset marathon")](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%83%AA%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%9E%E3%83%A9%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3#Japanese)
- __Solo yolo/Yolo rolling__: spending all your accumulated currency pulling from a single gacha, in hopes of getting a unit you want.
- __Salt__: not specific to gacha games, but in gacha games, it generally refers to anger or despair over not getting a desired unit from the gacha.
- __[Spooks](https://old.reddit.com/r/grandorder/comments/afstyr/spook/)__: players may personally call their worthless rare pulls "spooks" (also: "getting spooked") if they were hoping for another rare unit, like the unit featured in a rate-up banner.
- __[Lucksack](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Lucksack)__: in gacha games, a derogative way to refer to a player who gets lucky pulls. Also: lucksacking.
- __F2P players__: free-to-play players, who never spend a cent on the game. Often monetized via ad viewing or referral rewards. AKA "casuals"
+ __F2P virginity__: you lose it once you spend a cent on any gacha game.
- __P2W players__: players who are doing better because they have opened their wallet. I see it as a neutral term. Not a strictly gacha thing, they exist in any game that has both competition and purchasable items that influence the game. Note that gamers in Asia are culturally much less sensitive about P2W than Western gamers, to the point that P2W players are more respected/seen as more successful than non-P2W players.
- __Fish terms for players__
+ __Minnow__: players who spend a bit of real money on the game. Often these are players who only buy the high value bundles, like the monthly pass or battle pass.
+ __Dolphin__: players who spend lots of real money on the game, allocated exclusively to optimize value or power. They buy all the value packs and limited discounts in the shop to optimize their purchases. By obtaining the best upgrades, they help define the meta.
+ __Whale__: players who spend lots of real money on the game (like, \$1000s), trying to max everything that can possibly be maxed via Overwhelming Financial Power. They want to be \#1. Whales sustain gacha games.
+ There's more fish terms beyond this for particularly big spenders ("kraken", "leviathan", "poseidon", and many more) but no one's gonna be mad if you just call them whales, as that's the common term. For example, one way krakens etc. are distinguished from whales is that krakens max everything to 5* while whales leave some at 4*, but this definition isn't set in stone.

Describing gacha games or the industry.

