A chance at an overpowred character in the game. But just a chance.

Not all of them are for waifu reasons, the game I played was Summoner's War that was PvP oriented but it's all pay2win so there's no point.

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/asia/news/68945/summoners-war-dr...

I played for over a year, the money part wasn't the worst -- the actual time commitment to some of these games is insane.

Even if they have autoplay function, they are psychological attention traps.

Entertainment. No more, no less. You'd be surprised by how many of the asian F2P games are completely playable without spending a dime- yet people do anyway.

So I have moved on to another game that is less money intensive and less time-intensive (can be seen as a good or a bad thing).

What strikes me most is how compelling this material is to command my attention. It's like being under a spell.

They are great at taking money, but even for f2p they are just psychologically optimized to command our attention (which is a bigger concern in depth and breadth of impact).

Can't wait for the future strategies of addiction we can see in the next gen games :D

> It's like being under a spell.

I’ve played two gatcha games in succession and this describes the thing very well. I wasn’t missing a single of play, spend a little money on them, read news and game info everyday. I’m glad I stopped. Some PC games can attract my attention for hours or days on, but they are not a daily burden, and also more satisfying to play.

> "A few hundred dollars? What does that buy you?"

Let's just say that the majority of characters in Fate/Grand Order and other Asian gacha games that one can roll for are young and female for a reason...

You know, famous historical young female characters like Oda Nobunga or Leonardo da Vinci.

Yep, or Sir Francis Drake, Nero Claudius, Jack the Ripper, Mordred, etc. (For people who have never seen the game, the parent poster isn't joking.)

At least they aren't firearms or WW2 warships. -shrug-