Games of Being Mobile

The Games of Being Mobile project followed nearly sixty households over three years (2013–2016) in five of Australia’s capital cities: Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. It is the first national survey of mobile games. Our ethnographic project sought to put mobile games in context: socially, intergenerationally and culturally. Using ethnography allowed us deep insights into motivations, practices and perceptions. 

Our study aimed to contextualise mobile games as part of broader practices of play, both in the home and extending out into neighbourhoods, urban public spaces and online networks. We explored domestic and public contexts over time. We observed play in and around platforms and devices. We listened to stories across the generations to understand multiple forms of literacy and social connection. 

This study sought to take mobile games seriously as they expand across different public and private settings in ways that are social, ecological and even political. As mobile games move across different genres, platforms, practices and contexts, they become ever-present in our everyday lives, and for many of us, an important means of experiencing and navigating a digitally saturated world. They are also, significantly, conduits of what we call ambient play—a term that conveys how games and playful media practices have come to pervade much of our social and communicative terrain, both domestic and urban.

This project was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery scheme.