Mobile playbour: Mobile esports and gaming labor in Indonesia

The convergence of mobile media and gaming cultures in the Asia Pacific Region has created a significant field of mobile media production and consumption that was once unique, large, and overlooked (Hjorth, 2008; Jiwandono, 2025; Moore, 2025). In this context, Indonesia offers a compelling case study. Indonesia has rapidly increasing mobile media adoption rates (Kemp, 2025a) as part of the mobile media trend in Asia (Kemp, 2025b; 2025c) and emerging micro-industries related to mobile game convergence in the form of mobile electronic sports (henceforth mobile esports). Indonesian mobile esports offers a fascinating case study of conditions of precarity and play-as-work—or what Julian Kücklich calls playbour (2005). Defined initially by Kücklich (2005) to describe game players’ modding practices, in which companies exploit players’ free labor for profit, the current definition of playbour includes the monetization of gaming activities like streaming (Goggin, 2011; Richardson et al., 2021; Taylor et al., 2015). The definition varies even more in Indonesia. Playbour intersects with mobile esports in Indonesia through digital entrepreneurship, competitive gaming, local esports, and traditional entrepreneurial activities (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020; Jiwandono, 2025).

Mobile media have played a key role in the rise of these types of work. The use of mobile media has introduced new features to esports work in Indonesia, including an orientation toward mobile games, community engagement, and working flexibility. Game streaming and competitions take place on mobile devices and apps, primarily focused on mobile games. They also frequently intersect with local esports, which is focused mainly on mobile media usage. In addition to this, traditional entrepreneurship supports esports by offering mobile gaming spaces and community events. The flexibility of mobile gaming in terms of space and social aspects also often leads to these activities blending and overlapping. For example, game streaming, game competitions, and local esports tournaments are common at spontaneous game spots, such as food stalls. This creates mutual benefits for the esports workers and businesses owners.

These emerging forms of work have revealed a direct linkage between the fusion of play and labor, and the broader community, with mobile media serving as the primary conduit. In turn, this fusion underscores the convergence of playbour and mobile networked creativity—an essential lens through which to examine Indonesia's mobile esports. Mobile networked creativity involves commodifying mobile media hardware and software to navigate challenging living conditions (de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021; de Souza e Silva, 2022a; 2022b). Previous studies have observed this phenomenon predominantly in regions of the Global South, such as Brazil, Venezuela, and the Philippines (de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021; de Souza e Silva, 2022a; 2022b). Mobile networked creativity also defines mobile gaming as being characterized by its commodification through mobile network innovations for social interaction (Andrade & Filho, 2022) and for earning income (Mirani, 2023).

The investigation of mobile playbour draws on the centrality of mobile networked creativity in play-as-work in Indonesia. In the following discussion, I examine two key dimensions of this centrality. First, mobile esports in Indonesia illustrate a form of playbour that is heavily shaped by the prominence of mobile media culture. Second, the esports work examined in this article highlights the strengths and weaknesses of mobile networked creativity and playbour as flexible and accessible yet unsustainable sources of income for Indonesian mobile esports practitioners. As a result, mobile playbour in Indonesia remains inherently precarious.

To explore and understand the phenomenon of mobile playbour in Indonesia, I employed digital ethnography (Hjorth et al., 2017; Pink et al., 2016). By conducting semi-structured interviews (Bryman, 2012) with 18 participants—including e-athletes, esports organization administrators, content creators, and amateur competitors—I analyzed the practice of mobile esports work in Indonesia. Fieldwork also involved attending events to understand the complex practices. Digital ethnography is a well-established method for investigating emerging phenomena related to mobile media use and digital gaming (Hjorth, 2008; Thornham, 2011). The research was conducted in the islands of Java and Borneo. The fieldwork in Java revealed playbour-related esports activities such as game streaming, competitive online gaming, and local esports. In contrast, fieldwork in Borneo focused on the mobile esports community within the context of traditional entrepreneurship.

