Limiting in-app purchases (or blocking them entirely)

[evanillo]

I'm not sure if this is in the right category (apologies if it's not!) but I figured I might as well ask anyway.

Let me cut to the chase. I really enjoy gacha games, however my wallet does not. I made the mistake of setting up a payment system on an app/Google one time, and now it's pathetically easy for me to spend upwards of thirty euros every month (a very conservative estimate) on a single game.

It's a problem, I've gotten away from the daily spending before by just uninstalling the game entirely and that works... until I reinstall it because I miss playing so much. And the thing is, I don't really want to lose out on a game just because I (bluntly put) have a gambling addiction. I've looked around on the web, but since Google makes a cut off every purchase I make in-app, they're not helpful.

So, here I am. Does anyone have any tips? Hidden Android (or in this case ChromeOS) knowledge? Should I just give up on the game altogether? (I'd honestly prefer not to... I've spent a lot of hours on it, and I'm very pleased with what I've got. But I just can't afford keeping this up.)

[Crazyroostereye]

This is a hard one. One way I can think of is having a close Friend or Family have the key, by setting up parental settings for control over transactions. It is a bit harsh but, epically with Gambling Addictions it can be hard to ween yourself without help by others.

The other less intrusive option is transparent Finances. It makes you more aware of your spending. For a while, when I was getting Money from my Parents, I had it setup that I would Quarterly report my Financial Situation vary toughly. Which forced me to explain my spending. Which made me better to control my spending, as I first of all had to go thought all my Transactions and sort them, but also I had to explain it. Which made it easier to control spending. And also made me better at Budgeting.

Then the least intrusive but the one with the most chances to fail is Disabling Convenience Features, as you said, you enabled Google One Time. Maybe disabling it can be enough to get you to be more aware.

[Mæstro]

What do you enjoy in these games? Although I have never played gacha games and never will, I can enjoy the characters, plot and artwork of Genshin Impact, Fate Grand Order, Girls Frontline and others through browsing the wikis and fan art, conversations and role-playing games with friends (of which only some actually play any given game) and other activities like these. None of these come with any cost whatever, and I have far more fun with the characters and world than I would ever have trapped in a Skinner box. If you know what is fun for you, you could find another way to get at it.