The struggles of everyday life: How children view and engage with advertising in mobile games

Abstract

Digital and mobile games are an important part of many children’s daily media usage and are used by children for, among other things, entertainment and relaxation purposes. Mobile games are commonly ‘free-to-play’ and have revenue models based on in-app purchases and advertising. These revenue models affect the content and structure of mobile games and, consequently, also the gaming experiences. Drawing on group interviews with 9- and 12-year-old children, this article analyses how children view and engage with advertising in mobile games, and what consequences in-game advertising have for children’s game experiences. The results show that children’s engagement with in-game advertising takes the form of a struggle and that children both resist and resign themselves to the advertising strategies. Advertising brings about negative experiences of deception, enforcement and confrontation, and interrupts moments of enjoyment, achievement and immersion during gameplay. These results suggest that playing advertising-based free-to-play mobile games is a demanding environment for children.