Objects of Affection: Kissing Games on Mobile Devices

This brief paper provides general context in the emerging mobile space of affection games. Affection games require players to flirt, hug, or kiss to meet their goals in the game. To date, the largest subset of those games, are kissing games. The paper provides a topographic analysis of the 10 most widely distributed kissing games in 2013 and 2014, which account for more than 3,000,0000 mobile game installations. To add detail to the overview, two case studies are provided which exemplify non-digital, physical device kissing and virtual kissing in mobile games. The download activity, player comments, and history of the games are used to provide a simple overview of affection game characteristics as they relate to human-computer interaction and play. Such analysis provides a peek into the mildly taboo affection games and the ways in which mobile developers are effecting the genre.