Two key contributions to mobile media studies and game studies are made by this research. The first contribution emphasizes the importance of mobile gaming in the Indonesian mobile media ecosystem. It examines how gaming has evolved as a mobile media practice, its vital role in the rise of mobile esports, and the region-specific media environment they have created. The second contribution considers Indonesian gaming culture as inseparable from the country's mobile media practices—as essential parts of the Indonesian mobile media ecosystem. Gaming only became a mainstream part of Indonesian culture after mobile esports gained popularity. It then developed into various digital and traditional entrepreneurship activities and local competitions in Indonesia, serving as creative practices rooted in human–mobile media relationships that are expressed through play (de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021). In the following section, I explore the factors shaping mobile playbour in the country by examining Indonesian mobile media practices, mobile gaming in Asia, its adaptation into esports, and the emerging phenomena of mobile networked creativity and playbour in a subsequent section on the context of Indonesian mobile playbour.

The context of Indonesian mobile playbour

Indonesian mobile esports, playbour, and mobile networked creativity

Mobile playbour in Indonesia has emerged from the intersection of mobile esports’ popularity, its acceptance among both the esports community and the public, and the economic opportunities it creates. It is essential first to define each practice and concept to identify the intersection. Mobile esports is, in general, a mobile gaming competition that superficially resembles esports on a desktop or PC (Jin & Besombes, 2025). In Indonesia, mobile esports allows several media-centric mobile activities to flourish beyond the professional competitive scene. They include mobile game streaming, paid online gaming, local esports, and traditional entrepreneurships. These activities, in turn, are closely associated with the concept of playbour.

Playbour fundamentally refers to any user-initiated productivity around digital games on digital platforms that is free for corporations to monetize (Goggin, 2011; Kücklich, 2005; Richardson et al., 2021). However, playbour in Indonesia has diverged to touch more on esports communities at the grassroots (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020; Jiwandono, 2025). Diversification means that while the basic principles of game design on digital platforms remain the same, several of these practices occur through direct collaboration within communities. That collaboration is where playbour intersects with mobile networked creativity.

Mobile networked creativity itself can be understood as the communal use of mobile media that eventually crystallizes into practices (Andrade & Filho, 2022; de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021). This reflects the conditions in many parts of the Global South, where people use their mobile phones to earn informal income, including through playing mobile games (de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021; Mirani, 2023). Therefore, mobile playbour centers on mobile media and is socially practiced. It differs from the playbour observed in the West, where playbour is mainly practiced on desktop computers or through parasocial relationships (Goggin, 2011; Kücklich, 2005; Richardson et al., 2021).

The intersection of playbour and mobile networked creativity has led to the commercialization of esports through mobile devices in Indonesia. This commercialization is evident in three areas: the rise of mobile esports into the mainstream, mobile esports as a gaming logic, and the informal Indonesian economy sector, which has long been its foundation (Nugroho, 2021). The mainstreaming of esports via mobile media as its primary platform is clear. Mobile esports has been transforming gaming into a mainstream trend in Indonesia since 2018 after being niched for decades (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020). As a result, there is a perception that digital gaming is synonymous with mobile esports. This perception has been reinforced by the emergence of the esports business within informal micro and small enterprises in Indonesia.

The inclusion of mobile esports in the Indonesian informal economy is driven by the popularity of esports as entertainment (Andreas & Arymami, 2021; Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020), and the ease of earning income through mobile media (Jiwandono, 2025). The commercialization of mobile esports in Indonesia is clear in two well-established sectors: gaming spectatorship (Abidin, 2018; Richardson et al., 2021; Taylor, 2018) and contract work (Liboriussen, 2016; Taylor et al., 2015). Both involve income generation through commercial activities on mobile gaming platforms, community outreach, networking, and personal branding.

There are four forms of esports work in Indonesia: game streaming, game competitions, local esports, and traditional entrepreneurship activities. Game streaming on YouTube primarily involves playing popular mobile games, actively engaging with audiences, and inviting them to join the stream. Esports competitors earn income from mobile game esports by becoming contract players on mobile game apps or by playing, such as competing for local or regional esports teams. There is also a growing trend of traditional entrepreneurship activities, such as coffee shops and food stalls, becoming game centers for mobile esports players.

These activities constitute the intersection of digital gameplay and paid work through mobile media in Indonesian gaming communities. The key concept of playbour guides the intersection (Kücklich, 2005; Goggin, 2011) and the creation of “culturally appropriate technologies” (de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021, p. 823) through the community-based activities that are at the core of mobile networked creativity. Through interviews with Indonesian esports practitioners, in my exploration of the creative intersection of mobile networked creativity and playbour I have expanded the term to encompass mobile esports. In the following section, I will discuss digital ethnography as my research methodology by explaining my rationale for using it, my data collection process, and my data analysis.

