Ludic luxury: Reframing luxury consumption in digital gaming environments
Abstract
This paper examines how luxury-related forms of distinction emerge within digital gaming environments. While luxury consumption has traditionally been understood through material goods and physically mediated experiences, digital platforms introduce new contexts in which exclusivity, recognition, and value are organised through systems of interaction. Drawing on insights from luxury consumption research and game studies, this paper conceptualises gaming environments as systems of play in which visibility, access and participation shape how distinction is produced and recognised. It introduces the concept of ludic luxury to describe forms of consumption that arise within these environments, where exclusivity is structured through platform governance, recognition emerges through symbolic visibility, and value is generated through participatory engagement. By shifting attention from ownership to interaction, the paper extends existing understandings of experiential luxury and highlights how digital infrastructures reorganise the production of luxury value in contemporary consumption contexts. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at http://hstalks.com/business.
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Author's Biography
Binbin Yu is a researcher, unit coordinator and lecturer in the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University (ECU), and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests focus on luxury branding, counterfeit consumption, consumer motivation and digital game consumption. She is particularly interested in how cultural values shape marketplace behaviour and how symbolic meaning operates across both physical and digital consumption contexts. In addition to her PhD from ECU, Binbin holds master’s degrees in both creative media and marketing, as well as a BA in business administration. Prior to moving into academia, she worked in the marketing department of China Resources Group, a Fortune Global 500 organisation, where she gained industry experience that continues to shape her teaching and research.
Blake Yue is a doctoral researcher, lecturer and tutor in the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University, with additional teaching roles at the University of Western Australia and the Australian National Institute of Management and Commerce. His work spans business, public health, sustainability and marketing, supported by a strong interdisciplinary background in both qualitative and quantitative research. He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, with teaching experience that covers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate units in management, marketing, ethics and communication. Blake has previously held research positions at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, contributing to large-scale public health projects. His responsibilities included research design, data collection and analysis, and coordinating interdisciplinary studies.
