On surface level, the idea behind the balloons is cute and fun. You could pay full price in the shop OR if we do this event you COULD get it cheaper! Seems nice and generous! But below the surface, it's quite nefarious
I'll break it down with a lil example (and no worries, it took me a while to understand it myself)
If you were already going to buy Sue's skin at full price, the opportunity to get it cheaper is nice. But what if you weren't going to buy the Sue skin? Well you have the chance to get it in one balloon, what's spending 100 units to try one balloon?
You don't get it on the first balloon, well darn. You could turn away and go back to your life and you're just out a dollar. Or...you could spend 2 more dollars and try again? Maybe you'll get it on the second balloon, and what's 2 bucks?
Dangit, didn't get it on second balloon either. You should definitely just leave it alone and move on. But you've already popped two balloons, that makes your chances of hitting it on third balloon even greater. And it's only 3 bucks, let's drop 3 dollars and try a third balloon?
The gatcha system preys upon people's inability to self-regulate. It doesn't work for me because I refuse to spend even a dollar on something I don't want (unfortunately for me, I've wanted most of the skin in the gatcha system so far haha), but for an average person, the above scenario happens. They see 100 units, small number, let's try. 200, also small unit, let's try. 300, eh medium number but not too big. But it's not 300 units on the third try, you've now spent 600 units total
And the percentage to get it cheaper than full price is actually quite small. Many people, who would have NEVER bought the skin from the shop at all have now spent 2100 units (21 dollars) on a skin they wouldn't have in the shop, because they were emotionally manipulated by the system to pop balloons on the chance of getting a quick and cheap skin
For those who genuinely want the skin, or maybe you just want to own every skin in the game, the gatcha system is meaningless to you. You were already going to buy it and the chance to get it cheaper is awesome. But for those who wouldn't have bought it, they can easily get duped into it
Is that on them? Of course it is, people should have self control and not spend money on things they don't want. But we're all human and human emotions are easily manipulated. There's an entire field of psychology about this very subject and it's weaponized by casinos and gambling companies like Netease to weasel money from the average person.
Can someone please explain to me what’s the issue with these balloon event is, if you were planning on buying a skin anyway wouldn’t you like the chance of getting it cheaper..