Methodology

As stated, this study deployed digital ethnography research methods. This method allows for everyday life experiences and practices to be captured and for the complex entanglement between digital, material, and social worlds to be situated (Pink et al., 2016). This research paradigm is well-suited to exploring mobile esports, as it helps us to understand how mobile game usage informs innovative mobile media practices. Digital ethnography is typically conducted through participant-led interviews (Pink et al., 2016) because it emphasizes two key features: reflexivity and empowerment. It places the primacy of knowledge production with participants and takes an anti-determinist approach, positing that research “findings” cannot be predicted but are instead revealed through the ethnographic process (Bryman, 2012). As demonstrated by Hjorth (2008), Thornham (2011), and Hjorth and Richardson (2020), knowledge is constructed through participants’ actions and refined through researchers’ interpretations.

Participants were recruited using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling methods. They were approached based on their experience with, and proximity to, mobile esports, as well as the feasibility of their participation. The snowball sampling component was particularly effective, as one participant could lead me to others. This research included 18 participants, consisting of e-athletes, esports administrators, amateur competitors, and game streamers from various cities and towns on the islands of Java and Borneo. This sample size was suitable for an iterative ethnographic project and included the necessary range of participant criteria. As Bryman (2012) notes, ethnographic studies consume significant time and resources, suggesting that one participant equates to 20 or more quantitative research participants in terms of data richness.

Java and Borneo were selected for economic significance and logistical reasons. Economic significance was based on the difference in esports activity between the two islands. Java is the unofficial “main” island of Indonesia, with over 155 million residents (Boakye, 2025), and it serves as the country's economic hub (Boakye, 2025). As a result, esports is prevalent there, with numerous game streaming and local competitions generating revenue. My participants agreed with this view, as they came from streaming and competitive backgrounds in major Indonesian cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Surakarta, and even smaller towns like Temanggung. In Borneo, esports activities mainly revolve around local food stalls that act as community centers. The logistical reason for selecting Java and Borneo for this research was the agreement to participate from residents of these islands.

The data for this research were collected using semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The interview process involved contacting participants and visiting their chosen locations to conduct the interviews. Interviews ranged from 45 to 60 min and were audio-recorded. When the interview took place at the participant's workplace or gathering spot, permission was granted to observe and record the participant's activities and relevant practices and to clarify the observed practices. The entire data collection process was divided into three phases, with six participants in each phase.

There were two data outputs from the semi-structured interviews: the interview recordings and the fieldwork summary. The interview recordings represented raw data that were processed and organized through the writing of the fieldwork summary. The summaries included information on individual meaning-making, sociocultural relationships, and tacit knowledge. The data analysis approach for this research was grounded theory: a formulation of knowledge based on people's actions, interactions, and experiences (Bryman, 2012). I chose grounded theory as a data analysis method because the inductive process of digital ethnography aligns well with its constructivist approach (Charmaz, 2006). Additionally, I selected it because mobile esports constitutes a specific, novel phenomenon where actions, interactions, and experiences materialize through access to and engagement with mobile digital game technology.

After the data were captured, they needed to be coded and analyzed. The purpose of coding is to ensure that the collected data are relevant to the research direction. The constructivist data analysis coding procedure consists of two phases: the initial phase and the focused phase (Charmaz, 2006). My fieldwork summaries served as both initial and focused coding. There were 18 initial codes corresponding to research participants’ identities, as well as the time and place of the interview or observation. The focused coding encompassed the research topics such as collaboration within esports communities, mobile game affordances, and participatory media aspects of mobile esports, which I and the research participants discussed. Patterns of analytical categories were analyzed and condensed into theoretical clusters. This research identified four theoretical clusters related to Indonesian mobile esports work: game streaming, competitive online gaming, local esports, and traditional entrepreneurship. I will provide an overview of these clusters and evaluate their opportunities and challenges in the next section.

