Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Gacha: Now and then

Gacha is back (and public)

At Pico's launch in March 2010, players were introduced to Gacha as a main navigation icon alongside 'Decor', 'Pocket' and 'Shop'.



Pico players could take their chances at the gashapon machine at any place and at any time since it was part of the navigation options.

I'm not sure about you, but I have mixed feelings about this week's changes to Gacha.

Gacha (face left)As of May 31, Gacha has been removed from the user interface and made into a public room vendor, accessible to those who visit any of the Beginners Plaza rooms.

I can't help but let my curiosity get the best of me, as I wonder what has prompted the developers of Pico to make this change.

Did they need to drive more traffic to Beginners Plaza?
Did they feel this change would make people more aware of Gacha?
Is Gacha still a part of the sign-up tutorial? If yes, how (since it's context has changed)?

Moments after the announcement on the official Pico blog Beginners Plaza rooms were jam-packed and overflowed to 26 rooms (most of which were filled to capacity)! So, it's obvious that we love Gacha.

How do you feel? Take a few moments to let us all know.



What do you think about Gacha becoming a part of public rooms (as of May 31, 2010)?

2 comments:

  1. I think what happened was that ameba was just going to rid pico of gacha completely, replacing it with Events. If you read the original announcement, it does sound like that was their intent.

    When everyone rioted or complained or something, they tried to think of a way to reintroduce it, which couldn't be an icon since that was replaced by events. So a vendor was formed.

    -suna

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  2. Hmmm. Interesting observation. I'd never thought of that.

    Thanks for sharing, suna.

    :-)

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