The videogame industry has changed quite a lot in the last 25 years. The advent of online gaming, the technological advances brought to consoles and the overall changes in society has shifted the industry towards a model that, let's be honest, poses quite a moral dilemma: the monetization of games through microtransactions, loot boxes and the so-called Games as a Service (GaaS, for short).

Asphalt 9: Legends has the full pack. It's a GaaS, initially free for download but it entices monetization through an optional Season Pass, includes microtransactions to purchase in-game goodies and to an extent it also has loot boxes (booster packs function exactly the same way, even if they don't depend directly on real money to be opened). And even though I don't really agree with this kind of games existing, here I am spending my time on this game, and for years. But with zero money spent, now and forever.

The list of bad things within this game has not even started properly. Over time I have encountered A TON of things that are bad, so much so that I could make a list in several formats and exceed 10k words if I explained them in detail. I will stick to simply list them all separated by game modes (even if some of them actually can be placed in more than one mode).

-General: the need to always be online even for the single player Career mode, the absurd classification of some cars which don't belong to the category they've been placed in, the ridiculous performance some of them have precisely because they were below their natural category, unrealistic tracks despite being based on real-life locations, the disgusting artificial modifications to some layouts so the game features more tracks...

-Career mode: ridiculous requirements to access certain stages, absurdly low-ranked cars available at some points, unlocking/clearing some chapters is impossible even for premium players unless they also spend lots of time farming in the game...

-Multiplayer: you can be matched with opponents in higher leagues (higher leagues means access to more categories, and as such faster cars), you have absolutely no control over who you're matched against or the stage to be played, some multiplayer series have access limited to certain cars which are most of the times unmatched against other options available...

-Special event: ridiculously high or low goals to attain certain goodies, police cars only target you and blatantly forget about everybody else, the absurd performance of said police cars, the nonsensical way in which you can topple other cars while you're indestructible (which you clearly aren't in multiplayer)...

The list could probably go on and on further. Also, some of the things I've mentioned may not seem bad when pointed out this way. For example, police cars can outrun you at any speed, which isn't bad per se, but considering they didn't even care on adding more than the usual four-door sedan means you're going at 260+ mph being overtaken by a family car. And instead of adding bulky all-terrain vehicles for supporting these cars they could have added other cars specifically designed for high speed pursuits like in real life. But well, just my opinion.

So, with this volley of bad things, how does somebody still play this game two years on since they first downloaded it? Some will say it has equally good things, but in reality it only has three which do in fact weigh a lot.

-Continuously added events: As any decent GaaS, every so often new events appear as well as seasonal events. Not only this, but the regular events are also rotary and thus available for limited time until reappearing at their usual timing. This means that every day the gameplay will be different, and the non-rotary events spice up the mix even more to offer more variety to play. And of course, that also paves the way to progress through the game and obtain more cars. Sometimes they also add new gameplay modes and tracks, further increasing the variety, but sometimes these changes don't work, like when they attempted to change the sounds of the game but have backed off.

-Gradual progress: Instead of simply unlocking cars, they have different levels and to unlock each of them you need to collect a varying number of sheets. On one side, this means you need to keep playing in order to unlock and max every car thus keeping you in the edge. On another side, it also means you can't unlock cars in a single go most of the time, so you have to try again the day after or wait until the car is available again. This means it's a perfect game to spend just enough time every day, or when you're familiar with the rotary events mentioned above, spend time only when and where you need it, thus allowing you to play at your own pace and for a long time.

-Generous earnings: The game has three different currencies, each with their own way of being earned and spent. Only one can be obtained through microtransactions, though that same one can be used to exchange it for a lesser currency. All three of them can be obtained easily through playing, and over time you're earning way too much of them. The exception could be the one obtainable through transactions, but even that one can be obtained in decent numbers through various means. This further allows you to play at your own pace aiming for your own specific goals.

I'm aware these good points are also "part of the plan", such juicy offers are only meant to entice you even more to spend money in the game. However, like I've said, this is a game you can perfectly play at your own pace for a nearly endless adventure without needing to spend a lot of time in it every day, and the game itself reinforces this long-term focus. Also, since multiplayer is only a small fraction of this game (leagues change and reset every 7/14 days, even if that can entice you to play a lot to earn higher bonuses the small gap between competitions means you won't fare much better in the immediate next one) and offline multiplayer is out of all kind of progress there's no real need to brag about your earnings.

These good things don't outweigh the bad things, but they are enough to keep me glued to the game and spend my usual 20-30 minutes in it every day that I can. Only on rare occasions I could spend more than that, which keeps me glued even more because I know the daily progress is limited by the game itself. And not knowing what can you see when you boot up the game every day makes it like a new discovery every day.

The conclusion of this thread is: yes, you can be glued to something you don't like. I wouldn't defend this game against haters nor would I recommend it to anybody due to the potential threat it poses for the microtransactions and loot boxes in the form of booster packs, but some people can actually find the game entertaining for just some time in their days and ensuring a seemingly endless playthrough that will be different each day depending on what the developers bring forth.