After posting about my Kingsburg poker chip Soldier Tokens and my poker chip tokens for Jaipur, there’s a lot of interest in how to make these chips. The process is actually pretty easy, so I spent this morning tossing together a short tutorial. Here’s the materials you’ll need:
Blank Poker Chips (Links below)
Color Photo Printer (or any color printer, depending on quality)
First, you’ll need to acquire some blank poker chips. When I first started this project, I was actually searching for the same chips used in Splendor, but it turns out they’re rather hard to get and kind of expensive, at least for the average consumer. So, the two chips I recommend using are either these 5 Spot blank chips (which I used for Kingsburg) or these 8 Stripe blank chips (which I used for Jaipur). Both types of chips have a 1.25” sticker well, so whichever one you choose is just an aesthetic choice. The links above are for Discount Casino Gear, but you can also get the chips on Amazon. The caveat being that you have to order them in much larger quantities on Amazon – 25-50 chips per color – which is way more than you’ll need.
Printing
For my money, the best looking chips are printed on a photo printer that can print at very high resolution. You can print these stickers on nearly any color inkjet or laser printer, though, so feel free to do whatever is most convenient for you. This demonstration will be using photo paper. You can also buy round labels specifically designed for poker chips, like these. I tend not to use labels like these because I can’t print on them at high enough resolution to make them look good. Plus, designing the actual print file to line up with the stickers is kind of a bitch, so I just use photo paper and spray adhesive. I will eventually upload image files for the Jaipur scoring tokens to BGG, but right now when I try the uploader crashes, so I’m unable to. I’ll update here if that changes.
Cutting
Alright. Once you’ve acquired your chips and printed your stickers, you’ll need to punch them out. This is where the circle punch comes in. The first step is to cut up the printed sticker sheet. The punch won’t be able to reach the stickers in the center of the sheet, so you’ll need to cut it into two-sticker wide strips. You could also do one-sticker-wide strips, but I think two give you a little more paper to grip while you’re punching them out. This is what my circle punch looks like. EK Tools circle punches are designed for use with craft paper for scrapbooking. Usually, you’ll set them flat on a desk, insert paper, and punch blindly to make colored circles. That’s not what we’re going to do here. Flip the circle punch over so you can see the opening on the bottom. This will allow you to line up your stickers with the hole on the bottom to ensure you’re punching them out properly. There’s also a secondary benefit: Because of the shape of their “blade”, most circle punches tend to leave marks on the front side of the paper they punch. Flipping the punch over ensures those marks are on the back of the stickers, and not visible on the final chips. Simply insert the sticker sheet and line up your sticker… …then squeeze to punch it out.
Applying Spray Adhesive
Once all your stickers are punched out, you’re going to apply spray adhesive to the backs. This is as simple as laying out the stickers face down and spraying them with adhesive, but I have three specific bits of advice: First, add a slight bend to each of your stickers before putting them down, like this. The reason for this bend is to make the stickers easier to pick up off the paper where you sprayed them. If they’re lying perfectly flat, they’re almost impossible to pick up once sprayed… …and you’ll end up pushing them around in the adhesive and making a big mess. The bend allows you to pick them up by their edge without having to touch any of the actual adhesive. Second, use tweezers to manipulate them, like this. Using your fingers will be clunky and unwieldy, and you’ll eventually end up with adhesive all over your fingers. Which is generally bad, because you need to press the stickers into the chips, and you’ll just smear glue all over the face of the chips when you’re doing it. Lastly, don’t spray more than about ten chips worth of stickers (twenty stickers) at once. If you do more than that, in the time it takes you to sticker a bunch of chips, the adhesive on the backs of the remaining stickers will dry out and become useless.
Applying the Stickers
Once you’ve grabbed the sticker with tweezers, it’s as simple as lining up the sticker on the face of the chip and laying it down. I tend to use the spots/stripes on the edge of the chip as a guide for placing the stickers. Once the sticker is laid down, just give it a quick press with your thumbs to set it. Then, flip the chip over and apply the back. Just be sure to orient the chip correctly so the back and front match up. With Jaipur, specifically, be sure to pay close attention to the values of the back you’re applying, so they properly match up. And that’s it! It really is a pretty straightforward process. Actually, the most time-intensive part of the process is just creating the images for the stickers, which – at least for Jaipur and Kingsburg - I’ve already done for you (I'll get them posted to BGG as soon as I can.) Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to see the results of your chips, if you decide to make some. Happy gaming!
TL;DR I created a laundry list of high-level tenets that drive the game design of specific genre I coined the World game based on Brad's famous quote. These aim to be applicable to any game that would scratch my old school MMO itch. What tenets would you choose? Preamble The MMO community is, to some degree, divided by the different expectations and desires of its player base. Even an MMORPG can mean so many things to so many different people. I wanted to get to the root of what a good MMO is to me, and in the process, I found that the ambiguous label of MMO is likely getting in the way. Passionate players across the board seem to complain about the same issues. Ease of difficulty. Cash shops. Single-player focus. Theme park design. Players of these games either leave the genre, ultimately disenchanted with the thin veil over Skinner box design, or they continue to search for something better, because they know it is possible. Maybe this is intentional. Developers piggy back on the MMO genre to hook the player-base before extracting as much as they can from the whales in their glorified casino. So, here, I present the tenets of a specific game genre: the World genre. The focus on world over game is not a new idea. Brad McQuad famously said, “I want to make worlds, not games.” That focus can be seen right there in the name of Visionary Realms. And without the right language to describe what we are after, the community is continually bit by games that fit the abstract label but disappoint in the details. The goal with these tenets isn’t to create a template so much as it is to create rough guidelines. In fact, these guidelines probably wouldn’t do a game designer much good in creating a solid design. But they should help in evaluating different options and validating an existing design. Certainly, none of the tenets get as specific as the theme or even the existence of combat. They should apply equally well to a game set in feudal Japan, The Sims Online, or the next zombie apocalypse. Some tenets are broad, while others more specific. Some tenets are rigid, others more malleable. Some tenets are critical pillars of the genre, while others are less important. Tenets frequently conflict, creating tension. A note on intuition The tenets below are driven by the principle that they should be intuitive. The World genre is trying to capture something deeply human, buried in our brains because of the way we have interacted with ourselves, each other, society, and our planet over millennia of evolution. There is no right or wrong answer. When in doubt, we err on the side of realism. A note on ownership Establishing reasonably prescriptive tenets on the World and gameplay highlights the necessity of strong ownership and vision for this style of game. This is particularly true given that many of these tenets go explicitly against what makes a great game in general. For example, how many games would actually benefit from less player matchmaking? This also does not lend itself well to player-generated content, where those tenets can be easily violated. The tenets of immersion TENET 1 The player should be directly represented in the World The World genre requires the player to form a direct relationship with the World, not with the character. This is a key difference between Eastern of Western RPGs (both of which I love) and so this may be controversial. The player should be able to insert themselves into their avatar. On the flip-side, it precludes certain mechanics, such as squad-based designs. TENET 2 The World should be realistic in both form and function That is, the World should minimize the need for suspension of disbelief. It should pull the player in naturally. I have always felt conflicted by WoW’s appearance. I absolutely loved the cell-shaded look of Wind Waker, but instinctually disliked the cartoon-like nature of WoW. This goes back to immersion. That doesn't mean the visuals have to be photorealistic. They just have to pull you in. It may be possible to get around this through the setting. For example, if the setting is a digital afterlife, you may be able to get away with a more abstract appearance. TENET 3 The player and World should interface only through the player character The player should only be able to influence the World through their character. And the World should only be able to influence the player through the character. This means, respectively, no cash shops and a first-person camera. It also means no GPS — unless, of course, the setting supports it. Taken to an extreme, this precludes voice chat, at least without something like racial voice filters. TENET 4 The player should directly engage with the World around them The key here is “direct”. No minimaps, no waypoints, no fast travel. Of course, these are not absolute deal-breakers. The key is that the player is able to establish a connection with the World around them. The player should, over the course of the game, develop a strong mental model of the World and its relation to their character. The tenets of freedom TENET 5 The player should not be assigned a story The World itself can (and should!) have a story to tell. But the player character’s story should be their own. The player must have the freedom to make their own place within the World, eschewing the rails that a story provides. Side quests are lesser evils, but still evils. The more choice the better. TENET 6 The player should be able to pursue multiple forms of progression The choice should not just be in how to progress. It should be in which ways to progress. The most obvious example is crafting, but this can also include loot, skills, the economy, faction, or even — maybe most importantly — growing in strategy and skill. TENET 7 The World should be demanding, but not prescriptive This is an extension of the idea of a lack of story. If the game is too prescriptive, it becomes a job. A chore. To combat this phenomenon, the player needs significant choice at all times. This may, in fact, be the primary draw of the World genre: to provide an environment where players are purely driven by their own will. It is equally important to avoid visibly and overtly influencing the player’s decisions. The player’s incentives and motivating factors should be an organic part of the World. No daily XP boosts, for example. Alternate forms of progression can help here, because even once a player is motivated to progress, they have the choice of which dimension of progress to pursue. TENET 8 The World should encourage downtime The player should not feel compelled to move forward at all times. There should be joy simply in existing in the World, experience it moment to moment. Even better, progression itself can require downtime; this is related to the notion that players should be encouraged to play any game in the most fun way possible. This can be accomplished with world design, such as guard-protected cities or social taverns, or mechanics, such as fishing, firework shows, and waiting in queue for a boat. This is effectively the white space of gameplay. And it is all but lost in modern MMOs. TENET 9 The World should be dangerous Choice is meaningless without consequence. With real, negative consequence, comes danger. This not only gives weight to the player’s decisions, but also helps to establish the intricate give-and-take relationship between the World and the player. Looking at you, death penalty. If a World game is about finding your place within that world, then danger and risk makes this a meaningful pursuit. If that tension between risk and reward does not exist, even at the start of the journey, it undermines those goals. Note that this is different than challenge — and challenge itself is not enough. TENET 10 Players should be encouraged to explore the World This doesn't mean that players are constantly seeking some never-before-seen point of interest, but it does mean that players get out and move. In other words, the world provides resources across its footprint, and you must seek those out. Most forms of progression should require you to get out and explore. This also does not necessitate baubles scattered around the landscape to find. The tenets of impact TENET 11 The player’s actions should be worn like a badge You should be a product of your choices. Your reputation, gear, and skills should tell a story about where you have been and what you have accomplished. Your spoken languages can tell a story of what cities you have spent the most time in. As you spend time in different climates, you may develop a natural acclimation to those environments. Imagine you walk into town and one of the NPC gnomes recognizes the scent of the nearby crystal caverns you have been exploring. This is interesting because it relates to life; the player’s accomplishments should come with artifacts. This also means that auction houses should be limited, as they create an artificial divide between adventure and outcome. TENET 12 Players should have something unique to offer The ways that a player can help others in their progression should be relatively unique to that player. As much as possible, they should tell a story about adventures undertaken; e.g., a proc from an item dropped by a famous mob. Of course, classes and class-specific skills are one way to accomplish this, but the more ways the better. For example, if one form of progression is fishing, then fish should be useful to others in many ways. A cooking skill is obvious. More creatively, certain kinds of fish could be used as powerful but low-level weapons. A butcher could extract gills or eyes to, in turn, be used as reagents for spells. TENET 13 There should be no end game Even the name “end game” is problematic for several reasons. It suggests a hard limit to progression. It suggests a hard divide in the way the World is experienced once the player reaches this limit. It also suggests that the focus is no longer on the World, but on the game — which is to say, the core promise of the genre is lost. This doesn’t mean to eliminate raids or AA points. It just means that those things should be included in the game proper. This tenet also implies that progression should be relatively limitless. Skyrim is an interesting example of this. One way to accomplish this is to create exponential progress; for example, having each level take 10% more experience than the last. Granted, this is a much harder problem than the simple discussion here suggests. TENET 14 The player should leave a mark on the World itself Can a World be meaningful if there is no way to make an impact on it? Of course, their character is one such mark. It is easy to imagine statues erected in town, or NPCs chatting about the first character to hit max level. But there should be a means for all characters to leave some lasting impact. Given that players can already say whatever they want in chat, breaking immersion, a simple example is the ability to leave a journal. These could even be curated. Other possibilities include geocaching, naming items, plaques that can be erected in various places throughout the world. Player-owned housing is perhaps the most obvious. TENET 15 Power, fame, and fortune must be possible A world game should be able to provide all three of these drivers. As with reality, these should not be the only reason to play. Fame is largely supported by communication; fortune by economy and loot. Power can be found even outside the game, in the player’s mind, as they grow in skill and strategy. TENET 16 The player should have a home Can you have a world without a home? Some place in the world should feel like your own. Where even the NPCs tend to be supportive of you: merchants give discounts and trainers more assistance. This could simply be your birthplace, your hometown. The tenets of socialization TENET 17 There must be no explicit matchmaking Players must find each other. In fact, a World game should ideally employ the opposite of matchmaking: some players should have barriers preventing that connection. This makes it all the more meaningful when these seemingly unlikely relationships form. There are many ways to accomplish this, including separating players by distance or climate or language. Allowing certain players to engage in PvP is another. TENET 18 There should be risk in trusting others Trust can only exist when that trust can be violated. Otherwise there is no trust — just a cold, lack of consequence. By allowing negative consequences through socialization, we enable trust, and so enable more meaningful relationships. For example, a player might grief the group, log out at the wrong time, or simply lack the skill to effectively play their character. They might steal your loot. TENET 19 Players must be able to communicate with language The purpose of having a World is to allow the player to tell their own story within it. And what story is worth telling that doesn’t involve real connection with others? Connection with others requires communication. And not just any form of communication, but with language. This communication should extend throughout the game, as much as possible. That is, it should be limited to the tavern, but should naturally extend out to the dungeon as well. TENET 20 Players should be able to help each other organically Those that have the means to help should find themselves naturally in proximity to those that might need it. For example, have high-level dungeon entrances in low-level areas. Have new characters start out near big cities. TENET 21 Cooperation should generally benefit progression For example, a blacksmith could gather all of her own materials or rely on other players. In some cases, a blacksmith might actually require an enchanter to lend a hand in creating the best equipment. This is not a difficult tenet to design towards; it is more a warning against designing forms of progression that specifically do not lend themselves to cooperation. In many MMOs, solo combat is so fast-paced and rewarding that there is little incentive to try to find a group. The tenets of the World itself TENET 22 The World should be persistent Things can change, but not so frequently that it harms the connection the player has with the World. This is one reason why Minecraft may not work as a World game, and perhaps one reason why the focus on player-generated content in EverQuest Next did not lend itself well to a fun experience. TENET 23 The World should be shared There should be no instancing. If you need to come up with elaborate lore and mechanics to facilitate this, then so be it. For example, say all of the top tier raid bosses are spirits that can only be summoned by rare relics. And the spirits can only be hurt by those that share a clan sash with the one who summoned them. Obviously this is terribly contrived. But it demonstrates that it is possible to work backwards from the need of a shared world. TENET 24 The World should be big You should move slowly compared to the size of the world. It should always feel as though there is somewhere new to explore. TENET 25 The World should be open Big by itself is not enough. Theoretically, you could create a massive, linear world — imagine Ant Hill: The MMO. But that is not sufficient for a World game. Exploration is critical, and so the specific layout of the space is important. For another example, imagine Destiny but with hundreds of expansions. The game would be large by any standard, but it would not be a World. TENET 26 The World should be alive To some degree, the World should be the main character. Day and night cycles are a simple start. Other possibilities include transient events or even changes to the landscape over time. The World should be full of surprises, unpredictable. You should come across enemies not normally found in the local climate. You should discover loot normally reserved for much tougher mobs. Emergent gameplay can help here as well. The more mechanics and attributes that can be projected naturally to some underlying physics, the greater the chance for interesting and unique interactions. In the same breath, the World should have history. The best example of this is Hollow Knight, a game that tells the history of the World through visual storytelling, environments, enemy design, dialog, secrets, and journals. TENET 27 The World should be consistent The World should carry an underlying consistency through it. The World should feel congruent. Variety, also important, must be tempered. TENET 28 The World should be varied Different places within the World should have an identity of their own, through climate or culture or environment. Different environments should encourage different play styles and behavior, even downtime. TENET 29 The World should have landmarks The World should be defined by the interesting places within it. More than that, the World should have locations that pull players together. Breath of the Wild does an amazing job with this, whereas it is one of the weaknesses of The Witcher III. In EverQuest, the camps themselves often serve this role — think Treants — showing how landmarks can emerge from gameplay rather than, say, visual interest.
