#but specifically as they relate to Tokyo 7th sisters as a series because its story is very unique to other franchises

[ftmtftm]

Can you talk more about the gacha monetization models? I'm unfamiliar with how that translates to "AI" monetization... Also I'm eager to hear your thoughts on gacha since you say you have had the experience they aim for (a gambling addiction which oh goodness sounds so rough)

Yeah so important context here: I'm an iPhone user talking specifically about AI apps in the iPhone app store. This is important because Apple has very strict policies about the App Store pornographic content.

In the couple of AI apps I've downloaded to mess with and try to understand more, there are usually several different ways to generate pornographic images. That's generally the main draw of these apps - create "free" anime porn. But it's not free, because they need to get around Apple's policies.

The app I've been messing with the most has a very clever (and I think actually kinda cool) work around where to view an image it has read as NSFW it makes you click a consent button, basically confirming you are of legal age and are looking at the image for "artistic or research purposes".

But you only have a certain number of clicks before you have to pay for more, because they can't show you free porn because of the App Store policies. Buying more clicks is pretty expensive (but they're also pretty standard gacha prices when compared), but you get double the clicks if you're a pro subscriber. If you're a pro subscriber you also get unlimited generation and no ads! All for a little over $100. Then once you pay that $100 you can even get lifetime pro for almost $200! No your current pro subscription doesn't count as a credit towards lifetime pro! And that doesn't mean you get to stop paying for clicks to see porn! You still have to buy those!

There's also a chat feature in this app - which I have yet to look into in depth- but for that you have to buy credits that give you 30~60 minutes of chat time with a character bot. You have to pay more for porn.

It also limits the number of generators you can use unless you use a paid currency. Some generators are unlimited with the pro version, but even with pro you have to use the paid currency for others. You also still have to use the separate paid click currency to see any NSFW images you generate with the other, different paid currency, which is also different from the chat paid currency.

It's!! Incredibly fucked!! It's designed to get you to spend money to get pretty pictures in a way that explicitly reminds me of spending thousands of dollars for anime jpgs in high school - but at least those jpgs still served a function in a game. These jpgs are just jpgs that you don't even get to see first without paying for them.

In terms of gacha specifically though - Yeah! I'm a long time rhythm game player and was introduced to gacha through Love Live SIF and I've also played Tokyo 7th Sisters, Cookie Run Kingdom, Genshin, Prosekai, several Im@s games, and a good handful of others that I've also dropped money on (though Tokyo 7th Sisters is my favorite series and I've absolutely spent the most on it). I've genuinely probably spent at least an accumulated $100,000 on gacha over the last decade because all my disposable income in high school and college went to rolling for my best girls. It deeply troubles me when I look back at it! Especially because I still get the itch for it!

The models were bad then and they are genuinely only getting worse now. It's genuinely scary to me !!

#(I also have... a lot of complex and interesting thoughts about idols and capitalism and the commodification of the self in general #but specifically as they relate to Tokyo 7th sisters as a series because its story is very unique to other franchises #but that is a very different post - I just want to mention it here so maybe someone asks me about it in the future) #asks #anon