BUY NOW PAY LATER DAN KOMPULSI FINANSIAL DALAM EKOSISTEM GACHA GAME
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Abstract
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services have expanded into the digital entertainment ecosystem, including in-game gacha transactions in mobile games, potentially blurring the boundaries of players’ financial rationality. This study aims to understand how the use of BNPL relates to players’ spending patterns and motives within gacha systems, as well as how a shift in motives from entertainment toward financial vulnerability is reflected in the narratives players share online. Using a passive netnography approach, this study tracked organic conversations on three Discord servers for mobile gacha game communities in Indonesia (Genshin Impact Indonesia, Honkai: Star Rail Official, and Whize Ngopskuy) from February to June 2026, supplemented by informal interviews with two informants for data triangulation. The analysis was conducted using a mental accounting framework, with payment decoupling and present bias as core mechanisms, and monetization dark patterns and social proof as contextual triggers. The findings reveal three interrelated patterns: the normalization of BNPL in gaming community conversations; indications of a shift in motives from hedonistic to uncontrollable spending tendencies; and the construction of virtual social status as a spending catalyst that even drives some players toward high-risk financing instruments such as online loans. This study is interpretive in nature and is not intended to generalize causal relationships between BNPL and compulsive behavior. Its implications are relevant for regulators, BNPL platform providers, and consumer protection policymakers in designing a more responsible digital consumption ecosystem.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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