About

Gooner Bait is a slang term used to describe video games and other media in which the sex appeal of characters is a major selling factor, with some games also using sexually appealing imagery in their promotional materials. The practice has been historically widespread in the gacha game genre but is not limited to it. Video games such as Azur Lane, Zenless Zone Zero and Stellar Blade have all been described as "gooner bait" and "gooner games." In the early spring of 2025, a perceived trend of gacha and other games becoming increasingly sexualized resulted in the humorous slang terms Gooner Arms Race and Goon Wars being used to describe the phenomenon.

Origin

In modern online slang, the slang term goon stands for a person who excessively engages in masturbation. Prior to the popularization of the slang term "gooner bait," the similar slang "coomer bait" was used online to describe video games and other media targeting people who are easily enticed by sexualized content.

The term "gooner bait" has most commonly been used to describe popular gacha games, a genre of free-to-play games in which character acquisition plays a crucial role.

Gacha games such as Azur Lane, Zenless Zone Zero and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, among others, have all relied on sexualization of female characters to make them more desirable and stimulate in-game purchases (a social media post^[1] promoting an Azur Lane character shown below). Notably, many games that have been accused of being "gooner bait" were developed by Chinese studios.

【Dynamic Preview: Raffaello】Get a load of the power of ART!*Content is in development and may not reflect the final version.#AzurLane #Yostar pic.twitter.com/5BtFqw9AZF

— Azur Lane Official (@AzurLane_EN) February 28, 2025

The term "gooner bait" first started becoming prevalent online in March and April 2024, prompted by online discourse surrounding the action-adventure video game Stellar Blade and the sexual appeal of its main character, Eve.

For example, on April 29th, 2024, X^[2] user @Glislock made a post complaining that the character design discourse was overshadowing other aspects of the game, referring to typical social media posts about Stellar Blade as "gooner bait." The post (shown below) received over 2,500 reposts and 29,000 likes in one year.

Spread

The terms "gooner game" and "gooner bait" saw gradual popularization online throughout 2024 as they were used to refer to gacha games and the sexualized imagery used in their promotional materials.

For example, on October 16th, 2024, X^[3] user @ReignOfPride shared a cutscene from Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ), commenting, "Zzz is not beating the gooner game allegations." The post (shown below) received over 2,900 reposts and 33,000 likes in six months.

Zzz is not beating the gooner game allegations pic.twitter.com/wivpe8Csj0

— PridefulSin ❕ (@ReignOfPride) October 16, 2024

On November 4th, 2024, X^[4] user @hrlynicole made a post defending Zenless Zone Zero against accusations of being "gooner bait" by sharing a character design from another gacha game, Book of Yog. The post (shown below) received over 160 reposts and 1,000 likes in five months.

In late March 2025, an idea that popular gacha games were engaged in a "goon war" or a "gooner arms race" achieved prominence on social media. The concept of an arms race reflected a perceived increase in the degree of character sexualization that some gacha games were willing to allow.

For example, on March 25th, 2025, X^[5] user @kayos_o reacted to a clip of GIRLS' FRONTLINE 2 character Sabrina sucking on fruit ice, commenting that gacha games were "playing the ultimate game of chicken." The post (shown below) received over 2,800 reposts and 63,000 likes in three weeks.

Nikke GF2 and Azur Lane are playing the ultimate game of chicken right now and the tie breaker is gonna be one of them having one of their characters taking backshots on screen😭 https://t.co/JNWf2HOsZk

— kayos (@kayos_o) March 25, 2025

On April 9th, 2025, the gacha game BrownDust2 released a trailer introducing a new character named Iron Mornach Wilhelmina, which started with the character adjusting her pants in a very sexual manner, shown from an Anime Camera Angle. The post^[6] inspired multiple memes about BrownDust2 taking the lead in the "gooner arms race."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References