- __P2W__: pay-to-win content, usually referring to what players believe to be overpowered units that can be obtained via wallet. It can also refer to systems in which wallet progression is so much quicker than F2P progression that F2P players feel cheated. Can also be used to refer to players who are paying to win ("P2W players"). Again, not a strictly gacha thing, it exists in any game that has both competition and purchasable items that influence the game. However, note that gamers in Asia are culturally much less sensitive about P2W than Western gamers, to the point that P2W players are more respected/seen as more successful than non-P2W players.
- __PvE vs PvP vs GvG__: not a gacha specific thing, but refers to who you're fighting against for much of the game (through combat, quests, etc). In PvE (player vs environment) you're fighting game mechanics like NPCs. In PvP you fight other players. In GvG (guild vs guild) you fight as a player group against player groups. A game can have PvE content as well as PvP/GvG content, though when a game is called PvP for example, it means the focus of the game is on PvP. This is relevant to gacha game design -- PvP-focused games really need to ensure balanced units, otherwise the existence of powerful 5* units can make the game unattractive to new players.
- __[Game balance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_balance)__: not a strictly gacha thing, refers to the aspect of game design of adjusting game mechanics towards some intended experience. You might hear a game is "unbalanced" meaning the experience is ruined by some mechanic, such the existence of an overpowered unit.
+ __Buffs/nerfs__: not a strictly gacha thing, but in gacha games, this refers to updates to units that make them stronger ("buffs") or weaker ("nerfs") in an attempt to correct game balance.
+ __Power creep__: again not a strictly gacha thing, but all gacha games have some level of power creep (increased average power of newly-introduced units) to satisfy older players' hedonic treadmill with ever-stronger units. Too little and older players may stop playing from lack of progression, too much and older players may quit in disgust as their previous grinding work becomes seen as undervalued. Power creep also manifests as ever-greater event rewards, making it easier for new players to catch up.
- __Content updates__: gacha games regularly ship content updates to keep the game alive with new content. You might say that a game can die from lack of regular content updates.
- __Gameplay loop__: a term used for any game, not just gacha games. For gacha games, this refers usually to the grinding phase. Ex. a gacha game with a bad gameplay loop means you won't get a lot of enjoyment from grinding that game. Of course, this is a subjective assessment, people still play Genshin.
+ __Idle time__: refers time spent waiting for offline progression. For idle gacha games (or "AFK gachas"), idle time is central to gameplay. A discussion of how idle games capture player attention merits a whole other glossary, it's not specific to gachas.
- __Main game/Side game__: players of multiple gacha games distinguish games where grinding requires heavy time and brain investment ("main games") and games where grinding is more "tap button to increase number" ("side games"). Whether a game is main/side depends completely on the player's perception -- in fact, a game could be a main game during event seasons and a side game otherwise. Or a player can choose to play a game "as a main game" or "as a side game".
- __[Red dot simulator](https://old.reddit.com/r/iosgaming/comments/l4uz2u/bless_mobile_out_now/gkssnun/)__: games that emphasize collecting rewards from menu buttons marked with a red dot. When a game is called a red dot simulator, it means the post-honeymoon game experience is opening the app, collecting rewards from red dots, and closing the app.
- __Clones/Reskins__: when a game is so similar to a more-original game, mechanics-wise, that the new game is said to be a "reskin" of the prior game. Signifies low effort (or poor research) on the part of the game studio.
- __Korean vs Japanese gacha games__: Korean gacha games heavily emphasize PVP while Japanese gacha games emphasize power creep and singleplayer (PVE) storytelling. Japanese gacha games are required by law to provide gacha drop tables with rates, while Korean gacha games safeguard these rates as trade secrets. (Korean rate disclosure seems to be an ongoing legal battle as of Feb 2021.)
- __Global releases__: in the gacha game publishing cycle, gacha games are initially only released in Japan (or wherever the publishers are) before releasing globally, which doesn't always mean every country. To play before a global release, international players often VPN or sign up with a foreign email.
- __Game shutdowns__: if you're newly into gacha games you should know that gacha games are not forever, and game shutdowns happen every month. Every gacha game has a no-refund clause in their ToS so you're pretty hosed if it happens. Some games have a sendoff event, some don't. Publishers shut down a game when it isn't generating enough revenue, or if the license to the game's IP expires, or if they just feel like making a new game.
- __Censorship__: not just a gacha game thing. To comply with PRC regulations, games are legally forced to liberally censor certain words in chat and anything close to nudity.
- __RMT__: Real-money trading, the sale of units or currencies for real money, often on 3rd party RMT sites. When folks message you in-game about cheap rares at some URL, this is what they're advertising.
- __Botting/Macroing__: using 3rd party programs to play the game, warrants a ban in every gacha game ever
- __Modding__: swapping or editing game files to change the game, warrants a ban in some gacha games
- __Leaking/Datamining__: sometimes the data for game features (like new character sprites) ship in game patches before they are officially released for players. This makes it popular for some players to datamine those patches for new content in order to leak upcoming content. Obviously this is not just a gacha game thing, but gacha game companies might ask you to stop before immediately pursuing legal copyright action. [Really cool analysis here](https://old.reddit.com/r/Granblue_en/comments/aqudak/kmr_doesnt_appreciate_datamining/egj17q2/)

Other notes. May move up or delete later idk.

- ~~__Emeralds__: the Superstar family of kpop gacha rhythm games feature "emeralds", which is a F2P-oriented premium currency only obtainable by playing the game. This currency is distinguished from common currency and premium currency, as it is completely unobtainable via wallet, and is able to buy things premium currency can't. I haven't seen an equivalent in other gacha games (let me know if there is one!), but I'd imagine it satisfies nonpaying players, by offering a F2P premium-like currency they can use to level the field with paying players.~~ not a thing in modern gachas, which makes sense, it doesn't rly make money
- thinking of adding ToS clauses common across gacha games, but i am not a legal expert lol

## scope

TODO need to distinguish gacha mechanics from just mobile game mechanics

Ex. things that do not make a game a gacha game: interstitial ads, quest packs, building acceleration, arenas, RPG mechanics

(gachas may have them, but these are found in many mobile games' marketing strategy)

## disclaimer

I (/u/kalanchloe) have only ever played like five games with gacha mechanics, so input is appreciated, especially if anything here is straight-up wrong.

Thanks to /u/DeadToy, /u/dxdydzd1, /u/jtan1993, /u/onymony, /u/LarousseBR, /u/kristinealyce for contributions in the [comments](https://old.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/comments/lq2jib/)!