Article Mobile games on the basis of uses and gratifications approach: A comparison of the mobile game habits of university and high school students Yasin Bulduklu Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of university and high school students towards mobile games, and to investigate their motivation and gratification needs in terms of mobile gaming. The descriptive method was used in the study. The sampling group was composed of 846 parti- cipants. The data were collected through the Mobile Gaming Motivation Survey. The reliability coefficient of the survey (Cronbach’s alpha) was found to be 0.893. The data analysis revealed that the mobile gaming motives of participants were self-realization/individual gratification, rivalry, social interaction, addiction and escaping. It was concluded that the motivation of the participants to play mobile games and the time they spent on mobile gaming decreased as their education level increased. It was also found that the mean scores for each factor got lower as the age progressed. Keywords Digital games, game motivations, mobile games, new media, student and game, uses and gratifications Introduction The miniaturization of electronics and advances in mobile technology has led to great changes in gaming technology, and mobile games have become increasingly popular with young people. Mobile games offer various incentives to gratify people and are played easily by anyone, anytime and anywhere. Sophisticated, speedy and high-definition smart phones are used as mini computers due to their high availability and the usability they offer. With the increasing popularity of mobile Corresponding author: Yasin Bulduklu, Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Necmettin Erbakan University, Koycegiz Campus, Meram/Konya 42080, Turkey. Email: ybulduklu@konya.edu.tr Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 1–17 ª The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1354856517748159 journals.sagepub.com/home/con