"The app market has been candy crushed": Observed and rationalized processes for selecting smartphone games

Nicholas David Bowman, Sven Jöckel, Leyla Dogruel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Industry estimates suggests that smartphone gaming - playing video games on smartphone device, accessed via the device's app market - accounts for a growing segment of the entire video game play market. Yet, very little is known about the processes by which smartphone users search for and download these gaming apps. Exploratory data combining behavioral observation with post-behavior talk aloud sessions found that users tended to (1) evaluate only one game, (2) spend little time evaluating that game before downloading it, and (3) based this decision on familiarity or price considerations (with both implicitly based on rating). Privacy concerns were rarely mentioned, and classic motivations for video gameplay (such as challenge, competition, and socialization) were not represented. These data suggest that smartphone gaming might be a qualitatively different experience in terms of its uses and effects than other forms of gaming and mobile entertainment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1-9
Number of pages9
JournalEntertainment Computing
Volume8
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Apps
  • Heuristics
  • Mobile gaming
  • Privacy
  • Smartphones

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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