Thinking Outside the Lootbox : Balancing on the Scale of Gacha

Sammanfattning: Lootboxes currently cause a frequent debate in the games industry where the discussion is often focused on the connection to gambling. In this thesis an addition to this debate is made by taking a closer look at Gacha design – a way to design games around monetization – through theory and player opinions. Conclusions point to that if Gacha is viewed as a spectrum of strength the discussion can benefit from an increased understanding of all monetization systems within games regardless of their abstract definitions. The data was collected through focus groups and analyzed based on current research of the common topics that surfaced during the focus group discussions. The thesis found that overall knowledge surrounding Gacha was lacking and by looking at Gacha as a design method opened up for a broader discussion with connections to Lootboxes.