The precarious condition of mobile playbour in Indonesia

Competitive online gaming

Competitive online gaming in Indonesia's mobile playbour environment is a form of work where a player offers their services to help another player achieve victory or a higher rank. There are two main practices: becoming a ranked-match jockey or a player-for-hire. Both are common among the MLBB community. During the process, a jockey is given access to their clients’ game accounts to play specific sets of games on their behalf, aiming to increase their clients’ rankings through repeated wins.

A player-for-hire lends their services as a teammate to their client, rather than acting as a proxy player. The mechanism for becoming a player-for-hire is implemented through a mobile game app called Lita. Lita was developed in Singapore by Battuta Technology and has been popular in Indonesia since 2021. The app enables users to apply to become freelance players. Lita's system primarily compensates talent in Lita coins, which can be cashed in for real-world currency, such as the Indonesian rupiah. Lita user Diandra described how Lita is popular among esports community members at her university. Another Lita user, Iman, emphasized the economic potential of becoming a player-for-hire, noting that his friend earned US$1,200 within 3 months of becoming a player-for-hire for an entire MLBB season. That amount of money enabled him to become a breadwinner for his family within the Indonesian standard of living (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1.

Lita app screenshot from Google Play Store. It describes the app's overview and user interface.

Both practices are clear examples of playbour within Indonesia's mobile esports scene. They both commodify playing digital games, stem from the Indonesian mobile media focus, and carry the vulnerability of short-term, accessible income. Diandra and Iman contend that neither activity offers a career path and both are only suitable as a side job during school or university. Iman told me that a common way for a ranked-match jockey to promote their service is through social media content on TikTok and Instagram. The platform-based mobile networked playbour is embodied by the Lita app, which supports competitive online mobile gaming along with social media features. Lita and its popularity have helped establish an Indonesian mobile gaming economy.

However, Indonesian mobile playbour is not limited to digital platforms. I will examine offline work through local esports involvement in the upcoming section, which will define what local esports participation means in the Indonesian context, include research participants’ insights on the phenomenon, highlight the role of mobile media in gaming, and explain why it is the riskiest form of mobile playbour.

Participation in local esports

Indonesian local esports represents an evolution in grassroots mobile gaming that predates major league esports. (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020; Jiwandono, 2025). It demonstrates how esports remains connected to its grassroots roots while also framing semi-professional competition within the local context. In practice, local esports teams do not compete in major leagues of well-established games in Indonesia, such as MLBB or PUBGM. They usually have more limited funds and generate less income. Local esports teams are also more likely to actively participate as stakeholders in the regional esports ecosystem than major esports teams, which often operate more like profit-oriented companies on national or international stages. Adam, a manager of an Indonesian local esports team that I interviewed has a close working relationship with their region's esports organization and local football club. They not only function as a competitive esports team but also as ambassadors who help to introduce mobile esports to the local community.

The smaller scale of a local esports team is reflected in its e-athletes, who are often given additional responsibilities, including involvement in the team's administrative and managerial duties. These volunteer roles are needed as local esports teams usually have fewer positions in their management structure. This situation was experienced by Andi, Fajar, and Hadi, who worked together in a local esports team based in Jogjakarta from 2022 until 2023. During their stint together, Andi served as the team's manager. At the same time, Fajar and Hadi played for the team and were tasked with talent scouting in addition to their competitive obligations.

Despite being given extra tasks, they made a relatively small income. Fajar disclosed his monthly salary of US$75, a meager amount even by Indonesian living standards, while Hadi made more money from streaming than from competition. On the managerial side, Adam lamented that his continuous requests for human resources to the executive board were not adequately addressed. Furthermore, a local e-athlete's contract is usually short-term. Both Fajar and Hadi had changed clubs three times in 3 years, and their latest contract was for only 1 year.

Participation in local esports teams is rarely a sustainable economic opportunity. Many mobile esports players will remain at the grassroots level, making it difficult to progress to Indonesian national and international mobile esports. This instability is worsened by intense grassroots competition, fueled by the popularity of esports and the accessibility of mobile games. Clearly, poor performance by Fajar and Hadi had led to their exit. Hadi described his experience:

Mobile esports is risky because many are unwilling to see the grim pictures and the difficulty in establishing a foothold in the profession. Especially if you’re from a small town. To be successful in this business, you need connections. It means you need a lot of money. Only a select few have that.

