Developing a Clearer Understanding of Genre and Mobile Gameplay

This chapter presents a study that explored the mobile game-genre preferences of 1,950 South Korean students. The findings help create a clearer picture of the mobile gameplayer, revealing that mobile gameplay is more of a situational activity than a social replacement, often played during periods of interruption or idle time and lasting for short intervals. Action, arcade, sports, adventure, puzzle, board, simulation, and strategy were among the most popular genres played. Statistically significant relationships were found between genre and age and gender, with the younger and older students as well as males and females favoring different genres. For example, puzzle games were popular among the older females, whereas action games were preferred by the younger males. Significant relationships were also found between genre and academic grades and level, with differences found for genre preferences between high- and low-performing as well as vocational high school and college students.