"You will never win:" The digital review economy and mobile gambling applications

Abstract

With the advent of online gambling and gaming applications, stores such as Google Play host thousands of online reviews from satisfied and disgruntled customers. Online reviews are powerful tools in the digital review economy, as well as providing and publicizing feedback to game developers and potential users. As review platforms proliferate and impact consumer and developer relationships, digital media scholars need to examine how users engage in these spaces. However, little is known about user expectations of these digital spaces, particularly within the context of the little-regulated online gambling applications. The aims of this study are twofold: first, to identify why digital application review sites are critical to the development of mobile applications, and two, to examine how users engage these spaces within the rapidly expanding online gambling industry. Through a discourse analysis of online reviews, this study identifies how: (1) users reflect on application quality to impact future design developments; (2) users perceive reviews as a part of application development; and, (3) mobile gambling application producers respond to online reviews to further shape digital reputation. Through this analysis, a series of best practices is developed for users and game developers to maximize the feedback and engagement enacted in these mobile spaces.