The Contradiction of Social Status in Mobile Digital Gaming Applications

Abstract

The digital gaming business has changed in the last years. In the past digital games have been a product. People went into a brick and mortar store or looked into a download portal and bought them. Today digital games are no longer just products. They developed into services(Clark, 2014). A digital game as a service is continuously updated. People play games not only on a stationary device, but on mobile devices, too. Competition between mobile digital gaming application takes place at a download price of zero(Spencer, 2016). According to Mangan, today Freemium is the dominant monetization method in digital gaming(Mangan, 2016).The emotional connection between the player and the respective game influences the revenue on a game. Players are more likely to spend money on in-app purchases for a game that they enjoy. There are many different social determinants that influence usage behaviour of mobile digital gaming. People seek for attention and social status. Some people also seek for this inside mobile digital gaming applications. This study presents and discusses an empirical research of social status aspects of mobile digital games. The data presented in this study are from Hungary. The survey was done in July 2019.