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.
Keywords
digital consumption, digital gaming, experiential consumption, luxury consumption, participatory engagement
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
9-1-2026
E-ISSN
20500084
ISSN
20500076
Volume
14
Issue
2
Publication Title
Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing
Publisher
Henry Stewart Publications
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
94332
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
176
Last Page
188
Recommended Citation
Yu, B., & Yue, B. (2026). Ludic luxury: Reframing luxury consumption in digital gaming environments. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.69554/QATZ1014