Gacha

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This article is about the belief system and practices. For the organisation, see Church of Gacha. For other uses, see Gacha (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Gacha game, or Gatcha.
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Gacha
Religious interface version of Gacha symbol
Type Fictional religion, parody religion
Creator Allie Xiao
Classification Polytheism
Orientation Dharmic
Theology Animism, Personality cults
Structure Technology-aid yoga
Region Worldwide
Founder "Moon Jones"
Origin April 2032
Members Approximately 150,397

Gacha, also known as Gachanism, is a fictional cult created by first year Parsons MFADT student Senyuan "Allie" Xiao in her Major Studio 2 multimedia project "a future cult". The creation of Gacha is inspired by mobile games and real cults including Heaven's gate.

As the project says, Gacha is first described in 2031 and organised as a movement in April 2032 by American Moon Jones. Practices are the core of Gacha, and they emphasise the importance of connectedness with Gospel saintess, and also patience and diligence. Through moral rectitude and praying, practitioners of Gacha aspire to enhance personal strength, and ultimately change a virtual world.

In the "future cult" project, Gacha is set to be widely practiced in the early 2030s, faring particularly well in Japan, China, Korea and the United States. Other than the main countries, Gacha is gaining popularity worldwide.

"A future cult" project and authorship

A typical mobile Gacha game: Fate/Grand Order.

Comparison of alternative religion and mobile gacha game.

The project was initiated in Feburary 2020 under the theme "augmentation", which can be interperated here as "augmenting religous practice with digital media". Xiao chose to develop the theme in this particular way because of her life-long curiosity of cult as well as her passion in controlling human mind and behaviour with a set of rules. From an early age, Xiao has found irrational beliefs and behaviours, such as cult, superstitions, conspiracy theories, addiction, fascinating as a subject of study. She wants to understand how these beliefs and behaviours occurs, why they are persistent, and how to recreate similar experience in harmless way and deliver it to rational, sober audiences.

In this project, she started with researching new media and technologies that can be used to augment any religous experience. Then she identified mobile game as the medium, because she believes that mobile gaming and cult have interestingly many element in common. In terms of organisational structure, typically a cult appropriates classics and terminologies of multiple orthodox belief systems, and limits activities and thoughts of members with rigorous routine in order to bring members into the state of strong cognitive dissonance. A typical mobile game, similarly, adapts personalities and items in history or literature, and also requires long-hour, scheduled engagement with the game everyday. Based on the comparison and contrust, Xiao saw a potaintial with mobile game: it is technically possible to run a cult in the form of mobile game.

Project development

To continue on the idea of exploring the possibility of digital media for cult activites, Xiao created a fictional cult named Gacha first. She gave the cult a set of ductrines, practices, leader and brief history, based on her research on real cult and cult leaders, including Oum Shin Rikyo (also known as Aleph), Scientoloy and Heaven's Gate. Then she designed the mobile game interface for Gacha. The interface was meant to look like a classic Gacha game, and therefore Xiao referred to several comercially-successful games under the same category: Arknights, Houkai 3rd, Girls' Frontline and Kantai Collection. Xiao painted some major asset images for the project, including the saintess Mitsuki.

There are three versions of prototypes of the applictaion: an experimental low-fidelity prototype made by Unity, a detailed wireframe made by Figma, and a high-fidelity, interactive prototype with visuals, sound effects and motion effects made by Unity. The one presented in the deliveralble video (see extenal link) is made with the last version. The video was meant to be an advertising video for the Gacha application: an instructor (the young woman in white shirt) greeted new cult members and introduced the usage of the application, then the cult leader herself left a message for new members at the end of the video, talking about the essense of the cult. Three friends were invited to act for the deliverable video. The vulunteer actors were asked to watch video clips filmed real cult leader and members, and try to mimic their expression, emphasising a mysterious, fanatic mood.

Timeline

Doctrine of Gacha

Saintess - Mitsuki's portait in the application.

In this project's fictional narrative, Gacha is a syncretic belief system that draws upon a pop culture style of interpretations of multiple traditional methology and belief. Materials come from nordic folk belief, Zoroastrianism and early Abrahamic religions including Jadaism and Christian, plot or character schema of classic Japanese manga, animation, and also figures from real history. The funder, Moon Jones, claimed that a "virtual world" is in the process of shaping up and seperating from the real world. The final effort of "Evocation"(the ultimate birth of the virtual world to the earth) must be done by Gacha believers. In 2032, Jones released the fundational application, declearing herself to be "a humble developer who happens to travelled to the virtural world", and that she was the only one to tell the truth lead people brining the vitural world to life. Once the "virtual world" is brought to life, as Jones wrote in the Gacha Gospel, "dream submerges reality, fantasy rules physics laws, and belief becomes power... Everything that has been believed to exist now trully exist... People shall meet their loved ones for the first time." But if one does not practice Gacha enough before the day comes, "shall be dissolved together with the dirts, constrains and laws on this planet."

Jones' purported mission was to become be "messenger" between the vitural world and the real world. She claimed that the application was able to transmission users' spiritual power to "quantum brainwaves" that could add up to the strength of the vitural world. As Moon Jones (later created her avater, a cartoon charater named "Mitsuki"（Japanese：ミツキ；Chinese：光祈） claimed, she (and her avatar, in the game applicaion) represnets the will of the virtual world where saintesses come from. Althougn she required practitioners praying to her figure, she refered to "saintess"'s stories and exploited followers trust and expectation of saintesses for her own agenda.

　

　

　

Practice

Structure of practice

A complete session of Gacha practice is a group of activities to be done in different times every day, all within the "vitural church". Jones is inspired by the way mobile gacha games attract their players and such principle was applied throughout the way she built the applictaion. The application is a assitance and a framework of people's practice. It also serves for practitioners' communication, so that "Gacha's practitioners around the world are united under the belief of the virtual world". Activites include reading and reflecting upon gospel lections, donate, draw cards (gacha) for gaining offerings to saintnees. Practitioners should present offerings to saintess and update their practice progress manually, as a way to fully engage with the practice and deepen their understanding of lections. Gacha Practices may share some characteristics with common mobile gamin, but according to Jones, Gacha should not be recognised as a entertaining activity.

Gospels, churches and shrines

Gacha church takes the form of a mobile-game-like applicaion. Unlike most of the traditional religions, Gacha adherents engage with their daily religious practice with the "vitural church" installed in practitioners' devices. Only in rare cases do Gacha Shrines are constructed physically in the form of architecture. Gacha shrines are usually the electronic device where adherents engage with Gospels. The more gospels a practitioner is studying, the higher repetition they has.

Donation and offering

Donation window in the application

Accoriding to Jones, the quantum brainwave transmission is only possible with sufficient in-app donation, and that donation is the most important part of Gacha practice. By donating to the church, followers get extra times to pray and thus infuse their spiritual power to the application.

　

　

　

　

References

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_(Japanese_cult)
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group)
  4. http://www.sohu.com/a/248246665_485902
  5. https://slangcath.wordpress.com/about/
  6. https://www.designboom.com/art/refik-anadol-machine-hallucination-artechouse-chelsea-09-11-2019/
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqSZhwu1Rwo

External links

Credits

Voice

Lino Wei as game system voice, Saintees "Mitsuki"

Jiayi Gong as Moon Jones

Acting

Jiayang Wang as game instructor

Special Thanks

Instructor: Sven Travis

Amber Hurwitz