Rune Seeker’s gacha mechanics

This article helps to reframe a better understanding of gacha, from then explaining its role in Rune Seeker and the $RUNES economy.

Common misconceptions about gacha

• What is gacha?

Gacha, fully “Gachapon”, is a Japanese term for a toy vending machine where players purchase coins then load them into the machine to exchange gifts. Gifts are typically models of a famous character from a manga, anime, game, or other valuable item to the player. Unlike others, Gachapon machines have a limited number of rewards and are sealed so that players cannot see the characters inside.

Similarly, the gacha mechanism in the online game is designed in the form of exchanging money or in-game resources for lucky spins. The chance of winning varies based on rewards’ rarity or the issuer’s regulations.

Gacha is entirely adventitious, and every player stands a chance of winning. In short, unpredictability and the luck factor assist gacha in eliciting emotions from players. Nonetheless, they are not the most important factors that make gacha so appealing.

• The true key to gacha’s success

Many people believe that players find gacha interesting because it resembles gambling with the two elements of unpredictability and luck, let alone the positive response to this mechanic from the player community. However, if gambling is enjoyable, why don’t all gambling games succeed? Or, more specifically, why do people continue to prefer games to traditional gambling?

First, to entice players in the gacha, the rewards must be valuable to them. In other words, people enjoy in-game gacha because they dote on the games, and rewards will excite them as much. If Genshin Impact, DotA2, CS:GO… were poorly made games with nothing interesting to offer, would you be excited about and willing to squander on mysterious chests?

For this reason, if most games wish to be successful with their mechanics, they must first create a game that players regard highly, which includes, but is not limited to, developing elements such as:

• Outstanding graphics
• Deep and appealing gameplay
• Intriguing plot
• The game is constantly maintained, improved, upgraded, and enriched with new content
• Strong community

As can be seen, the above characteristics are shared by most games that use Gacha mechanics, ranging from the most well-known, such as Genshin Impact, Pokemon Masters EX, DotA2, and others, to less well-known mobile games such as Counter:Side, Honkai Impact, and Raid:Shadow Legends. The characteristics that make you enjoy a game are pretty much the characteristics that make you enjoy a game with gacha.

Second, gacha promotes transparency while also meeting the needs of a large segment of players who wish to spend money.

Gacha appears to be the most effective mechanism for distributing items in the game, assigning value via rarity based on the likelihood of winning. A set of skins in DotA2 with a 0.001% chance of winning, for example, will be more easily recognized as valuable than another piece with a 10% chance of winning. The mechanism therefore distributes assets in a transparent and equitable manner. The number of happy players would be greatly reduced if there was no gacha and players could only buy directly from stores or auctions.

Placing 1 rare skin set among 1000 other sets behind a gacha chest is analogous to burying a gold bar deep within the jungle — all the gold miners will gladly participate in the gold digging and stand a chance of winning it. The treasure hunt is divided evenly. If that gold bar were to be put up for public auction in the market, nearly all the gold miners would know for sure that they couldn’t get their hands on it for a variety of reasons, and they would be disappointed, even angry. Consequently, they would no longer participate in the purchase, exchange, or sale of that gold bar. Gacha is, therefore, an essential component of any community-based games.

That said, many players prefer gacha to official and black markets, even if the items won from gacha are for sale there and they may have enough money to own. As can be seen, the need to participate in luck games is a real need for a large proportion of players who have money. They sometimes want to acquire a valuable item through gacha rather than simply owning it. Thus, gacha helps to attain the ultimate goal of any game: satisfying player needs.

It is never wrong to satisfy such human needs of players.

What role does gacha play in meeting the needs of Rune Seeker players?

As previously stated, whether or not Gacha rewards are appealing to players is determined by whether or not the game itself interests them. The Rune Seeker development team concentrates on the following aspects:

• Meticulous and impressive graphics
• In-depth plot
• High strategicness
• Concentration on community development
• Constant update and improvements

Regarding graphics, take a look at the game in beta stage:

Considering the plot, Rune Seeker creates a massive lore system that is aggregated on a wiki page that explains all the terms, characters, elements, and items in the game. More information can be found at:

Regarding strategicness, we created a game with unpredictability integrated in nearly every element. It would be difficult to sum it up in this article, so I encourage you to read the Whitepaper.

Essentially, players will compete in maps that are randomly generated for each match, using a Rune system that is randomly combined from the Rune Shards pool with thousands of variations (which will be continuously updated), with the base system, Units can build, develop, and evolve in unique mechanisms.

However, one important difference between Rune Seeker’s gacha mechanics and that of other games is that players take on the role of market makers and fully own all of their items, which is made more secure by the NFT technology.

• Gacha does not cause game imbalance.

Most importantly, because Rune Seeker prioritizes balance and tactical variety, the in-game Rune and Unit gacha does not create a difference in rarity value, resembling a fair distribution mechanism akin to card dealing.

In particular, the value of Runes and Units is determined by the player’s gameplay and strategy, not rarity or upgrade level. Participating in gacha allows players to find and build a set of Runes or Unit to maximize the power of their team. This ensures long-term balance and prevents the money factor from interfering with the game experience. Players can trade, buy, and sell items with others, ensuring that everyone can easily find what they are looking for. Which means…

• Gacha stimulates the economy

Because Rune Seeker’s economy is almost entirely run by the community, gacha players look like an expedition hunting treasures hidden in the mystical land. Then they begin to establish a trading system to buy and sell what they collect. Similarly, items won from gacha mechanism, such as Runes, buildings, units, and hero skins, will become goods that can be exchanged, bought, and sold directly on the market. This serves as a reward for those who participate in the gacha; and a convenience for players who want to buy the items they need directly from the market.

Most importantly, we recognize the importance of assisting players in storing and protecting all of their physical and digital assets. We decided that all items won from the gacha are upgradeable to NFT. This establishes immediate ownership for the winners and ensures rewards can be exchanged, bought and sold with speed, security, safety, and transparency on the blockchain network.

So, players own not only in-game items, but also a type of digital asset that is unique and protected over time, and can be exchanged and traded on the Marketplace.

Visit our official website, read the Whitepaper, and prepare for your adventure. Right now!