Hello all,
I'll try to make this pot short because I don't want to reach a character limit if there is one.
(Also you can play the game however you want, I am not bashing anyone who chooses how they play the game. These are my personal opinions)
So recently i made a post about me wrongly getting onto the defensive when someone claimed it must be hard being a f2p in genshin. And i told my friend this and they said genshin is a gambling game so it does take discipline and restraint to be a f2p. This is what my friend said i will paraphrase what they said. "It blows my mind you don't see Genshin as a gambling game. Everytime you wish, you are participating in gambling. It doesn't matter if you spend money on the game".
And this is my response.
"I thought it only counted if you spend a lot or some money and pulled on it a lot. Gacha for me has been far removed from the word gambling i don't see it as the same thing until real money is added to the equation. Ik it's a gamble to get what you want and you need to be lucky or just have a lot of primos to get the best odds of getting what you want. But to me if it was a gambling game, the gacha would be the *only* thing you could do in the entire game. It would just be the banner and that's it. That's just what gambling means to me. And the odds of winning would be a lot worse. There would be no guaranteed 5 star after losing a 5050 if it was truly a gambling game to me 🤷🏾♀️"
And to me I associate Genshin with a lot of nice and positive things too. It's my comfort game and i love playing it despite the flaws it has, which i am critical about too. But i still enjoy it.
There are a lot of things in genshin that i know are a gamble. Like rolling artifacts, or hoping to get the same commission quest line in a row so you can choose the correct dialogue option to continue yhe story, and more. But to me those are mechanics of the game. Yes it's a gamble to get the things you want, but you are not necessarily gambling to get them.
In another game I play for example is Monster Hunter World. That game is beautiful, very difficult, and a lot of fun! But it's also VERY grindy. Sometimes you will have to hunt the same monster multiple times just hoping to get the part you want from it so you can progress. And if it is a very valuable part, the drop rate is much lower. In that sense, it is a gamble whether you will get it even after breaking the specific part on the monster that gives a higher chance of it dropping. But despite all that, it still doesn't make it a gambling game.
Maybe I am naive or dumb for thinking this way. But to me Genshin isn't a gambling game in nature. Based on what gambling means to me. If i am wrong then I guess I am wrong, and I will just keep my opinions to myself moving forward. 
I play a lot of gacha games too, not mainly hoyoverse ones. But i play cocoppa play and livly island. Cocoppa play, is definitely the most unkind one of them all imo and i would agree that despite how pretty it looks, it is a gambling game because the odds are so much worse. And you either need luck, to be a big spender or to be the companies favourite player (jk) And if you play competetively, you may want high ranks, because it has competitive elements. And better rewards require higher ranks which require higher tier items that have low drop rates. but anyways, that's all.
If you feel strongly about how wrong I am, please don't be too harsh. I already feel terrible about all that's happened.