[NEWBIE] Learn from My Experience. Try Your 1st Guitar in Person Before You Buy Online
TLDR at Bottom Background: Longtime reader, first time poster. I am a 40 something that failed learning guitar from a cheap Strat copy when young. Decided to take guitar up agin late spring 2020 during Covid lockdown. I was limited to places I could order from (open). So, I could not tryout guitars in person. Left with just going off reviews of gear or from what artists I listen to play. I decided to concentrate on places close to me in case there were problems with the guitar. Also, went with a place that said they did a full setup before sale, which was important to me from my research. The place I settled on was 45 minutes away. The Gear: The first guitar I went with was a Squire Classic Vibe 70’s Custom telecaster. This was a demo model sold at a discount. It arrived with fret buzz on the low E and it appeared the brass saddles were out of whack with the whole bridge rattling. I contacted the guitar shop and sent them videos. They tried have me do adjustments over the phone. No luck in improving. The suggested sending the guitar back. I didn’t want to wait 7-10 days to receive it back. I felt like I was losing time (The irony once you read the rest of the story). They offered to return and exchange for another guitar if I brought it in person. Doing the exchange outside. I jumped on it. As I didn’t want to wait and the telecaster didn’t feel comfortable to hold or play. The guitar I exchanged it with what was available was an Epiphone Les Paul Muse. This again was a demonstration unit. I drove did the exchange. I got it home and to my disappointment there was fret buzz on Low E, A and D strings. Also, this guitar even felt more uncomfortable to play. I kept feeling like I was slouching down around the guitar to play, I’m 6’ 3”. I contacted the guitar shop again and they offered to fix or exchange. I took the exchange option again to save time and it was uncomfortable. With stock they had I settled on a Gretsch 5222. Drove and did the exchange again. This was a demonstration unit as well. This guitar was definitely the best out if the 3 comfortability wise. Sound, Fit and finish was the best too. One thing I struggled with was the thin-u neck. I found that doing chords I could never get my thumb comfortable as it was so thin by the headstock. Later, learning songs I found the bridge rattling when I did power chords and such 10 fret or higher. Sounded terrible. Turned up my amp high to try to cover the noise. I decided to change the strings (wanted to try to go down to 9’s to see if it would make easier to play) and do a beginner setup to see that would help with the help of the internets. No improvement. There are few videos and many forum posts about Gretsch bridges rattling. That is what I would hear. So, I decided to try to get this fixed under warranty going through and approved Gretsch dealer right near my house. I took the Gretsch 5222 do the guitar shop in the dealer network. The person I checked the guitar in with said he felt it was just fret buzz ant the guitar would just need a setup. At this point I’m so frustrated with the sound of the guitar I left it for the full setup for $50. The guitar was finished a week later. I arrived to pick it up and I kid you not, there was still rattle or fret buzz according to them. Although, it was slightly better. They suggested to take it home and try it out through my own amp. If there were still issues bring it back. Well, got it home and I could hear the sounds coming through the amp with headphones even. I brought it back. They worked on the guitar for an hour while I there. They couldn’t get it to stop. They did the old “That is the way it is”, “This is Gretsch’s low line”. The last ditch effort was to move back to a set of factory 10’s. This cleared rattle/buzzing on the E. I still felt like I could hear the A and D string. It was loud in there, hard to tell. I got it home. Through the 2-week holiday stretch and was disappointed that the unwanted sound was still there. I made the decision to investigate if I could trade it in. I didn’t want to be without a guitar for a week or more. Plus, I never felt good with the 5222. Still felt I was slouching over to play sometimes and the neck being so slim up top. I decided to mostly target larger semi-hallow and hollow guitars. Thought they would be better for me being taller. Researched as much as I could and targeted the usual value picks of Epiphone (335, Coupe, Sherition, 339, Casino, Rivera), Ibenez 73, D’ Angelico DC, etc. I thought the Casino was going to be my favorite. Went to Guitar Center first. Had a good selection to look at. Setups were all terrible. One was the worst I ever seen; the frets were like knives. Nothing spoke to me. A D’ Angelico DC was probably the best built there. Still felt small, but better than my 5222. It was hard to flag someone to even get a ladder for me. Couldn’t find anyone to estimate my trade. Decided to bail. There was the original well-known guitar shop I would have gone to way back at the beginning of my Journey if lock down did not happen. I got there and the staff was super helpful and knowledgeable. Totally listened to my situation. They assessed my 5222 and gave me space to look, like I should have done at the beginning. I just went around looked and held all the models. I held Semi-hallows, offsets, telecasters. Didn’t plug them in. Just felt them in my lap and hands. Played difficult chords. Listed to them resonate. It came down to 2 guitars. An Epiphone 335 Figured Blueberry figured and an Ibanez AS73FM Green Valley Gradiation. There was a clear winner side by side by holding them and plugged in. The Ibenez 73 Flamed Maple Green Valley Gradiation was the guitar for me. The shop offered me $120 less than I paid for my 5222 and I took it without thinking twice. My fingers just fit the Ibanez. The thicker neck feels great. It doesn’t make chords harder for me, it makes it easier. The guitar felt like it fit me. The sustain is fantastic, I can play unplugged. The fit and finish was good. Flamed top looks really cool and I never would have pictured me with a guitar like this. Is the tone the best in the world? No. But, I think they are averagely versatile from what I read, heard and seen. I honestly have to let the tone go. I’m such a beginner I don’t know what good tone is yet. I’m just looking for something I want to pickup all the time, makes it easier for to play and therefore learn. I will upgrade later or may be never. I may always love it. TL/DR To beginners similar myself. Don’t just go off reviews/videos and order online. Try out guitars in person first. There is plenty of advice like this that I wished I would have taken from the beginning. The guitar should feel good in your hands, lap, standing, or however you play. I have progressed more in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 3 months with the right guitar. I really attribute this to the ease of play. I’m not fighting the guitar as much. Going in person will open your eyes to new possibilities you may not have pictured in your head. Plus, you may find issues with the guitar before you purchase. Hope this helps someone.
Video games are great. They’re a ton of fun to play and can be a cheap way to occupy your free time. They help people stay in touch with friends or even make new friends. Games are a far more interactive form of entertainment than just watching TV or movies. They keep your brain engaged and usually do a great job of rewarding players for their success. With all these benefits, it’s no surprise then that some people might get addicted. You could probably even make a good argument that all well designed games should be addicting in some way. For this article I want to look at the different ways that games make themselves addicting, decide if this constitutes good or bad gameplay, and finally make a decision on whether companies should make games like this.
Two types of addicting games
From a design perspective, there are two different categories of addicting games. The first category is games that have addictive gameplay. What this means is different from person to person. Some people love the “one more turn” types of games like the Civilization series. Others enjoy the “one more match” multiplayer games that can range from shooters, to MOBAs, to sports games. There’s another group of people that fall in love with MMORPGs and what they have to offer. The second category of addicting games are the games which employ addicting behavior. In these games, it is not the gameplay itself which is addicting but the way you play the game. These games might include addicting gameplay, but more importantly, they encourage forming habits. For this article, I want to focus on this second category of games and the gacha genre specifically. To be clear, many different types of games use these strategies but the gacha genre seems to rely on these heavily. The recent release of Genshin Impact for PCs got me thinking more about this, and I would like to use it as sort of a case study. In the next sections I’m going to break down all the things that I’ve seen gacha games do to encourage player addiction. I have not played Genshin Impact and know almost nothing about it other than some gameplay videos I’ve seen. I am curious to know how many of these things the game does or will do.
Lowest possible barrier to entry
It’s very important if you want to get new players addicted to your game, you have to get them to try the game first. In the world of video games, the easiest way to accomplish this is to make your game free. What harm could there be in trying out a free game? You see equivalents like this in the real world too. Have you ever heard of a casino where you have to pay to park? What about a casino with a parking lot that is too small? Many casinos will even offer free shuttle services. The most important thing is to get them in and get them started. It doesn’t stop there, though. Most gacha games will also start you off with one of the strongest characters. This accomplishes three things. First, it helps ensure you will have success immediately when you start playing. Most of the starting content for gacha games is laughably easy. It would almost be impossible to fail. They want to get those success endorphins kicking in as soon as possible. The second reason is that it immediately shows the player the power difference between lower tier characters and higher tier characters. Think of it like a company giving out free samples. First one is on them, but you’re going to have to pay if you want more (either with money or your time). The final reason for doing this, is to help players get over a time gap. For gacha games that have been out for a while, you will often see them enticing new players or returning players with offers for a free highest tier character if you start playing now. People who play gacha games know these characters can be very time consuming to acquire so it helps them feel like they won’t be starting so far behind other players.
Multiplayer content
Speaking of other players, including interactions with other humans is a must for this genre. The most common form of this is PvP matches. The higher your rank, the better your reward. PvP matches allow players who have been playing for a long time or spent a lot of money to feel like they are stronger or better than other players. These types of PvP matches are not set on even ground like most multiplayer focused games. Players don’t start with equal stats and have to rely on their game knowledge or experience. Instead, players with stronger or higher-level characters can straight up beat lower level players every time. It’s their reward for being committed to the game. PvP matches are also a great way to endlessly extend game time. Multiplayer doesn’t have to mean PvP, however. This might be co-operative content where you join a guild to help chip away at strong bosses or maybe just visit other players’ bases to see what they have and compare. This results in content that you can’t access unless you join a guild or maybe currency that you can’t acquire if you don’t have in game friends. These games are essentially forcing players to join and stay with a community. You are far more likely to stick with a game when you feel like you’re part of the group. Gacha games make sure it is easy to join guilds or fill up your friends list for this reason.
Consistent and repetitive game time required
Here’s a great article about forming new habits. To sum it up, the article states new habits can be formed using a cycle of three things:
Reminder (the trigger that initiates the behavior)
Routine (the actual behavior you perform)
Reward (the benefit from doing the behavior)
Does this sound familiar? What if I list it like this:
Send phone notification that your energy is full or that special productive time is happening right now
Get players to log in at least once daily
Make sure daily quest rewards are the most productive way (if not the only way) to make progress
These games are trying everything in their power to get you to form a habit of playing. They don’t want you to play for 40 hours straight and be done with the game. They might start off with the ability to play a lot, but that doesn’t last. After a while, players end up logging in to do the same few things every day. Gacha games know this gets repetitive and maybe a little boring so they will usually include a way for the game to “auto-play” itself through these daily tasks. At this point, it’s the habit that is important. You’re actually playing the game a lot less now and just logging in to make sure you get your daily reward. It’s not uncommon for gacha games to even include a monthly reward for players who log in every day of the month. You should be skeptical of any game that gives you a reward for simply logging in daily. Chances are good they’re trying to form a habit. If you’ve been playing one of these games daily for over two months, it’s likely that you have already formed a habit. Does the thought of not playing for a single day make you uneasy? Try it yourself. An even bigger test is to turn off alerts and stop playing for a week. Do you still have a desire to play after one week of not logging in? I find that I usually don’t.
Time limited events
Next up on the checklist are the time limited events or sales. It’s very common in these games to have events that last for maybe two weeks every other month or so. During these events, it is especially important for players to log in daily and do the limited time event quests. These events are often how new characters are introduced and added to the game. Players know that if they want these characters, their best chance of getting them is during this event only. These types of events are the game design equivalent of the well established limited-time offer. Check out this article on ways to maximize your limited-time offer. How many of these have you seen in gacha games?
Promote Your Limited-Time Sale
Popups as soon as you log into the game informing about the current events
Convert Abandoning Shoppers with a Timely Popup
Popup before you exit the game stating how much energy you have left or unspent action points
Leverage the Holiday Season
Most gacha games include events that coincide with the major holidays
Offer Free Delivery for a Limited Time
This is the equivalent of giving bonus currency during a flash sale. You don’t want to make people regret their past currency purchases by putting it on discount, but you can reward them for buying more currency right now.
Create Urgency-Driven Popups
Sales that you get access to only once for a short time such as new player promotions available for the first 24 hours after starting a game and then gone forever.
Drive Urgency with an Email Countdown Timer
The games usually make sure to let you know there’s only “one week left” or “24 hours left” until the end of the event. Almost never do they just list dates and rely on you to be aware of when the event is ending.
Recommend Products in Your Emails
Make sure players know exactly what cool costumes or characters they can only unlock during this event
Tease Upcoming Limited-Time Sales
A calendar showing the schedule for upcoming events
Gacha games want you to think that these are just fun, limited time pieces of content to enjoy, but they are also thoroughly designed to persuade you to spend money. By having constant limited time events, players are encouraged to continue playing the game for fear of missing out on new characters. It’s also par for the course that newly released characters or gear are exceedingly strong. This is just one more way to incentivize players to always want the newest characters. They are pretty much guaranteed to be stronger than existing characters. They might eventually get tuned back down but they always start out overly strong especially in games that have PvP content.
Are these games actually fun
I am not ashamed to admit that I love gacha games. To me, it is really fun collecting new heroes and the risk/reward nature of rolling for new characters can be quite satisfying. These types of games often have gameplay that I personally find quite enjoyable too. They can range anywhere from turn based strategy, to tower defense, to action games. It’s almost unfair to call them a genre since it is more like a common mechanic included in a game of some other genre. “Almost unfair” is important wording here. Inevitably these games all seem to follow the same formula. The game will start on a very high note. There is almost no repetitive gameplay and players are constantly unlocking new features, characters, or areas to explore. Eventually though, you will hit a content gate. It’s impossible for any company to produce new content at a rate faster than players can consume it. Gacha games need you to keep playing forever, however, so they have devised a way to extend content almost indefinitely: the difficulty grind. Figured out how to beat a boss for the first time? Next up is beating it with 200% more health. The only way to do that is to make your characters stronger. The only way to do that is to log in every day and do your daily quests. Welcome to the end game gacha grind. The further in a gacha game you get, the longer and longer it takes to increase your characters’ power. Some people find this type of grinding to be right up their alley. As much as I enjoy playing these games, they all lead to this same destination and this is usually when I end up moving on to the next game. I’m still waiting for the gacha game which does not try to last forever. Dragging the game on indefinitely doesn’t have to be part of a gacha game, it just fits the business model that gacha games currently use.
Is it wrong to make addicting games
I spent a lot of time thinking about this. I generally tend towards the idea that people are responsible for their own actions. I want to say there is nothing wrong with making an addicting game where people can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a game. After all, who am I to decide what they should do with their time or how they should spend their money? How is it any different than letting someone spend thousands of dollars on shoes, or a purse, or cookie jars, or a car? Something about that, however, just doesn’t sit right with me. After thinking about it more, I realized it’s not an equivalent comparison. For all those other items, there is nothing inherently addictive about the product. Someone might be addicted to collecting shoes, but the shoe itself has no addictive properties. I’m willing to go one step further. It’s OK to design an addictive game if the results of that addiction are not an immediate and direct benefit to the company. For example, I have heard from many fans of the Civilization games (myself included) that they have on occasion played until the sun unexpectedly starts rising the next morning. To me, that definitely sounds like addictive gameplay and the impact to the player could be considered harmful. Firaxis, however, did not benefit in any direct way from me staying up all night playing the game. Maybe I’m more likely to buy an expansion or the next version of the game, but while in the middle of this activity, there were no direct or immediate steps I could take that would benefit the company. The gameplay being addictive wasn’t designed to lead to anything other than the person playing the game more. If you are a satisfied customer, the company doesn’t care if you played for 10 hours, 50 hours, or 200 hours. If there was a game out there which used every one of the addicting tactics I listed above, I would have no issue with that if there was no way to spend additional money on the game. I’ve not heard of a game like this, but it’s possible one exists. The gacha games I know of, however, most certainly do benefit directly and immediately from players being addicted. By allowing players to spend endless amounts of money, it is in their best interest for you the player to get addicted and play the game for as long as possible spending as much money as possible along the way. It’s hard to argue they think otherwise when these types of games include pricing models that are so far outside the previously established pricing norms for video games. A fully priced AAA game typically sells for $60. Maybe there is a collector’s edition which could sell for up to $150 dollars. In that case, you know exactly what extra you are buying with your money. It is guaranteed to arrive with the product. Gacha games, however, will let you spend hundreds of dollars every single day with no guarantee of acquiring what you hope to get. Again, in theory, there is nothing wrong with a game allowing players to spend as much money as they want on the game. But how can I interpret a game designed to be behaviorally addicting while also allowing unlimited spending as anything other than malicious? It is the combination of these two things which leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, I do think companies have a moral obligation to not take advantage of their customers. Making games like this does tell me what you think of me as a customer. You view me as a target to extract as much wealth from as possible. If the industry keeps going this direction, it will only be a matter of time before regulations are put in place to protect consumers, much like a legal drinking, smoking, or gambling age. Here’s one company that was willing to openly talk about the issue and I think they should be applauded for it. Companies don’t have to use this design and business model to make a profit, it just allows them to make a bigger profit. Ultimately, the choice is yours to play games of this nature. I know many people who’ve played games like this for years and never spent a dime. You should just know what you’re getting into. It’s the equivalent of putting health warnings on cigarette boxes. For anyone that’s played Genshin Impact, how did I do? Does the game break the mold, or does it follow the tried and proven path? https://hexanephgames.com/2020/10/23/designing-addicting-games/
August 4th - The BugHunters are recruiting Looking for players to assist the QA team find bugs August 7th - NecroTech Knight Upgrade Bonus New set available when you spend $10 or more August 7th - Demon Queen Boss Battle Indonesian independence day event
Aion North America August 5th - Frosty Fever Event Summer PvE event - get loot or buffs Aion Europe August 5th - THE GREAT DAEVANION EVENT Event - higher chance to upgrade daevanion gear August 5th - REVENGE OF THE GRANKER KING Event - kill special mobs in gelk/ing and get loot August 7th - WHEEL OF DESTINY Loot box promotion August 7th - WEEKEND SPECIALS Cash shop promotion
August 4th - New Player Video Guides AO mod created YT ch that answers common questions August 5th - Guild Spotlight: Victi Omnes Interview with a guild August 5th - First Look: The Rogue Adventurer Bundle Promotion for a new cash shop outfit and mount set August 6th - Watch the Crystal League Finals on AlbionTV Guild season is coming to an end August 7th - The Offseason Crystal Tournament is Coming Tournament announcement
August 6th - ArcheAge: Discounted Garden of the Gods Packages Cash shop sale on Garden of the Gods packs August 7th - Up, Up and Away We Go! Cash shop update
August 5th - Loyal Attendance Rewards Refreshed Daily attendance rewards have been changed August 5th - Pearl Shop Update: Enhancement Pack Cash shop update + new cash shop outfit available August 5th - Patch Notes - 5th August 2020 Bug fixes, events and class balancing August 5th - Great Summer Festival Summer event
August 4th - DESTINY 2 HOTFIX 2.9.1.2 Minor bug fixes August 6th - THIS WEEK AT BUNGIE - 8/06/20 Weekly recap August 7th - COMMUNITY FOCUS: DREXIS Interview with Drexis
August 5th - SUMMER SALES: FINAL MARK-DOWN! Merch store discount August 5th - ANKAMA LAUNCHER: NEW INTERFACE FOR ALL YOUR GAMES! Revamped game launcher is available August 7th - ANKAMA LIVE: DOFUS RETRO SPECIAL EDITION Livestream and in-game event details August 7th - THE RETURN OF GROZILLA AND GRASMERA Monster hunt event August 7th - [CONTEST] INTERNATIONAL BOW MEOW DAY! International cat day event - screenshot contest
August 3rd - CROWN STORE SHOWCASE—AUGUST 2020 Cash shop sale August 6th - ANNOUNCING ESO’S NEXT-GEN SUPPORT PS5 and Xbox SX will be supported August 6th - SAVE UP TO 50% AND PLAY FREE DURING QUAKECON AT HOME Free play week and discount on cash shop currency
August 4th - METALIMINAL STORMS - NEW UPDATE Spacestorms will appear at random in nullsec space August 6th - SLICE OF LIFE Upcoming stream promotion and PvP event details August 7th - FOUNDATION DAY EVENT IS LIVE Login, get free stuff August 7th - NEW ABYSSAL PROVING GROUNDS EVENT PvP event details August 7th - UPCOMING ABYSSAL PROVING GROUNDS EVENTS Upcoming PvP event details
August 3rd - Unveiling The Voracious Resurgence Special Website! Special site is up for a new storyline in the world of Vana’diel August 5th - The Sunbreeze Festival Summer event is back August 7th - Discount Campaign Get the game along with all the expansions for $9.99 USD August 7th - Return home to Vana’diel campaign Returning players event August 7th - Presenting a New Wallpaper Commemorating The Voracious Resurgence! Download a new wallpaper by Akihiro Yamada
August 3rd - Watch the Latest Installment of Duty Commenced US team’s live stream. August 3rd - FINAL FANTASY XIV Fan Kit Released! Wallpapers release for mobile and desktop August 3rd - Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LIX Digest Released Dev talk replay available August 5th - Changes to the FINAL FANTASY XIV Starter Edition Heavensward added to the starter edition August 5th - Changes to A Realm Reborn Main Scenario Quest Requirements Store progression in the base game has been updated August 6th - Patch 5.3─Reflections in Crystal Site Update Teaser site updated August 7th - Patch 5.3 Notes (Preliminary) Patch notes for upcoming 5.3 patch
August 4th - Festival of the Four Winds 2020 Begins Next Week Annual summer event returns August 4th - Cool Off under Your Ice Reaver Cape Cash shop update August 7th - World vs. World Weeklong Bonus Returns August 14 PvP channel event
August 3rd - [Updated] Nexon Merch Store is Back! Get MS merchandise on Amazon August 5th - Cash Shop Update for August 5 Cash shop sale/new item rotation
August 3rd - Community Livestream - 'P.E.T. Part 2' Update Preview Livestream that shows off the PET Part 2 update August 4th - Art Corner - 2nd Edition Fan art highlight
August 5th - 2x Underdark Campaign Currency! Double currency drop event August 6th - Limited Time Magnificent Keyring! Lootbox promotion August 7th - Updated Roadmap Q&A Stream - August 11, 2020 Roadmap Q&A Stream on Aug 11th
August 3rd - Our 3.12 Expansion Timeline Dates for upcoming content August 3rd - Afterlife cat pet New cash shop pet available August 4th - Harvest fan art competition highlights Featured fan art from ongoing competition August 4th - Undead outcast helmet skin New cash shop item August 5th - Harvest statistics: crafts, lifeforce and the avatar of the grove Stats on the most used crafts August 5th - Doomcrow wings New cash shop item August 6th - Community Organized Event - 8 Day Racing Gauntlet Starts on August 22nd! Racing event August 6th - Automation lightning armour set New cash shop outfit August 7th - Community showcase Fan art highlight August 7th - New Skill Effects and Super Stash Sale New cash shop cosmetics
August 3rd - FUN SCRATCH TICKET: AUGUST 2020 - PART 1 Lootbox promotion August 3rd - MISSION PASS: SEASON 6 Monthly achievement system rewards August 3rd - AC SCRATCH TICKET: MAESTRO SUMMONER Lootbox promotion August 4th - PSO2 ON STEAM: BONUS LOGIN REWARDS! Bonuses for logging in through steam August 4th - CAMPAIGN: JOIN AN ALLIANCE! (8/5) Join an alliance, get rewards August 4th - CHALLENGE OTHERS IN THE BATTLE ARENA! New PvP content August 4th - LEVEL UP FASTER WITH BONUS QUESTS! Leveling event August 4th - CAMPAIGN: WELCOME BACK TO PSO2! Returning player event August 5th - URGENT QUESTS & CONCERTS: AUGUST 2020 - PART 1 Event August 5th - NEW URGENT QUEST: BEACH WARS! Summer event August 5th - BEACH WARS BEACH-WEAR! Summer cash shop promotion August 5th - NEW REWARDS BUNDLE FOR XBOX GAME PASS ULTIMATE MEMBERS! Xbox game pass ultimate members will get rewards August 5th - NEW EPISODE 4 LAUNCH BUNDLES! Cash shop bundles August 5th - SUMMER IN PSO2! Summer event details August 5th - PSO2: STEAM LAUNCH REWARDS Rewards for playing through steam August 5th - CASINO BOOSTS & BONUSES! (8/8) Casino promotion
August 4th - AuguST ST STreak - x1.5 XP and droprates! Discord Q&A! Janus is there too. 1.5x event August 5th - Patch Notes 1.0.1.0 - Oryx changes, Discord Nitro Boosting Rewards and more Patch notes... duh
August 4th - Ready Player Sun: Free Gift & 30% Off Sale! Freebies and 30% off on the cash shop August 5th - Sale: Hall of Trophies - August 5, 2020 Trophy sale
August 3rd - Free Lower Decks Duty Officers! Get officers from the new show to join your crew August 3rd - PC and Console Patch Notes for 8/4/20 Events, balancing and minor fixes August 5th - PC Patch Notes for 8/6/20 bug fixes
August 3rd - August 3rd - This Week in Star Citizen Weekly insight August 4th - Portfolio: Otoni Group Lore August 4th - DISCOVER THE SPEED, POWER, AND UTILITY OF NEW & REWORKED VEHICLES Overpriced vehicles for sale August 5th - ALPHA 3.10 FLIGHT & FIGHT Patch highlights August 6th - Star Citizen Monthly Report: July 2020 Monthly update on development August 7th - TRANSMISSION Inside star citizen stream PTU August 7th - TRANSMISSION Weapons creation process August 7th - Roadmap Roundup - August 7th, 2020 Dev decision insights
August 3rd - Get ready for TERA in 64-bit! 64bit tera client coming soon August 3rd - Get Ready to Mask Up! Buy digital masks and support real doctors August 6th - TERA Battle Arena Update: Gameplay Patch preview
August 3rd - Medeina's FLEX BOX Do content, get boxes, open for loot August 3rd - Summer TOSventure Event Summer event August 4th - Like & Comment Event: ToS Task Force is back with Second Event! Facebook event August 4th - World Map Reorganization World map update preview August 4th - Update Plans for the Second Half of 2020 Update plans August 5th - New Original Sound Tracks Available - August OST Video
August 4th - Take the Lunar Plunge until August 18 Event August 4th - Dive into Deals for Lunar Plunge until August 18 Cash shop promotion August 7th - Luxion’s First Arrival in August – Lasts until Aug. 10 Luxion’s store refresh
August 5th - SUMMER SALES: FINAL MARK-DOWN! Merch store discount August 5th - ANKAMA LAUNCHER: NEW INTERFACE FOR ALL YOUR GAMES! New game launcher August 6th - SHELLS AND CRUSTACEANS PACK Cash shop promotion
August 3rd - WoW Classic Ahn’Qiraj: The Scarab Lords are Rising! Join the war effort August 4th - The Pet Battle Bonus Event Has Begun! Pet PvP event August 4th - Jump Into This Week’s PvP Brawl: Hotmogu Weekly PvP rotation August 4th - Explore the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj and Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj Raid content available
Hello all. Let me start by saying that most starter guides that I read sucked, lied, or both. Admittedly, I read none from this forum. This is for my own benefit as well as yours and some notes I had running around my head. I play on hard (Ranger) and very hard (Jackass) difficulty. Normal is simply too easy but don't let my opinion stop you. What I will say is that normal does not allow you to delve into the amazing synergies and mechanics in this game. This is one of the best RPG systems I have played in a while and at the very least I would recommend Ranger difficulty to see why. Party You are going to start with two players. You will be able to make an additional two and you are allowed 2 additional NPCs out of the recruitable companions. You can make as many as you would like but you can only have a max party size of 6. This is plenty. You probably only need 5 and here are the 5:
A sniper
A heavy
A medic
An SMG
A pistol and shotgun
Take your pick, but probably brawler is going to be your best option
You will want to make the sniper, heavy, medic, and SMG user. The pistol user you get from Lucia. Kwon is really specified as an assault rifle expert and assault rifles suck. The next best you have is probably brawler. Attributes Guides love to tell you that this stat sucks or that stat is bad. Every single stat is there for a reason. Coordination: This is mandatory for all builds and you should get maxed out first. This gives you AP. AP means damage and movement and both are vital. Luck: This is fantastic and mandatory for the SMG and pistol builds. It is also very good for a brawler because of Penetration. If you have lower penetration than enemy armor rank, you lose at least 20%+ damage. This means for guns with low penetration, you will have at least a +20% damage boost and that is huge. It also boosts damage, evasion, and movement. Even randomly, every single action Awareness: Mandatory for all guns. For guns that need Luck, this is as important and you might put 2 points here and 2 points in luck until both are maxed out. Strength: This is mandatory for melee users. It is useful for pistol, SMG, and shotgun users because they are going to be on the front lines. This gives health and melee damage. Speed: This is a secondary stat for most users. Melee is the single exception where this is required. Speed is great on a brawler. SMG and pistol users seem to benefit from this stat but not at the expense of Coordination. Heavy users benefit from this possibly the most, second only to melee users. It enables heavy gun users to get into position. intelligence: A useful secondary stat after you have enough penetration and not until then. This will increase critical damage and chance. If you prefer this rather than luck, both do basically the same thing. This will give you massive single hits. Luck gives you lots of higher little hits with the benefit of free movement and evasion. Charisma: Mandatory on a leader, the worst stat overall but still good for perk points. Perks are essentially an ultimate attack. As a pro gamer tip, sniper marked targets increase perk damage significantly. Builds Now that we have the basics down, let's discuss builds. This is contentious but I can justify most of this.
Sniper: 8 coordination, 4 luck, 2 int, the rest in awareness, 1's everywhere else. Your trait is going to be goat killer. Your quirk is going to be deathwish. The goal here is to get 2 attacks per round. 8 coordination gets you this and a bit of movement. When you level, max out awareness first and put a point or two into luck as you need to. Very late game, you can pump int but by that point, your sniper is a death machine.
A heavy: 8 coordination, a point or two into speed, 2 int, the rest into awareness. You will take goat killer as the trait and death wish as the quirk. Again, you really want two attacks per round with this build. Do not underestimate the power of two attacks with a heavy. Here, critical damage is actually important and luck is great. You are going to fire a lot of rounds and luck/crit really has advantages. As an upgrade path, I would max out awareness, finish off coordination, get a few points into speed (5 or 6), and pump luck if you are hitting penetration issues and int. By late game, you will probably have max int but that is just extra damage along the way.
A medic: This is a really fun build. I mix mechanics, healing, and leadership for this class. As such, 10 in cha, 4 into speed, 4 strength, the rest into coordination. Str ends up being really useful and 4 lets you start with the early game heavy armor. Another 2 points get you to mid-game and another 2 gets you to late game. By the end, you will have 8 str and wear the heaviest armor you get. You will need it. Luck is irrelevant here. You are not doing damage and you will heal 100% health pools quickly. The bookworm trait synergizes well here. I also love taking circus freak. Speed is incredibly useful here.
An SMG: 6 coordination, 4-6 luck, 4 strength (eventually to become 8), the rest into awareness, 1 everywhere else. Take vicious avenger for the trait and serial killer for the perk. This pares awesome with the SMG storm perk and the on kill get 3 AP automatic weapon capstone. Max out coordination first. Next max out luck and awareness with 2 points into each, swapping back and forth. Put 2 into strength around the time you get near the bizarre. Put another 2 somewhere around the time the next level of armor works. You want to wear armor. You really want to wear armor.
A banker with max barter: Stats don't matter but I put a bunch into cha. It does nothing.
A modder with max armor mod and gun mod leveled equally. Again, max cha and don't worry about it.
First off, Kwon sucks. he is terrible. I hate him in my party. I want to dump him as quickly as possible. Feel free to do whatever you want with him. I never managed to get an AR to out damage a pistol. I replace him with the brawler you get eventually. Again, Kwon is just horrible. Even thinking about him doing 12 to 25 whole damage per hit to an enemy with 1000 health fills me with rage. Oh but he crits for 40! 40 whole god damn damage. Lucia is going to use a revolver and shotgun for the whole game. She is a monstrous beast. Make sure to get her strength up to 4 ASAP. Next, max out coordination with a few points into str to get her armor up to 8 by end game. She is not tanky and the extra health and armor allow her to survive. If you find your penetration lacking, I would up her luck to 6 with awareness in maybe a 2:1 ratio but seriously, get that strength up. Ironclad is a beast. Pump up strength, pop him into armor, throw a fist weapon into him, and replace Kwon. Do more damage in a single hit that takes 1 AP as you did with Kwon taking 12 AP. then rejoice Perks Perks are highly subjective. There are a few pairings that are incredible. Your sniper should probably have Sneaky Shit. I really like animal handling on my sniper. You are actually going to probably run out of perk to spend points on, which is why I like animal handling. Basically, I get my sniper rifle up to 7 and buy every perk. Max sneaky shit because sneak damage is awesome. I like mechanics at 3 because you get more damage to robots. Put anything else here. Animal handling is nice because you get nice passives and do not do close-range damage. Your healer should level healing and mechanics. Get leadership to 7 and buy the two perks. Both are fantastic. The other selection is optional. Maybe if you drop Kwon like a bad habit, kiss ass is a good choice. You will level very quickly. Mechanics pairs ridiculously well with this because of turrets. Turrets is your only damage source and what a damage source it is. Mechanics is also the second most useful passive followed by lock picking. I like explosives on my heavy but explosives don't really do a lot of damage. This is mostly to disarm mines. For the rest, I put nerd stuff on my SMG user, Hard ass on my heavy because I wanted to save Jodie and hard ass doesn't matter, I like toaster repair on the SMG user, and the rest distributed. Look at the passives on your companions and fill in the rest with your other users. Basically, you will have a hard time going wrong here but just be aware of perks for you to spent points on. Automatic weapons has an awesome capstone. You probably want that. I like to level each of the perks more or less evenly. I found that very useful, particularly lock picking, mechanics, kiss ass, and toaster repair. Try not to fall behind on those skills. BTW, a lot of guides will explain how you really need to focus on specific skills etc. Don't bother. Get the perks for your build and make sure the number of points you have will let you use the weapon you want. Apart from that, any perk on any person should basically work apart from those listed above. Weapons The sniper, SMG, and revolver are in a class of their own until very late game. The shotgun is wholly underpowered until you get the best one in the game EXCEPT the special on the shotgun. That special will melt everything that was unlucky enough to get clustered. I love Lucia because she builds up the special meter quickly using the revolver while getting a huge bonus to the shotgun special. The heavy gun is good but the heavy gun becomes a powerhouse when you can fire twice. That twice bit really makes all of the difference. The end-game .50 cal heavy gun is broken. Just straight broken. I was doing more than 900 damage in a single round with that gun. The sniper is just nice. Mark a target, snipe the head, do 2000 damage. It is like that from start to finish and firing twice is just beautiful. It is why you can't actually use an NPC for it. Now the SMG. A properly spec'ed SMG with high penetration, damage, AP, and speed will murder everything. A poorly spec'ed SMG will do nothing but get players killed. You also do not need the best SMG in the game for this to work. You do need a lot of luck though and the +2 penetration from vicious avenger is nice. Serial killer + trigger happy resets my AP to full on a kill. I regularly do 5 attacks in a single round. Often I will do 6. At one point, I did 9. Soften up the enemies with other classes and let your SMG user lose. Assault rifles suck. Kwon sucks for using them. The flame thrower is garbage. It looks like it shouldn't be but it really is. Unless they patch it, don't bother with the flame thrower. It could do 5x the damage it currently does is barely be a viable option. The rocket launcher is not a primary weapon and does very little damage. Rockets are both rare AND expensive making them totally viable as a primary weapon. Seriously, what were they thinking? Make a rocket do 2500 damage to a huge area. Even with a guaranteed crit they are still sad. At the same time Rocket enemies are pathetic. They struggle to kill my 1 str unarmored sniper. Money Make sure that you only sell everything with the banker (10 points in broker with all of the perks). Also, I highly recommend making big purchases with the banker present. Swap them out for the leader. Make sure to abuse the casino with your banker for some much needed early cash. You will need a lot of cash. Expect to spend a small fortune and way more than you probably should on ammo. Abusing the casino nets you enough to upgrade all of your guns and buy a ton of ammo. You will be money starved throughout the game. You will have enough money as long as you have a single person with barter 10. That person is extremely important and the most critical bit of the game where they are needed is the very beginning so you don't have to travel with them. You should also have enough money to buy tier 3 weapons at the bizarre. Do this and you save about $1200 rather than buying the tier 2 weapons and then buying the tier 3 later. It makes the discount you might get eventually a bit of a moot point but hey, what can you do? Footnote I am happy to make edits. All of these are my opinions. This guide was not meant to be comprehensive but to give a really good and truthful starting point. Yes, the endgame shotgun is broken. If you play normally, you will probably not use it much, which is sad. That said, the revolver is spectacular and I would not build a character around endgame gear, except for the NPCs you need in your party. A bit of planning goes a long way there. Have fun with this. The deeper you get, the more this system rewards you and experiment! You can ALWAYS just create another character.
Video games are great. They’re a ton of fun to play and can be a cheap way to occupy your free time. They help people stay in touch with friends or even make new friends. Games are a far more interactive form of entertainment than just watching TV or movies. They keep your brain engaged and usually do a great job of rewarding players for their success. With all these benefits, it’s no surprise then that some people might get addicted. You could probably even make a good argument that all well designed games should be addicting in some way. For this article I want to look at the different ways that games make themselves addicting, decide if this constitutes good or bad gameplay, and finally make a decision on whether companies should make games like this.
Two types of addicting games
From a design perspective, there are two different categories of addicting games. The first category is games that have addictive gameplay. What this means is different from person to person. Some people love the “one more turn” types of games like the Civilization series. Others enjoy the “one more match” multiplayer games that can range from shooters, to MOBAs, to sports games. There’s another group of people that fall in love with MMORPGs and what they have to offer. The second category of addicting games are the games which employ addicting behavior. In these games, it is not the gameplay itself which is addicting but the way you play the game. These games might include addicting gameplay, but more importantly, they encourage forming habits. For this article, I want to focus on this second category of games and the gacha genre specifically. To be clear, many different types of games use these strategies but the gacha genre seems to rely on these heavily. The recent release of Genshin Impact for PCs got me thinking more about this, and I would like to use it as sort of a case study. In the next sections I’m going to break down all the things that I’ve seen gacha games do to encourage player addiction. I have not played Genshin Impact and know almost nothing about it other than some gameplay videos I’ve seen. I am curious to know how many of these things the game does or will do.
Lowest possible barrier to entry
It’s very important if you want to get new players addicted to your game, you have to get them to try the game first. In the world of video games, the easiest way to accomplish this is to make your game free. What harm could there be in trying out a free game? You see equivalents like this in the real world too. Have you ever heard of a casino where you have to pay to park? What about a casino with a parking lot that is too small? Many casinos will even offer free shuttle services. The most important thing is to get them in and get them started. It doesn’t stop there, though. Most gacha games will also start you off with one of the strongest characters. This accomplishes three things. First, it helps ensure you will have success immediately when you start playing. Most of the starting content for gacha games is laughably easy. It would almost be impossible to fail. They want to get those success endorphins kicking in as soon as possible. The second reason is that it immediately shows the player the power difference between lower tier characters and higher tier characters. Think of it like a company giving out free samples. First one is on them, but you’re going to have to pay if you want more (either with money or your time). The final reason for doing this, is to help players get over a time gap. For gacha games that have been out for a while, you will often see them enticing new players or returning players with offers for a free highest tier character if you start playing now. People who play gacha games know these characters can be very time consuming to acquire so it helps them feel like they won’t be starting so far behind other players.
Multiplayer content
Speaking of other players, including interactions with other humans is a must for this genre. The most common form of this is PvP matches. The higher your rank, the better your reward. PvP matches allow players who have been playing for a long time or spent a lot of money to feel like they are stronger or better than other players. These types of PvP matches are not set on even ground like most multiplayer focused games. Players don’t start with equal stats and have to rely on their game knowledge or experience. Instead, players with stronger or higher-level characters can straight up beat lower level players every time. It’s their reward for being committed to the game. PvP matches are also a great way to endlessly extend game time. Multiplayer doesn’t have to mean PvP, however. This might be co-operative content where you join a guild to help chip away at strong bosses or maybe just visit other players’ bases to see what they have and compare. This results in content that you can’t access unless you join a guild or maybe currency that you can’t acquire if you don’t have in game friends. These games are essentially forcing players to join and stay with a community. You are far more likely to stick with a game when you feel like you’re part of the group. Gacha games make sure it is easy to join guilds or fill up your friends list for this reason.
Consistent and repetitive game time required
Here’s a great article about forming new habits. To sum it up, the article states new habits can be formed using a cycle of three things:
Reminder (the trigger that initiates the behavior)
Routine (the actual behavior you perform)
Reward (the benefit from doing the behavior)
Does this sound familiar? What if I list it like this:
Send phone notification that your energy is full or that special productive time is happening right now
Get players to log in at least once daily
Make sure daily quest rewards are the most productive way (if not the only way) to make progress
These games are trying everything in their power to get you to form a habit of playing. They don’t want you to play for 40 hours straight and be done with the game. They might start off with the ability to play a lot, but that doesn’t last. After a while, players end up logging in to do the same few things every day. Gacha games know this gets repetitive and maybe a little boring so they will usually include a way for the game to “auto-play” itself through these daily tasks. At this point, it’s the habit that is important. You’re actually playing the game a lot less now and just logging in to make sure you get your daily reward. It’s not uncommon for gacha games to even include a monthly reward for players who log in every day of the month. You should be skeptical of any game that gives you a reward for simply logging in daily. Chances are good they’re trying to form a habit. If you’ve been playing one of these games daily for over two months, it’s likely that you have already formed a habit. Does the thought of not playing for a single day make you uneasy? Try it yourself. An even bigger test is to turn off alerts and stop playing for a week. Do you still have a desire to play after one week of not logging in? I find that I usually don’t.
Time limited events
Next up on the checklist are the time limited events or sales. It’s very common in these games to have events that last for maybe two weeks every other month or so. During these events, it is especially important for players to log in daily and do the limited time event quests. These events are often how new characters are introduced and added to the game. Players know that if they want these characters, their best chance of getting them is during this event only. These types of events are the game design equivalent of the well established limited-time offer. Check out this article on ways to maximize your limited-time offer. How many of these have you seen in gacha games?
Promote Your Limited-Time Sale
Popups as soon as you log into the game informing about the current events
Convert Abandoning Shoppers with a Timely Popup
Popup before you exit the game stating how much energy you have left or unspent action points
Leverage the Holiday Season
Most gacha games include events that coincide with the major holidays
Offer Free Delivery for a Limited Time
This is the equivalent of giving bonus currency during a flash sale. You don’t want to make people regret their past currency purchases by putting it on discount, but you can reward them for buying more currency right now.
Create Urgency-Driven Popups
Sales that you get access to only once for a short time such as new player promotions available for the first 24 hours after starting a game and then gone forever.
Drive Urgency with an Email Countdown Timer
The games usually make sure to let you know there’s only “one week left” or “24 hours left” until the end of the event. Almost never do they just list dates and rely on you to be aware of when the event is ending.
Recommend Products in Your Emails
Make sure players know exactly what cool costumes or characters they can only unlock during this event
Tease Upcoming Limited-Time Sales
A calendar showing the schedule for upcoming events
Gacha games want you to think that these are just fun, limited time pieces of content to enjoy, but they are also thoroughly designed to persuade you to spend money. By having constant limited time events, players are encouraged to continue playing the game for fear of missing out on new characters. It’s also par for the course that newly released characters or gear are exceedingly strong. This is just one more way to incentivize players to always want the newest characters. They are pretty much guaranteed to be stronger than existing characters. They might eventually get tuned back down but they always start out overly strong especially in games that have PvP content.
Are these games actually fun
I am not ashamed to admit that I love gacha games. To me, it is really fun collecting new heroes and the risk/reward nature of rolling for new characters can be quite satisfying. These types of games often have gameplay that I personally find quite enjoyable too. They can range anywhere from turn based strategy, to tower defense, to action games. It’s almost unfair to call them a genre since it is more like a common mechanic included in a game of some other genre. “Almost unfair” is important wording here. Inevitably these games all seem to follow the same formula. The game will start on a very high note. There is almost no repetitive gameplay and players are constantly unlocking new features, characters, or areas to explore. Eventually though, you will hit a content gate. It’s impossible for any company to produce new content at a rate faster than players can consume it. Gacha games need you to keep playing forever, however, so they have devised a way to extend content almost indefinitely: the difficulty grind. Figured out how to beat a boss for the first time? Next up is beating it with 200% more health. The only way to do that is to make your characters stronger. The only way to do that is to log in every day and do your daily quests. Welcome to the end game gacha grind. The further in a gacha game you get, the longer and longer it takes to increase your characters’ power. Some people find this type of grinding to be right up their alley. As much as I enjoy playing these games, they all lead to this same destination and this is usually when I end up moving on to the next game. I’m still waiting for the gacha game which does not try to last forever. Dragging the game on indefinitely doesn’t have to be part of a gacha game, it just fits the business model that gacha games currently use.
Is it wrong to make addicting games
I spent a lot of time thinking about this. I generally tend towards the idea that people are responsible for their own actions. I want to say there is nothing wrong with making an addicting game where people can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a game. After all, who am I to decide what they should do with their time or how they should spend their money? How is it any different than letting someone spend thousands of dollars on shoes, or a purse, or cookie jars, or a car? Something about that, however, just doesn’t sit right with me. After thinking about it more, I realized it’s not an equivalent comparison. For all those other items, there is nothing inherently addictive about the product. Someone might be addicted to collecting shoes, but the shoe itself has no addictive properties. I’m willing to go one step further. It’s OK to design an addictive game if the results of that addiction are not an immediate and direct benefit to the company. For example, I have heard from many fans of the Civilization games (myself included) that they have on occasion played until the sun unexpectedly starts rising the next morning. To me, that definitely sounds like addictive gameplay and the impact to the player could be considered harmful. Firaxis, however, did not benefit in any direct way from me staying up all night playing the game. Maybe I’m more likely to buy an expansion or the next version of the game, but while in the middle of this activity, there were no direct or immediate steps I could take that would benefit the company. The gameplay being addictive wasn’t designed to lead to anything other than the person playing the game more. If you are a satisfied customer, the company doesn’t care if you played for 10 hours, 50 hours, or 200 hours. If there was a game out there which used every one of the addicting tactics I listed above, I would have no issue with that if there was no way to spend additional money on the game. I’ve not heard of a game like this, but it’s possible one exists. The gacha games I know of, however, most certainly do benefit directly and immediately from players being addicted. By allowing players to spend endless amounts of money, it is in their best interest for you the player to get addicted and play the game for as long as possible spending as much money as possible along the way. It’s hard to argue they think otherwise when these types of games include pricing models that are so far outside the previously established pricing norms for video games. A fully priced AAA game typically sells for $60. Maybe there is a collector’s edition which could sell for up to $150 dollars. In that case, you know exactly what extra you are buying with your money. It is guaranteed to arrive with the product. Gacha games, however, will let you spend hundreds of dollars every single day with no guarantee of acquiring what you hope to get. Again, in theory, there is nothing wrong with a game allowing players to spend as much money as they want on the game. But how can I interpret a game designed to be behaviorally addicting while also allowing unlimited spending as anything other than malicious? It is the combination of these two things which leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, I do think companies have a moral obligation to not take advantage of their customers. Making games like this does tell me what you think of me as a customer. You view me as a target to extract as much wealth from as possible. If the industry keeps going this direction, it will only be a matter of time before regulations are put in place to protect consumers, much like a legal drinking, smoking, or gambling age. Here’s one company that was willing to openly talk about the issue and I think they should be applauded for it. Companies don’t have to use this design and business model to make a profit, it just allows them to make a bigger profit. Ultimately, the choice is yours to play games of this nature. I know many people who’ve played games like this for years and never spent a dime. You should just know what you’re getting into. It’s the equivalent of putting health warnings on cigarette boxes. For anyone that’s played Genshin Impact, how did I do? Does the game break the mold, or does it follow the tried and proven path? https://hexanephgames.com/2020/10/23/designing-addicting-games/
Material Storage with SG, sustainable as premium member?
Now that crafting is out with various mats, boosters, and hoarding discs and 7-9* weapon + units is a thing, my storage is seriously suffering. I've heard great things about Material Storage which is paid for with SG. But my question is, how hard is it to earn enough SG to maintain it's subscription? I heard there's a discount for 90 days vs per month. If so, how much is it? (can't log in to check atm, and pso2 site doesn't list it anywhere that I can find.) As a premium member, I get a good amount each month through mission pass. Is the SG earned on there (with overtime) a fixed amount guarantee? If so, how much? After that, we can farm at the casino for 40SG total weekly? So 160SG a month. Are there other reliable & guarantee ways to maintain SG? Matgatsu silvegold are a random chance at getting those tickets. Challenge and Battle rankings you'd have to fight for the titles, no? So it's not a reliable or guarantee source of SG correct? 10SG through new outfits isn't an option now that inflation has hit on ship2. I'd have to burn millions of meseta to gain a little bit of SG each time. Even on male outfits. This isn't viable for me when I rather save $ for gear instead. PSO2 Day login 44SG Login, story, campaigns, promos are not reliable. And I'd like to use those extra SG as a side stash incase something nice pops up in Fresh Finds once in awhile. (if it's ever fixed again). Is there another source of SG that's farmable I'm forgetting? I just want to add it all up to see how realistic it is to maintain Material Storage. Save them all up and buy them in 3 month periods (if there's a discount).
We’re testing out a new format for the weekly post and we’ll keep testing till it gets to be as good as it can, so let us know if this format is more readable and user friendly than the last.
Also I hate you Vindictus and your 13 stupid updates in one week!
July 20th - AQWorlds Patch Notes Several bugs were fixed July 24th - Final Weekend: Unlock the Flameborn Summoner The seasonal set for July is the Flameborn + Underworld Summoner sets. July 24th Tonight: The DOOM Continues… Doomwood part 2 this weekend + daily gift of dark spirit orbs and gold boost July 24th - New Rare Set: Doom DragonSlayer New set available in your featured gear shop until August 31st
Aion North America No new updates from July 19th - 26th Aion Europe July 24th - WEEKEND SPECIALS Marchutan’s Pyjama Party Box and Kaisinel’s Hermit Box available
July 22nd - Rise of Avalon Launches August 12 Rise of Avalon update will bring massive new features including the Roads of Avalon, Corrupted Dungeons, Avalonian Weapons, and more. July 22nd - Rise of Avalon Update Now on Staging Log into the Staging server and test out the new features coming with the next update! July 23rd - Albion Online on GeForce Now It's official: Albion Online is now playable via the GeForce Now platform. July 24th - Dev Talk: Roads of Avalon, Part 3 Our newest video discusses placing Hideouts and living within the Roads of Avalon.
July 23rd - Making a Splash! Marketplace Update, new pets, outfits, and more. July 24th - Flash Sale: 30% Bonus for All Credit Packs! Purchase as many Credit Packs as you want from July 24 until July 27, 2020, and receive the 30% bonus on each one! July 24th - The Double Event returns once again! From July 24th until July 27th, make sure to get the most out of your double loot drop rate, double vocation points, double experience points, and double honor
July 22nd - Into the Unknown Mysterious Island and Pit of the undying events July 22nd - Pearl Shop Update: Memories of Summer Cash shop update with upgrade materials on sale + Outfit sales July 22nd - Trail of Summer Event for Kakao cash + other goodies July 22nd - Play for a Free Game Pass Hit level 50 on a trial account and upgrade it to a permanent account July 22nd - Patch Notes - 22nd July 2020 Massive list of changes and bug fixes July 23rd - Tuvala Invitational PvP event + Tournament July 24th - WEEKEND FLASH SALE: A Camp and a Keeper From Friday to Monday get special discounts
July 21st - Dark Passage is Now Live! The newest update for Blade & Soul is now LIVE! Read through the patch notes for the latest changes. July 22nd - Shining Summer Blessings Chest Now Available Cash shop update/Loot Box promotion July 23rd - Hongmoon Store Update Cash shop update + Cash currency bonus till august 19th
July 21st - RELEASE NOTES New Events and Bug Fixes July 22nd - PREPARE TO FIGHT! Bless Unleashed’s first competitive PvP Season is about to begin! July 23rd - COMMUNITY INTERVIEW WITH ROUND 8 STUDIO
July 22nd - THE OFFICIAL DESTINY COOKBOOK Bungie made a cookbook yo July 23rd - DESTINY 2 COMING TO XBOX GAME PASS This fall D2 will be on Xbox Game Pass July 23rd - THIS WEEK AT BUNGIE Destiny cookbook and more this week at Bungie
July 22nd - STORM A FORTRESS OF THE UNDEAD IN CASTLE THORN Content Preview - Stonethorn July 22nd - ESO Live: July 24th - Character Pathing & Contest Winners Tune in to ESO Live this Friday to get an inside look at the new Homestead Character Pathing system coming with Update 27 July 23rd - MEET THE CHARACTER—ARKASIS Loredump and exposition
July 20th - Letter from the Producer Live Part LIX URL Update Latest update from the FFXIV Dev Team - Watch it in the link below. July 22nd - Patch 5.3─Reflections in Crystal Trailer is Now Live! Trailer for Reflections in Crystal July 22nd - Important Announcement Regarding the Japanese Fan Festival Due to Covid-19 the festival has been canceled
July 21st - Voice Acting in Episode 4 of The Icebrood Saga Due to Covid-19, Jormag Rising will be released without voice acting July 21st - Charge into Battle with the Wolfheart Sword and Shield Cash shop update + new Wolfheart sword + shield skin July 23rd - Guild Chat: A New Claw of Jormag Latest episode of Guild Chat July 24th - Knocking on Jormag’s Door peek into the development of the Assault on the Frost Citadel meta-event
July 23rd - v.215 - Rise: Surge of Power Patch Notes Familiar system is back, and a massive list of bug fixes and some events July 24th - NA Reboot Double Miracle Time Compensation Compensation for server instability July 24th - What's Your MapleStory? - MagesticaIly Interview with a longtime player of the game
July 21st - 2x Icewind Dale Campaign Currency! This coming week, players will get double Icewind Dale Campaign currencies! July 22nd - 2x Professions! morale costs will be halved, allowing you to do 2x as many profession tasks in a day. July 23rd - 20% off Campaign Buyouts! 20% off Campaign Buyouts starts Thursday, July 23 July 23rd - Patch Notes: Version: NW.122.20200708b.4 Lots of small changes and bug fixes July 23rd - Limited Time: Alpha Compy in Zen Market! The Alpha Compy companion is available in the Zen Market for a limited time! July 23rd - 20% off Professions! This weekend - 20% off Professions sale in the Zen Market July 23rd - Steam Publisher's Weekend Bonus Zen! Celebrate Summer on Steam with discounts or bonus Zen
July 20th - Angels and Demons Mystery Box Concept Art Amazing concept art dump for the A&D Mystery Box July 21st - Developer Interview - Eben - Video Creation Interview with one of the employees at Grinding Gear Games July 21st - The Labrador Pet Labrador pet is now available July 22nd - Harvest Fan Art Competition Highlights Highlights of submissions from the ongoing fan art competition July 22nd - The Seraph Banner Back Attachment New back attachment is now available July 23rd - The Infernal Quiver and Wolf Howl Warcray Infernal quiver to match the infernal bow skin July 24th - Development Stories: Timelines & Retcons Developer’s thoughts on how they go about adding to the story of PoE July 24th - New Void Emperor Wings and Weekend Sales Cash shop update and new skin for wings
July 20th - CAMPAIGN: DAILY LOG-IN REWARDS! free EXP 100,000 TICKETS to those who log in from July 22nd to July 29th July 20th - CAMPAIGN: QUEST TRIGGER DISTRIBUTION Free Defense Op: Ending Trigger will be handed out from July 22nd to August 21st July 22nd - FUN SCRATCH TICKET: JULY 2020 - PART 2 New FUN Scratch lineup July 22nd - CAMPAIGN: CLEAR ULTIMATE QUESTS! Event : Ultimate quests and rare drop rate boosted July 22nd - PSO2 DAY: PREMIUM USER APPRECIATION DAY Premium users receive a boost and 2x SG 22 Ticket July 22nd - URGENT QUESTS & CONCERTS: JULY 2020 - PART 2 Update to Urgent Quests and In game concert dates July 22nd - LAST CHANCE TO GRAB THE RAGOL FASHION PACK! The Ragol Fashion Pack and Ragol Edition offers end this July July 22nd - FRESH FINDS SHOP: RECOMMENDED ITEMS Cash shop update - new apparel in the shop July 22nd - AC SCRATCH TICKET: SHINING HEROES Spend cash for a chance to earn cash outfits based on the shining series of games July 23rd - PSO2: NGS ANNOUNCEMENT CELEBRATION Log-in to receive up to 5,000,000 EXP in tickets and many other fantastic prizes! July 23rd - ANNOUNCING PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 NEW GENESIS Game announcement post with details about the game July 24th - CASINO BOOSTS Higher chance to win and better rewards at the casino during limited hours
July 20th - THIS WEEK IN RUNESCAPE Summer events and more July 22nd - Interface Scaling & Camera Offset Beta Interface Scaling is now on a RuneScape beta world for you to try!
July 20th - Atlas Node Contest: Winners Winners announced for May’s Atlas Node Contest! July 21st - Invasion Pass Progress Sale Cash shop sale on progress points July 22nd - MY.GAMES Market: Worker Bee Pack** Bee companion on sale now
July 20th - Mudd Has Faith of the Heart! Cash shop special pack on sale July 22nd - PC Patch Notes for 7/23/20 Minor fixes in the game July 23rd - Bonus Dilithium Weekend! Get 50-100% bonus dilithium from july 23rd to 27th
July 22nd - TRACKER: Paul LeSalle’s Plan for the UEE Giant lore dump July 24th - Inside Star Citizen Star Citizen Devs talk about the game’s development July 24th - Star Citizen Live: All About Alpha 3.10 Dev’s talk about Alpha 3.10 July 24th - Roadmap Roundup Minor changes and delays explained July 25th - Intragalactic Cook-off 2950 Cookbook Recipes created by the players inspired by the game
July 21st - Bugfixes and Content Changes Several fixes and changes listed in the post July 22nd - New Retro Hardcore PvP Game Worlds On July 29th two new Retro Hardcore PvP Game Worlds will launch July 23rd - Result of Fugue Exploit Investigation An exploit allowed players to farm a boss more than intended
July 20th - Special Flight Package Cash shop special until August 11st July 21st - Winners: MusCATeers Second Event Check out the winners and their winning screenshots July 24th - List of Issues: July 24 List of known issues and what is and isn’t a bug.
July 24th - Stay Cool Sales Until July 28, 2020! Cash shop update July 24th - Luxion is back until July 27! Luxion’s loot is a way for players who missed limited-time items in the past to pick them up.
July 20th - Channels for Event Selected! YouTubers selected for the YouTuber Support Event July 20th - Lethor Update New Character Teaser - Lethor July 20th - v.2.66 Updates Lethor now playable July 20th - Elite Crystal Loot box promotion - chance at some outfits July 20th - Cool Summer Comrade Package New Cash Shop Outfits July 20th - Lethor Avatar Shop Update & More Bunch of cosmetics available for new Lethor class in the cash shop July 20th - Summer 2020 Hot & Golden Time Event Summer Sales and free boosts July 20th - Diligent Daily Missions Event! Event - Clear dailies, get extra rewards July 20th - Let's Go Together! Event Event - play with your guild and get buffs/outfit July 20th - Sprouting Together Event Event to help new and existing players grow and some nice rewards July 20th - Let’s go, Lethor! Level Up! Leveling even for new playable class July 20th - Royal Army & Abyssal Arena's Secret Box Event - Arena and Royal Army special rewards July 20th - Round & Round Raid Dice Game Event Event - Clear content, get dice, roll and get rewards July 20th - Lethor's Celebratory Package Event Event - Get the new class’s outfit for free for logging on
July 21st - Weekly Bonus Event: Battlegrounds Get extra honor in the battlegrounds this week July 21st - Jump Into This Week’s PvP Brawl: Packed House Brawl PvP Event Details July 21st - Weekly Bonus Event: Warlords of Draenor Timewalking Players level 101+ can participate in six Warlords of Draenor dungeons for special loot July 22nd - Get Your Groove On During the Auction House Dance Party Micro-Holiday July 22! Event - Auction house dance party details July 23rd - Time Runs Short: Battle for Azeroth List of rewards that will become hardeimpossible to obtain once shadowlands hits. July 24th - Hotfixes: July 23, 2020 List of hotfixes
[USA] [H]NES, N64, GameCube, Wii, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, XBOX, XBOX 360, PC, Gameboy, GBA, DS, 3DS, Switch games + consoles, accessories, details inside. Clearing out my collection! [W] PayPal
Hello all, Coming at you with a bunch of of different consoles and games for different consoles. All games are guaranteed to work to your money back. Condition can be seen in the photos attached. Games ship for $3 each, $.50 more for an extra game. Consoles ship for $14. Willing to discount multiple games/multiple consoles. If you're ordering a lot of games or consoles, we can talk about cheapefree shipping. Nintendo NES Games--Cartridge Only for All Baseball -- $3 Baseball Simulator 1000 -- $10 Bases Loaded (x2) -- $6 each Bases Loaded II: Second Season -- $5 Blades of Steel (X2) -- $7 California Games -- $4 Casino Kid 21 Poker -- $8 Duck Hunt (x3) -- $3 each Gotcha -- $6 Hogan’s Alley -- $5 Ice Hockey (x2) -- $3 each Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road – 45 John Elway's Quarterback -- $4 Kings of the Beach (x3) -- $4 each Mach Rider -- $8 Major League Baseball (x3) -- $4 each Marble Madness (x2) -- $8 each Monopoly -- $3 NFL -- $8 Operation Wolf -- $3 Roger Clemens MVP Baseball -- $2 Super Mario Bros & Duck Hunt (x2) -- $5 each T&C Surf Designs Wood and Water Rage -- $10 The Legend of Kage -- $7 Tiger-Heli -- $3 Top Gun -- $5 Track and Field -- $9 Track and Field II (x2) -- $7 each Wheel of Fortune -- $9 World Class Track Meet -- $6 N64 Games—Cartridge Only Excitebike 64 -- $15 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time -- $30 Mario Kart 64 -- $40 Mario Party 3 -- $55 Midway Arcade Greatest Hits Volume 1 -- $10 GameCube Games—Complete unless stated otherwise Animal Crossing Disk Only -- $30 Crash: Tag Team Racing -- $25 Disney Sports Skateboarding Disk Only -- $13 Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life No Manual-- $25 Incredibles -- $5 Madagascar -- $9 Mario Party 7 -- $60 Super Monkey Ball 2 Disk Only -- $20 Super Smash Bros Melee -- $55 The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy -- $30 The Simpsons Hit and Run -- $30 The Sims – $9 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 Disk Only -- $3 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Disk Only -- $12 Wii Games—Complete unless stated otherwise Cars: Mater-National -- $6 Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore -- $9 LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures -- $6 NBA Live -9 All-Play -- $5 New Super Mario Bros Disk Only -- $20 Rock Band AC/DC Live Track Pack -- $4 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 -- $7 Wii Sports in cardboard sleeve -- $20 Gameboy—Cartridge Only Pokémon Pinball (torn label) -- $5 Shrek Fariytale Freakdown -- $5 Gameboy Advance—Cartridge Only Lizzie McGuire on the Go -- $5 Nintendo DS—Complete unless stated otherwise Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter Cart Only -- $3 Gardening Mama Cart Only -- $8 Imagine Fashion Stylist -- $6 Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game -- $6 Over the Hedge -- $3 Ratatouille: Food Frenzy Cart Only--$5 Scribblenauts Cart Only -- $5 Up -- $6 Nintendo 3DS—all cartridge only Animal Crossing New Leaf -- $15 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon -- $20 Pokémon Y -- $22 Nintendo Switch—complete The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening -- $40 Nintendo Consoles + Cables: GBA Purple (No battery door) -- $40 GBA Silver (No battery door, beat up) -- $35 OEM GBA Link Cable -- $20 Nintendo 3DS Blue XL with AC charger and USB charger, 2x stylus, and case -- $120 N64 With Expansion Pack + 4 controllers and a rumble pack -- $160 GameCube with 3 controllers, memory card -- $125 GameCube Microphone -- $10 Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP AC Adapter (x2) -- $12 each Action Replay for Nintendo 3DS -- $18 Microsoft XBOX--Complete unless stated otherwise 2005 World Series of Poker -- $4 American Chopper 2: Full Throttle -- $3 Eragon -- $5 Fable: The Lost Chapters -- $4 Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Limited Special Edition) -- $12 Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d -- $3 Links 2004 -- $4 Mace Griffin Bounty Hunger -- $8 Original XBOX Microsoft Exhibition Volume 7 (Games Demo Disk) -- $10 Project Gotham Racing -- $6 Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike -- $7 Xbox 360—complete unless stated otherwise Batman: Arkham City -- $5 Batman: Arkham Origins -- $17 Borderlands -- $5 Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 (Damaged box, no manual) -- $5 Conflict: Denied Ops Disc Only -- $4 Crysis 3 Hunter Edition -- $5 Dance Central -- $4 Fallout 3 -- $5 FIFA 16--$4 Forza Motorsport 4 Essentials Edition -- $6 Fracture -- $5 Gears of War 2 -- $8 Gears of War 3 -- $8 Grand Theft Auto IV -- $10 Grand Theft Auto V Disk only, comes in Lego Star Wars case -- $8 Halo 4 -- $7 High Heat Major League Baseball 2004 no manual -- $4 Kinect Sports (NEW, SEALED) -- $7 Naurto: The Broken Bond -- $22 Prototype 2 -- $5 Red Dead Redemption -- $10 Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition -- $10 Rock Band Track Pack Classic Rock -- $15 Saints Row: The Third -- $4 The Black Eyed Peas Experience -- $5 The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim -- $7 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 Masters: Collector’s Edition No Manual -- $10 Titanfall -- $6 Too Human -- $6 World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets -- $11 Microsoft Console XBOX 360 with wireless controller and connector cables -- $60 PlayStation PS1 Games—complete unless stated otherwise A Bugs Life Disk Only -- $5 Ape Escape Demo Disk in Cardboard Sleeve -- $8 Billiards -- $3 Bowling -- $4 International Track and Field 2000 Olympics (Slightly broken case) -- $9 Jepordy – 46 Madden NFL 2001 -- $6 MLB 2000 -- $5 Monopoly -- $4 Nascar 99 -- $3 NFL Game Day 99 -- $4 Nuclear Strike Black Label Disk Only -- $5 Triple Play 99 -- $8 VR Baseball ’97 -- $10 PS2 Games-- complete unless stated otherwise Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (no manual) – 48 Disney Sing It: Pop Hits -- $6 Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet -- $8 Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories No Map -- $35 Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt. -- $5 Guitar Hero Aerosmith -- $5 Iron Man -- $8 Jak II – 410 Kingdom Hearts Greatest Hits (No Manual) -- $7 Major League Baseball 2k7 -- $5 Need for Speed Underground 2 -- $10 Shrek 2 Playstation 2 -- $5 Stuntman -- $5 Superman: Shadow of Apokolips -- $9 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 -- $4 Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 -- $13 Virtua Fighter 4 Evoution -- $10 PS3 Games—complete unless stated otherwise Assassin’s Creed -- $5 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood -- $9 Batman: Arkham Asylum -- $5 Call of Duty Modern Warfare -- $8 Crysis 2 -- $6 Gran Turismo Five XL Edition -- $9 Grand Theft Auto IV -- $10 NCAA Football 10 -- $5 PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale -- $4 Resistance 2 -- $7 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves -- $6 PS4 Games—complete unless stated otherwise Fallout 4 -- $8 Final Fantasy Type 0 Day One Edition – 47 MLB The Show 16 -- $7 NBA 2k16 -- $5 PSP Games—complete unless stated otherwise Fight Night Round 3 -- $17 Gretzky NHL --$4 Hard Rock Casino -- $6 Hot Shots Golf Open Tee -- $5 Lumines Puzzle Fusion -- $6 MLB -- $3 NBA -- $3 Tiger Woods PGA Tour -- $5 World Championship Poker: All In -- $6 Playstation Consoles: PS3 Slim with cables, no controller -- $80 PC Games—complete unless stated otherwise Backyard Baseball 2005--$23 Backyard Basketball 2004 -- $6 Backyard Football 1999 -- $5 Backyard Hockey 2002 -- $4 Backyard Skateboarding 2004 -- $5 Backyard Sports Baseball 2007 -- $6 The Ultimate Doom ID Software 1995 Disk Only -- $8 Link to all the photos here. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Thanks y'all!
Video games are great. They’re a ton of fun to play and can be a cheap way to occupy your free time. They help people stay in touch with friends or even make new friends. Games are a far more interactive form of entertainment than just watching TV or movies. They keep your brain engaged and usually do a great job of rewarding players for their success. With all these benefits, it’s no surprise then that some people might get addicted. You could probably even make a good argument that all well designed games should be addicting in some way. For this article I want to look at the different ways that games make themselves addicting, decide if this constitutes good or bad gameplay, and finally make a decision on whether companies should make games like this.
Two types of addicting games
From a design perspective, there are two different categories of addicting games. The first category is games that have addictive gameplay. What this means is different from person to person. Some people love the “one more turn” types of games like the Civilization series. Others enjoy the “one more match” multiplayer games that can range from shooters, to MOBAs, to sports games. There’s another group of people that fall in love with MMORPGs and what they have to offer. The second category of addicting games are the games which employ addicting behavior. In these games, it is not the gameplay itself which is addicting but the way you play the game. These games might include addicting gameplay, but more importantly, they encourage forming habits. For this article, I want to focus on this second category of games and the gacha genre specifically. To be clear, many different types of games use these strategies but the gacha genre seems to rely on these heavily. The recent release of Genshin Impact for PCs got me thinking more about this, and I would like to use it as sort of a case study. In the next sections I’m going to break down all the things that I’ve seen gacha games do to encourage player addiction. I have not played Genshin Impact and know almost nothing about it other than some gameplay videos I’ve seen. I am curious to know how many of these things the game does or will do.
Lowest possible barrier to entry
It’s very important if you want to get new players addicted to your game, you have to get them to try the game first. In the world of video games, the easiest way to accomplish this is to make your game free. What harm could there be in trying out a free game? You see equivalents like this in the real world too. Have you ever heard of a casino where you have to pay to park? What about a casino with a parking lot that is too small? Many casinos will even offer free shuttle services. The most important thing is to get them in and get them started. It doesn’t stop there, though. Most gacha games will also start you off with one of the strongest characters. This accomplishes three things. First, it helps ensure you will have success immediately when you start playing. Most of the starting content for gacha games is laughably easy. It would almost be impossible to fail. They want to get those success endorphins kicking in as soon as possible. The second reason is that it immediately shows the player the power difference between lower tier characters and higher tier characters. Think of it like a company giving out free samples. First one is on them, but you’re going to have to pay if you want more (either with money or your time). The final reason for doing this, is to help players get over a time gap. For gacha games that have been out for a while, you will often see them enticing new players or returning players with offers for a free highest tier character if you start playing now. People who play gacha games know these characters can be very time consuming to acquire so it helps them feel like they won’t be starting so far behind other players.
Multiplayer content
Speaking of other players, including interactions with other humans is a must for this genre. The most common form of this is PvP matches. The higher your rank, the better your reward. PvP matches allow players who have been playing for a long time or spent a lot of money to feel like they are stronger or better than other players. These types of PvP matches are not set on even ground like most multiplayer focused games. Players don’t start with equal stats and have to rely on their game knowledge or experience. Instead, players with stronger or higher-level characters can straight up beat lower level players every time. It’s their reward for being committed to the game. PvP matches are also a great way to endlessly extend game time. Multiplayer doesn’t have to mean PvP, however. This might be co-operative content where you join a guild to help chip away at strong bosses or maybe just visit other players’ bases to see what they have and compare. This results in content that you can’t access unless you join a guild or maybe currency that you can’t acquire if you don’t have in game friends. These games are essentially forcing players to join and stay with a community. You are far more likely to stick with a game when you feel like you’re part of the group. Gacha games make sure it is easy to join guilds or fill up your friends list for this reason.
Consistent and repetitive game time required
Here’s a great article about forming new habits. To sum it up, the article states new habits can be formed using a cycle of three things:
Reminder (the trigger that initiates the behavior)
Routine (the actual behavior you perform)
Reward (the benefit from doing the behavior)
Does this sound familiar? What if I list it like this:
Send phone notification that your energy is full or that special productive time is happening right now
Get players to log in at least once daily
Make sure daily quest rewards are the most productive way (if not the only way) to make progress
These games are trying everything in their power to get you to form a habit of playing. They don’t want you to play for 40 hours straight and be done with the game. They might start off with the ability to play a lot, but that doesn’t last. After a while, players end up logging in to do the same few things every day. Gacha games know this gets repetitive and maybe a little boring so they will usually include a way for the game to “auto-play” itself through these daily tasks. At this point, it’s the habit that is important. You’re actually playing the game a lot less now and just logging in to make sure you get your daily reward. It’s not uncommon for gacha games to even include a monthly reward for players who log in every day of the month. You should be skeptical of any game that gives you a reward for simply logging in daily. Chances are good they’re trying to form a habit. If you’ve been playing one of these games daily for over two months, it’s likely that you have already formed a habit. Does the thought of not playing for a single day make you uneasy? Try it yourself. An even bigger test is to turn off alerts and stop playing for a week. Do you still have a desire to play after one week of not logging in? I find that I usually don’t.
Time limited events
Next up on the checklist are the time limited events or sales. It’s very common in these games to have events that last for maybe two weeks every other month or so. During these events, it is especially important for players to log in daily and do the limited time event quests. These events are often how new characters are introduced and added to the game. Players know that if they want these characters, their best chance of getting them is during this event only. These types of events are the game design equivalent of the well established limited-time offer. Check out this article on ways to maximize your limited-time offer. How many of these have you seen in gacha games?
Promote Your Limited-Time Sale
Popups as soon as you log into the game informing about the current events
Convert Abandoning Shoppers with a Timely Popup
Popup before you exit the game stating how much energy you have left or unspent action points
Leverage the Holiday Season
Most gacha games include events that coincide with the major holidays
Offer Free Delivery for a Limited Time
This is the equivalent of giving bonus currency during a flash sale. You don’t want to make people regret their past currency purchases by putting it on discount, but you can reward them for buying more currency right now.
Create Urgency-Driven Popups
Sales that you get access to only once for a short time such as new player promotions available for the first 24 hours after starting a game and then gone forever.
Drive Urgency with an Email Countdown Timer
The games usually make sure to let you know there’s only “one week left” or “24 hours left” until the end of the event. Almost never do they just list dates and rely on you to be aware of when the event is ending.
Recommend Products in Your Emails
Make sure players know exactly what cool costumes or characters they can only unlock during this event
Tease Upcoming Limited-Time Sales
A calendar showing the schedule for upcoming events
Gacha games want you to think that these are just fun, limited time pieces of content to enjoy, but they are also thoroughly designed to persuade you to spend money. By having constant limited time events, players are encouraged to continue playing the game for fear of missing out on new characters. It’s also par for the course that newly released characters or gear are exceedingly strong. This is just one more way to incentivize players to always want the newest characters. They are pretty much guaranteed to be stronger than existing characters. They might eventually get tuned back down but they always start out overly strong especially in games that have PvP content.
Are these games actually fun
I am not ashamed to admit that I love gacha games. To me, it is really fun collecting new heroes and the risk/reward nature of rolling for new characters can be quite satisfying. These types of games often have gameplay that I personally find quite enjoyable too. They can range anywhere from turn based strategy, to tower defense, to action games. It’s almost unfair to call them a genre since it is more like a common mechanic included in a game of some other genre. “Almost unfair” is important wording here. Inevitably these games all seem to follow the same formula. The game will start on a very high note. There is almost no repetitive gameplay and players are constantly unlocking new features, characters, or areas to explore. Eventually though, you will hit a content gate. It’s impossible for any company to produce new content at a rate faster than players can consume it. Gacha games need you to keep playing forever, however, so they have devised a way to extend content almost indefinitely: the difficulty grind. Figured out how to beat a boss for the first time? Next up is beating it with 200% more health. The only way to do that is to make your characters stronger. The only way to do that is to log in every day and do your daily quests. Welcome to the end game gacha grind. The further in a gacha game you get, the longer and longer it takes to increase your characters’ power. Some people find this type of grinding to be right up their alley. As much as I enjoy playing these games, they all lead to this same destination and this is usually when I end up moving on to the next game. I’m still waiting for the gacha game which does not try to last forever. Dragging the game on indefinitely doesn’t have to be part of a gacha game, it just fits the business model that gacha games currently use.
Is it wrong to make addicting games
I spent a lot of time thinking about this. I generally tend towards the idea that people are responsible for their own actions. I want to say there is nothing wrong with making an addicting game where people can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a game. After all, who am I to decide what they should do with their time or how they should spend their money? How is it any different than letting someone spend thousands of dollars on shoes, or a purse, or cookie jars, or a car? Something about that, however, just doesn’t sit right with me. After thinking about it more, I realized it’s not an equivalent comparison. For all those other items, there is nothing inherently addictive about the product. Someone might be addicted to collecting shoes, but the shoe itself has no addictive properties. I’m willing to go one step further. It’s OK to design an addictive game if the results of that addiction are not an immediate and direct benefit to the company. For example, I have heard from many fans of the Civilization games (myself included) that they have on occasion played until the sun unexpectedly starts rising the next morning. To me, that definitely sounds like addictive gameplay and the impact to the player could be considered harmful. Firaxis, however, did not benefit in any direct way from me staying up all night playing the game. Maybe I’m more likely to buy an expansion or the next version of the game, but while in the middle of this activity, there were no direct or immediate steps I could take that would benefit the company. The gameplay being addictive wasn’t designed to lead to anything other than the person playing the game more. If you are a satisfied customer, the company doesn’t care if you played for 10 hours, 50 hours, or 200 hours. If there was a game out there which used every one of the addicting tactics I listed above, I would have no issue with that if there was no way to spend additional money on the game. I’ve not heard of a game like this, but it’s possible one exists. The gacha games I know of, however, most certainly do benefit directly and immediately from players being addicted. By allowing players to spend endless amounts of money, it is in their best interest for you the player to get addicted and play the game for as long as possible spending as much money as possible along the way. It’s hard to argue they think otherwise when these types of games include pricing models that are so far outside the previously established pricing norms for video games. A fully priced AAA game typically sells for $60. Maybe there is a collector’s edition which could sell for up to $150 dollars. In that case, you know exactly what extra you are buying with your money. It is guaranteed to arrive with the product. Gacha games, however, will let you spend hundreds of dollars every single day with no guarantee of acquiring what you hope to get. Again, in theory, there is nothing wrong with a game allowing players to spend as much money as they want on the game. But how can I interpret a game designed to be behaviorally addicting while also allowing unlimited spending as anything other than malicious? It is the combination of these two things which leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, I do think companies have a moral obligation to not take advantage of their customers. Making games like this does tell me what you think of me as a customer. You view me as a target to extract as much wealth from as possible. If the industry keeps going this direction, it will only be a matter of time before regulations are put in place to protect consumers, much like a legal drinking, smoking, or gambling age. Here’s one company that was willing to openly talk about the issue and I think they should be applauded for it. Companies don’t have to use this design and business model to make a profit, it just allows them to make a bigger profit. Ultimately, the choice is yours to play games of this nature. I know many people who’ve played games like this for years and never spent a dime. You should just know what you’re getting into. It’s the equivalent of putting health warnings on cigarette boxes. For anyone that’s played Genshin Impact, how did I do? Does the game break the mold, or does it follow the tried and proven path? https://hexanephgames.com/2020/10/23/designing-addicting-games/
Rep: https://old.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/jd867h/infeststations_igs_rep_page_4/? I'm still working on this list so it may change. I'll be basing pricing off of g2a and discounting. Please post a comment with the games you want and an offer and I will let you know if I accept, or otherwise I will reply with a price. Thanks!
