In Genshin Impact, there is a debate about whether YouTubers and streamers should spend a lot of money on the game or not. While one YouTuber is ashamed of having invested so much money, another is proud of it. The YouTuber Tectone says: He does it for the players. They shouldn’t end up like he once did: addicted to Gacha games, broke and homeless.
This is the situation:
- Genshin Impact is free to play. However, those who spend money have a chance to obtain special characters and enhance them. This happens through a “gacha system”, which is highly random and essentially a form of gambling with a high risk of addiction, where one can sink too much money.
- Even characters guaranteed in banners can cost up to 460 euros.
- YouTubers who spend a lot of money can create attractive videos in which they play particularly expensive and rare characters: These videos reach many viewers.
- A YouTuber, Mtashed, spent a lot of money to create such videos. However, he regretted it, as he is encouraging viewers to gamble with his videos, which he can no longer bear.
Broke and homeless due to addiction to gacha games
Another “whale” says: The YouTuber Tectone says:
He was once completely addicted to the game “Summoner’s War”. He was addicted to the game and spent all his money and even more on it. He became homeless due to his addiction.
Once he got back on his feet, he discovered YouTubers who spent a lot of money on Summoner’s War: That cured him of his addiction. Because now his curiosity was satisfied about what the game was like when you pumped tens of thousands of dollars into it. He could also observe the addictive behavior and how poorly those whales were doing.
His account in Genshin Impact is now dedicated to liberating others from their curiosity. It’s basically like communism; it’s not “his account”; it’s the account of everyone. Because he now shows others how little it brings to spend money in Genshin Impact.
Why does this idiot spend so much money on an anime girl?
Tectone says at one point:
“I think it’s easier for people to resist the urge to spend money when they see how useless and painful it is. When other people see that I spend $600 or $700 to get Klee, they won’t be thinking: Hey, just $600 – I’ll do that too!
They will be thinking: Why does this idiot spend so much money on an anime girl?”
The videos, as he summons, are 95% depression and 5% dopamine. The joy does not come from getting the character but from being happy about not having to spend money anymore.
The YouTuber says: He is into gacha games and has already spent thousands of dollars on various games, but he is not addicted: He has dropped all those games like a stone. His channel is meant to satisfy the viewers’ curiosity about what it looks like when you blow a lot of money on a gacha game, so they don’t have to.
“It’s about taking the curiosity out. I make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did because I am further along than you and can show what is bad.”
This is what it’s about: What you need to realize:
- Regular players who spend money in Genshin Impact waste their money.
- A YouTuber or Twitch streamer who spends a lot of money invests it and gets content from it that they can monetize in some way.
Therefore, it’s always difficult to take YouTubers as role models in any form, because while they may be likable and seek closeness to the players, they are in a completely different situation.
Long-time gacha players have developed a strange behavior regarding “spending money” in the games that appears odd to outsiders, sounding like self-justification and pseudo-logic.
One can only warn every player: If you decide to invest money in a gacha game, you should set a limit on how much you want to spend per month, realize if you really want to do that and then stick strictly to this limit.
Anyone who knows they have problems handling money and are susceptible to such mechanics should steer clear of gacha games. The story that Tectone tells about being homeless and broke is a real danger posed by gambling addiction.
In a very weak release phase before the arrival of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, Genshin Impact hit hard in the West and confronts RPG players with many mechanics from mobile games that they are not familiar with.
Genshin Impact is also successful because it leans heavily on well-known narrative patterns from anime:
