Frontiers in psychiatry
Social communities in gacha gaming and adolescent problem gambling risk: a mixed methods study
Door Du A en Wolfe J.
Inhoud in het Engels
Abstract
Introduction
Gacha games are free-to-play mobile games featuring randomized-reward mechanics to acquire characters and items. These games have grown into a multi-billion-dollar global industry, yet their relationship with adolescent problem gambling remains largely unstudied.
Methods
This mixed methods study examined the extent to which gacha game spending predicts problem gambling severity among adolescents (RQ1) and how social gacha game communities influence spending behavior (RQ2). A survey of 265 adolescent gacha players recruited from online gacha gaming communities on Reddit used the DSM-IV-Multiple Response-Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) to measure problem gambling severity alongside gacha spending, traditional gambling participation, and demographic covariates. Thematic analysis was conducted on 77 open-ended survey responses and 20 follow-up interviews.