As roguelites become a mainstream genre, are their currencies and reward cycles crossing the line? Taking “Enter the Gungeon/Enter the Gungeon”, “Balatro (Exploding Magic Rock Blocks/Exploding Magic Rock Blocks)” and “Vampire Survivors” as examples, we analyze the similarities between their gashapon or gashapon mechanisms and traditional games, and raise a core question: When will this mixed design of random rewards and consumption decisions cross the line between game mechanics and disguised gambling?
Players spend tokens on a “visible but not guaranteed” reward pool
The Key and Relic system of “Enter the Gungeon”, the Joker Card gacha of “Explode the Magic Block” and the upgrade options of “Vampire Survivor” all involve using in-game currency in exchange for “random quality” rewards. Although they are not purchased with real money, the underlying design of these systems is highly consistent with the gaming psychology of “luck-driven consumption”.
In-game currency not equal to real money?
Some players in the comment area also pointed out that if the currency comes purely from the game process and cannot be obtained after lessons, then the design is essentially different from a real money lottery. The boundary lies in whether there is direct or indirect financial investment. If the wallet and game progress are two independent systems, then it does not constitute gambling.
The mechanism itself will train you to become addicted to “random feedback”!
From the perspective of psychology and addiction research, the design goal of these systems is to use a “disguised reward” mechanism to make players repeat the game, even if the experience is no longer fun. This is no different from the underlying logic of traditional casino design. The difference lies only in “whether there is currency exchange” rather than “whether the system itself creates dependencies.”