"10000000"
Available
>observer_
Available
11-11 Memories Retold
Available
12 is Better Than 6
Available
230 Battleborn Platinum Currency
Available
60 Parsecs!
Available
80 Days
Available
911 Operator
Available
911 Operator - Special Resources DLC
Available
A Fistful of Gun
Available
Aaero
Available
Absolver
Available
AEGIS DEFENDERS
Available
Almost There: The Platformer
Available
ANCESTORS LEGACY
Available
Another World – 20th Anniversary Edition
Available
Another World – 20th Anniversary Edition
Available
Arma Tactics
Available
Arma Tactics
Available
ARMA: Cold War Assault
Available
ARMA: Cold War Assault
Available
Arma: Gold Edition
Available
Arma: Gold Edition
Available
Armoured Warfare E3 Pack
Available
Armoured Warfare E3 Pack
Available
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Available
Assassin's Creed® Chronicles China
Available
Assassin's Creed® Origins
Available
Avernum 3: Ruined World
Available
Aveyond: Lord of Twilight
Available
Axis Game Factory: AGFPRO Premium DLC
Available
Axis Game Factory: AGFPRO v3
Available
Axis Game Factory: AGFPRO Voxelsculpt
Available
Axis Game Factory: AGFPRO Zombie FPS
Available
Axis Game Factory: AGFPRO Zombie Survival Pack
Available
Axis Game Factory: Drone Kombat
Available
Back to the Future: The Game
Available
Back to the Future: The Game
Available
Battle Islands Commanders - E3 Exclusive Crate
Available
Battleborn
Available
Battleborn Starter Skin Pack
Available
Battlesloths
Available
BATTLETECH
Available
BATTLETECH - Flashpoint
Available
BATTLETECH - Shadow Hawk Pack
Available
Bear With Me - Collector's Edition
Available
Bionic Commando
Available
Blade & Soul E3 Pack
Available
Blade & Soul E3 Pack
Available
BLASPHEMOUS
Available
BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend
Available
Bleed 2
Available
Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2
Available
Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2
Available
Bone - Episode 1 and 2
Available
Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition
Available
Breevy
Available
Brigador: Up-Armored Edition
Available
Broken Age
Available
Call of Duty®: WWII
Available
Call of Duty®: WWII - Call of Duty Endowment Bravery Pack
Available
Call of Duty®: WWII - Call of Duty Endowment Fear Not Pack
Available
Capoka
Available
Chasm
Available
Choice Chamber
Available
Cities: Skylines + After Dark DLC
Available
Civization III Complete
Available
Crash Bandicoot™ N. Sane Trilogy
Available
Crawl
Available
Cultist Simulator
Available
Dandara
Available
DARK FUTURE: BLOOD RED STATES
Available
DARK SOULS™ III
Available
DARK SOULS™ III - Ashes of Ariandel™
Available
Darkside Detective
Available
DEAD IN VINLAND
Available
Dead Island Definitive Edition
Available
Dead Island Retro Revenge
Available
Dead Rising 2
Available
Dead Rising 2
Available
Dead Rising 2
Available
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Available
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Available
Dead Rising 3 - Apocalypse Edition
Available
Deadlight Directors Cut
Available
Deadlight Directors Cut
Available
DESERT CHILD
Available
DeskScapes
Available
Destiny 2 Planet of Peace Exclusive Emblem
Available
Devil Daggers
Available
Devilian Extra Life Humble Bundle Package
Available
Directory Opus 12 Light
Available
Distance
Available
Divide By Sheep
Available
Do Not Feed the Monkeys
Available
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Spinball
Available
Dungeon Souls
Available
Dungeons 3
Available
Duskers
Available
Dyscourse
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Blood Storm
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: BM03 Vegalta Gold
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Depth Crawler Gold Coat
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Gigantus DCC-Gogo. Marking
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Gigantus DCC-Zero Marking
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Gigantus Tank, Bullet Girls Marking
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Gigantus Tank, EDF IFPS Markings
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Gigantus Tank, Natsuiro HS Markings
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Gleipnir
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Ifrit
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Mission Pack 1: Time of the Mutants
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Mission Pack 2: Extreme Battle
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Pure Decoy Launcher 5 Pack A
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Pure Decoy Launcher 5 Pack B
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Reflectron Laser
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Spark Lancer
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Sting Shot
Available
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1: Volatile Napalm
Available
Else Heart.Break()
Available
Emily is Away Too
Available
Epistory - Typing Chronicles
Available
ESO Vanity pet: Bristlegut Piglet and 15 days of ESO Plus
Available
ESO Vanity pet: Bristlegut Piglet and 15 days of ESO Plus
Available
Eterium
Available
EVEOnline 30-day Trial Access Code
Available
EVEOnline 30-day Trial Access Code
Available
EVEOnline 4 Ship Skins
Available
EVEOnline 4 Ship Skins
Available
Evergarden
Available
Evoland 2
Available
Fidel - Dungeon Rescue
Available
Fight'N Rage
Available
Finding Paradise
Available
Flat Heroes
Available
Fluffy Horde
Available
Forts
Available
Freedom Planet
Available
Freedom Planet
Available
Front Mission Evolved
Available
FRONTIERS
Available
Full Metal Furies
Available
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
Available
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
Available
Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition
Available
Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition
Available
Galactic Civilizations® III
Available
Galak-Z
Available
Game Guru: Buildings Pack
Available
Game Guru: Death Valley Pack
Available
Game Guru: Fantasy Pack
Available
Game Guru: Megapack 2
Available
Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series
Available
Geometry Dash
Available
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online
Available
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online
Available
Ghost Recon Phantoms E3 Avatar
Available
Ghost Recon Phantoms Starter Pack
Available
GOD EATER 2 Rage Burst
Available
God's Trigger
Available
Gods Will Be Watching
Available
Gods Will Be Watching
Available
Grid 2 Spa- Francorchamps Track Pack
Available
GRID Autosport Drag Pack
Available
GRID Autosport Road & Track Car Pack
Available
Grow Home
Available
Guacamelee! 2
Available
Gunmetal Arcadia Zero
Available
Gyromancer
Available
H1Z1
Available
H1Z1 Crate
Available
hack_me
Available
hack_me 2
Available
Hacknet
Available
Hacknet Labyrinths DLC
Available
Hackyzack
Available
Hand of Fate
Available
HAWKEN – Prosk Starter Bundle
Available
Hearts of Iron IV
Available
Hector: Badge of Carnage
Available
Hector: Badge of Carnage
Available
Hector: Badge of Carnage
Available
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Available
Her Story
Available
HITMAN™: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
Available
Hollow Knight
Available
Homefront
Available
Homefront
Available
HORIZON CHASE TURBO
Available
Human: Fall Flat
Available
Hurtworld
Available
I am Bread
Available
I'm not a Monster
Available
Ice Lakes
Available
Ice Lakes
Available
Immortal Redneck
Available
Insurgency
Available
Insurgency
Available
Jalopy
Available
Jotun
Available
JumpJet Rex
Available
Jurassic Park: The Game
Available
Jurassic Park: The Game
Available
Just Cause 3 XXL Edition
Available
Kerbal Space Program
Available
Kero Blaster
Available
Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition
Available
Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition
Available
Killing Floor
Available
Killing Floor - Chickenator DLC
Available
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 1 DLC
Available
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC
Available
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 3 DLC
Available
Kimmy
Available
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Available
Kingdom: New Lands Royal Edition
Available
Last Word
Available
Late Shift
Available
Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition
Available
Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition
Available
Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition
Available
Legends of Eisenwald
Available
Lethal League
Available
Lethal League
Available
Life Is Strange - Episode 1
Available
Life Is Strange - Episode 1
Available
Limbo
Available
Little Nightmares
Available
Lost Castle
Available
Lost Horizon
Available
Lost Horizon
Available
Love is Dead
Available
Mafia III
Available
Mafia III: Sign of the Times
Available
Maize
Available
Mega Man Legacy Collection
Available
Memoria
Available
Memoria
Available
METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES
Available
METAL GEAR SOLID V: The Definitive Experience DLC
Available
METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN
Available
Mighty No. 9
Available
MINIT
Available
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Available
Monster Hunter Generations Demo
Available
Monster Hunter Generations Demo
Available
Monster Prom
Available
Moonlighter
Available
Morphblade
Available
Mother Russia Bleeds
Available
MOTHERGUNSHIP
Available
Mountain
Available
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Available
My Time at Portia
Available
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
Available
Neon Chrome
Available
NeuroVoider
Available
Never Alone Arctic Collection
Available
Nex Machina
Available
No Time To Explain Remastered
Available
Nongünz
Available
Northgard
Available
Offworld Trading Company
Available
Offworld Trading Company
Available
Oh...Sir! The Hollywood Roast
Available
Oh...Sir! The Insult Simulator
Available
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You
Available
Outlast 2
Available
Overcooked
Available
Overgrowth
Available
Overlord II
Available
Overlord Raising Hell (Expansion)
Available
Overlord™
Available
Override: Mech City Brawl
Available
Paradigm
Available
Paratopic
Available
Passpartout: The Starving Artist
Available
Pathfinder Adventures - 40 Chests
Available
Pathfinder Adventures - 40 Chests
Available
PAYDAY 2 - E3 2016 Mask Pack
Available
PAYDAY 2 - E3 2016 Mask Pack
Available
PAYDAY 2 - E3 2016 Mask Pack
Available
PAYDAY 2 - Lycanwulf and The One Below Masks
Available
PAYDAY 2 Electarodent and Titan Masks
Available
PAYDAY 2 Electarodent and Titan Masks
Available
PAYDAY 2 John Wick Weapon Pack DLC
Available
PAYDAY 2 Orc and Crossbreed Masks
Available
PAYDAY 2 The Bomb Heists DLC
Available
PHANTOM DOCTRINE
Available
Pillars of Eternity
Available
Pix the Cat
Available
Planet Alpha
Available
PlayCanvas + TANX
Available
PlayCanvas + TANX
Available
PLUG & PLAY
Available
Poker Night 2
Available
Poker Night at the Inventory
Available
Poker Night at the Inventory
Available
Poker Night at the Inventory
Available
Poker Night at the Inventory
Available
Poker Night at the Inventory
Available
Poker Night at the Inventory
Available
Pool Panic
Available
Portal Knights
Available
Precursors
Available
Project CARS 2
Available
Psychonauts
Available
Psychonauts
Available
Punch Club Deluxe
Available
Punch Club Deluxe
Available
Purrfect Date - Visual Novel/Dating Simulator
Available
Puss!
Available
Puzzle Agent
Available
Puzzle Agent
Available
Puzzle Agent
Available
Puzzle Agent
Available
Puzzle Agent
Available
Puzzle Agent 2
Available
Puzzle Agent 2
Available
Puzzle Agent 2
Available
Puzzle Agent 2
Available
Puzzle Agent 2
Available
Q.U.B.E. 2
Available
quake Champions Early Access plus 50 Shards, 100 Platinum, 2000 Favor
Sonic Lost World, Sonic Generations + Casino Nights DLC, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 2, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed + Metal Sonic & Outrun and Ryo Hazuki DLC
Available
Sonic Mania
Available
SOULCALIBUR VI
Available
Space Hulk Ascension
Available
Space Hulk Ascension
Available
Space Hulk Ascension
Available
Space Run
Available
Space Run Galaxy
Available
SpeedRunners
Available
SpeedRunners
Available
SpellForce 2 - Anniversary Edition
Available
SpellForce 3 Beta Access
Available
SPINTIRES
Available
SPINTIRES
Available
Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy
Available
Squad (Early Access)
Available
Star Wars:™ X-Wing vs TIE Fighter - Balance of Power Campaigns
All of the recommended casinos here are legitimate sites that keep players safe. They respect gambling rules and age restrictions, offering an excellent real money gaming experience in a secure environment dedicated to players' welfare and Discount Casino Gear security online. Casino Discount Supplies. Menu. The Blog. Features of online casinos. December 2, 2020 Author: admin Category: Blog. The casino has long been introduced into the life of gambling people Previously, this type of game was strictly prosecuted. However, now a large part of the casino is legal and represented on the Internet. Online platforms such us www.sharpgambler.co.uk allow a player to place ... Discount Casino Gear is an online source for over 3,000 casino supplies at wholesale prices, including popular poker chips, chip sets, gaming tables, and other popular casino supplies. We always recommend that the player examines the Discount Casino Gear Review conditions and double-check the bonus directly on the casino companies website. Bonus. Percentage-Gamble Responsibly BeGambleAware.org. 0. 0. Hippodrome Casino - Welcome Bonus -Prize pool: 250% up to €2500. Casino Deposit Methods . About Us; Contact Us ; Sitemap; Betzest . Big Deposit Bonus; Great Slot Selection ... Get Discount Casino Gear newest coupon alerts newest coupon alerts & our weekly top coupons newsletter. our weekly top coupons newsletter. Signing up today is for future emails on future deals that may warrant special attention. We will NEVER sell or release your email address without your approval. Join Now . 2 people already joined today! Thanks. Check your inbox please. Confirm your email ... Save with Discount Casino Gear Coupons & Promo codes coupons and promo codes for February, 2021. Today's top Discount Casino Gear Coupons & Promo codes discount: 6 Deck Blackjack Dealing Shoe & Discard Holder from $29.99 CASINO Playing Cards; Affordable Plastic Playing Cards; Bridge Cards; Pinochle; Wheels & Bingo. Prize Wheels; Raffle Drums; Bingo Supplies; Slot Machines. Toy & Bank Slot Machines; Slot Machine Tokens; 36"x72" Blackjack and Craps 2 Sided Layout List Price: $39.99. Our Price: $20.99 . ProShuffle Automatic 1-6 Deck Professional Card Shuffler List Price: $356.99. Our Price: $169.99 . 4 Aces Poker ... We carry over 75 different kinds of poker chips, so there’s something to suit every single player. View them all here with easy ordering and fast shipping. Discount Casino Gear coupons and promo codes. Trust Coupons.com for Games savings. Total 21 active discountcasinogear.com Promotion Codes & Deals are listed and the latest one is updated on January 09, 2021; 2 coupons and 19 deals which offer up to 70% Off , $72 Off , Free Shipping and extra discount, make sure to use one of them when you're shopping for discountcasinogear.com; Dealscove promise you'll get the best price on products you want.
