The GameCreator: Self-Created Mobile Games on the Internet

The GameCreator is an Internet-based platform, introduced in a 2005 DiGRA conference paper, that lets consumers build and download their own Java mobile games without programming skills, either from scratch or by modifying preconfigured templates. The paper presents the platform as a toolkit for user innovation, combining a graphical wizard, a live preview, a server-side build process that compiles user designs into downloadable JAR files, and an embedded online community for sharing and co-developing games. Its central argument is that self-created games can offer value beyond ready-made titles, such that the effort of creation is justified by hedonic enjoyment, personal utility, social recognition, and symbolic meaning, including use as personalized gifts or messages.

The authors organize the platform around three user modes (easy, advanced, and master) tailored to three identified segments: Mobile Internet crossover users who have not previously downloaded mobile games, regular gamers aged roughly 9 to 18, and programming-literate "freaks" who want to create top-tier games. Motivational analysis draws on consumer research concepts such as flow, hedonic consumption, and symbolic value, and the paper suggests that a new genre of "Game Messaging" may emerge. Supporting data is limited: the paper cites market figures showing mobile game sales above one billion US dollars in 2004 with growth expected, and references German teenage gaming participation, but the empirical component is described as a first user-acceptance test at Klagenfurt University in June 2004 and a planned trial of 600 to 800 visitors, so no outcome results are reported.

The discussion acknowledges open issues, including copyright, minors' protection, terms of use, technical compatibility across MIDP implementations, and the inherent performance limits of user-made games compared with professionally developed titles. The paper frames the work as early-stage, with the authors proposing a structural equation model based on technology acceptance theory to examine intended and actual usage in future research.