Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Investigating the Impact of Monetization on Chi...

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Investigating the Impact of Monetization on Children’s Experience With Mobile Games

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNConference contribution/Paperpeer-review

Published
Close
Publication date17/06/2024
Host publicationIDC '24: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Pages248-258
Number of pages11
ISBN (electronic)9798400704420
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Monetization is fundamental to “free-to-play” mobile games, typically in the form of advertising placed within gameplay. Monetization within digital games is linked to deceptive design, and other ethically dubious practices such as loot-boxes. However, it is unclear what impact monetization has on the overall player experience. This research measured the experience and player performance in an experimental “Pong”-style game in three conditions: no advertising, static-interstitial advertising, and video-advertising. A between-subjects study was carried out with 95 participants aged 9-11 years playing the game in one of the three conditions, then completing the FunQ questionnaire. Results showed that while the static-interstitial advertising condition had a negative impact on player experience and player performance the video-advertising condition did not. Findings were ‘reported back’ to a group of the original child participants, feedback gathered during this session showed that children understood the findings and were able to contribute both additional insights and ideas for future research.