The Unbroken Stigma of Mobile Gaming

How does the mobile gaming stigma affect the industry? Is there any truth at all for these beliefs when it comes to mobile gaming?

Since the age of smartphones began, mobile gaming evolved through the years as well. From the basics of the Angry Bird franchise from the complexity of today’s games like the famous Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Call of Duty Mobile, League of Legends: Wild Rift and many more to mention. However, as the popularity of mobile gaming reached its peak, many members of the gaming community are also noticing its rising fame and have garnered enough criticism to create a very unattractive stigma for the rest of the community. Mixed reviews and opinions from here and there, controversies arise and as time goes on, mobile gaming is still on the course of growth and development. How does the stigma affect the industry? Is there any truth at all for these beliefs when it comes to mobile gaming?

First, let’s start with the statement that is very common within the people of the gaming community, especially PC and Console gamers; “Mobile Gamers aren’t TRUE gamers.” It seems harsh, but this is one of the lines that’s continuously thrown by the general population of the community to the general public. But really though, what is the true basis of this statement? 

League of Legends: Wild Rift
Image | Riot Games

Well first of all, this is where gatekeeping tendencies and superiority complexes of the then members of the gaming community will first appear, since PC and Console gaming technically became the two major platforms when it comes to gaming as a whole, and mobile gaming being the new player in all of this, people will tend to show their gatekeeping personalities in this scenario, since they consider themselves the “OGs,” a new platform such as a smartphones aren’t worthy enough to even be mentioned in the same sentence with big names like PlayStation or Alienware or insert other big names within the industry. 

In that sense let us mention the reason why they hold the smartphone games’ names in such low regard, a reason is the complexity of the games itself… or rather the simplicity of it. 

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Image | Moonton

Mobile games in general are watered down versions of existing games in each of their respective genres, some are even rip-offs of games. Mobile Legends is basically the first mobile version of League of Legends with inspired visuals and overall gameplay design, at first glance people already even claimed that it is a 1:1 rip-off of LoL and because of this, ML had gone through various law suits with Riot Games in particular which made them rebrand to their current official name today of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. 

Because of this, people have implanted the idea that all mobile games that are currently at its peak and any future games are all rip-offs which gives shame to their original inspirations, the watered-down mechanics even make the skill gap between players to become really small and thus, casuals can really be on par with even the top-tier players. 

Call of Duty: Mobile
Image | Activision

This made an impression that playing mobile games require little to no skill at all and can even be played wherever you are, whoever you are whether what kind of profession you have, you can play these games even at a high level with little to no effort at all. 

The easier difficulty and weaker skill barrier when it comes to learning mobile games made the community obtain a really sour taste in their mouths as some really felt like the time and effort they put in to be able to become such a highly skilled player are wasted in games such as these. Talking about adding fuel to the fire, because of the accessibility of mobile games, it also created its community full of different personalities with different social statuses. 

We all know that smartphones are a necessity nowadays and everyone already has one, given the multitude of options from the cheapest of options to the most expensive offerings; this created a sense of elitism to some of the members of the PC and Console “Races” as they may say for the very reason which is obvious enough to identify, “People with money are the ones who can really afford a console or a PC” which divided the community even more as it created a kind of social stratification that clustered groups of the entire community even more. 

Personalities clashed as both sides really had a fault in my own personal opinion, people in the gaming community have their egos created as some really play well but lacked the proper etiquette when it comes to playing online as some have really big mouths to talk trash, and this is understandable as it is a known fact that the players came from different communities and culture. No matter what your upbringing is, mobile gaming is accessible to EVERYONE regardless of background, adding to the fact that some players are also underaged with little supervision from their parents as well, which adds a factor on why mobile gaming community is considered toxic because of the immaturity of its players in majority. 

Overall, mobile gaming is thriving at the moment and there is nowhere to go but up as more and more smartphones are getting stronger every year. The quality and complexity of mobile games can rise every year as well. As prize pools for various mobile game competitions go up, standards can go up as well along with the rising popularity of E-Sports in general regardless of platform. As for my opinion, gaming is for everyone and should not be barred a specific standard from being identified as one. The beauty of gaming is that it helps you go into a world which makes reality a dream and the gaming world a reality. Such titles as pro, noob, casuals etc. these are all mantras that are handed out which such criteria however I think that the word gamer signifies what it means literally. You play a game therefore you are a gamer by nature, regardless of what kind of person you are or where you originated from, if a specific video game just sucks you in and makes you forget all your problems in the world, heck, by all means, call yourself a gamer. However the community will continue to have its own fair share of problems and this will continue until the next generation, the important thing is that we love what we do and we play whatever game we love without stepping on other’s lives and without invalidating how gaming affects their lives, in the end, we all have the same goal and it is to beat or win the game that you most love.