Local esports participation in Indonesia offers both opportunities and risks related to mobile media access and game work. Local mobile esports turns mobile gaming into a form of accessible productivity (Mirani, 2023), thereby immediately incentivizing the commodification of digital gaming (Kücklich, 2005; Goggin, 2011) and enabling Indonesian local e-athletes to earn income (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020; Jiwandono, 2025). However, this accessible productivity remains unstable because local esports faces significant job insecurity (McCutcheon & Hitchens, 2020; Johnson & Woodcock, 2021).

Therefore, local esports offers precarious economic opportunities that serve as a temporary work-around rather than a long-term solution. This is especially relevant to deeply rooted Indonesian issues such as unemployment and job insecurity (Yanindah, 2021; Sitompul & Athoillah, 2023). On the positive side, mobile playbour can also expand into traditional entrepreneurship activities. The expansion generally presents more optimistic situations than local esports, as they strategically align with Indonesian mobile gaming habits. This is important because it shows that mobile playbour has successfully connected esports communities with the broader public, as demonstrated by ongoing collaborations. I will explore their emergence and the significance for both in the upcoming section.

Traditional entrepreneurship activities

The following cases illustrate how traditional entrepreneurship opportunities intersect with the demands of mobile esports. This was evident in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as described by Chandra, a university lecturer in the province who has been observing the local esports scene since 2019. He noted that venues are gaining value as competitions increase, along with the development of gaming infrastructure like gaming chairs, tables, cooling fans, Wi-Fi routers, and signal boosters, and the rise of small businesses making jerseys for local esports teams.

Traditional entrepreneurial activities in mobile esports are mainly seen in food and beverage businesses. Budi and Chandra told me that coffee shops, cafés, and Indomie noodle stalls (warung makan Indomie [Warmindo]) throughout Surakarta and other major cities in Central Java are popular spots for mobile gamers who train or compete online through a practice known as play gathering (main bareng [mabar]). Play gathering is a mobile development of South Korea's game center culture called PC bang (Jin, 2010; Chee, 2016). Mobile gaming enables gamers to turn food and beverage establishments into game centers (Jiwandono, 2025). This creates a mutual relationship as owners of food and drink establishments also adapt their businesses to support mobile gaming, for example, by installing stronger Wi-Fi networks or offering all-inclusive packages for play gatherings.

This makes local businesses centers for mobile esports. Qadir is a casual gamer from Tenggarong, east Borneo, who described a unique entrepreneurial practice related to esports in his hometown. Qadir informed me that Tenggarong has a distinctive social gaming activity at angkringans: Javanese street food stalls (pronounced: unc-kree-ngan) across the town (see Figure 2).

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Figure 2.

A mobile game esports activity at an angkringan in Tenggarong, east Borneo, Indonesia.

There are three factors that explain why angkringans are becoming popular as gathering spots for fun. First, angkringans sell much cheaper food and drink such as fried tofu, fried tempeh, and iced instant coffee compared to coffee shops, which tend to sell higher-priced items. Most food and drink at angkringans cost less than US$1. Second, angkringans usually open from dusk until dawn, aligning with after-work and after-school times. This allows employees and students to gather more casually than they would at a coffee shop, which normally close at 10 p.m. More importantly, angkringans in Tenggarong play an active role in the local gaming scene by regularly hosting weekly micro-tournaments. This relationship benefits both sides: players get a space to play, and business owners get free promotion as their venues become lively during mobile esports events.

These traditional entrepreneurial activities align with the core feature of mobile network creativity: innovative community engagement through mobile media. This characteristic has been observed elsewhere. For instance, de Souza e Silva (2022a; 2022b) notes how Brazilian bus services and bicycle rentals are directly improved through WhatsApp groups, which facilitate communication and transactions among customers and business owners. In the realm of playbour, focusing on traditional mobile esports entrepreneurial activities broadens its research scope, which mainly centers on digital activities such as modding, game streaming, and gold farming which refers to the practice of accumulating in-game currency or items in order to sell them for real-world money (Goggin, 2011; Liboriussen, 2016; Chew, 2023). By situating digital game works within the relationship between entrepreneurs and the esports community, it also advances research on physical esports and gaming entrepreneurship in Asia, such as the South Korean PC bang (Jin, 2010; Chee, 2016).

I now turn to my conclusions on how mobile esports in Indonesia, by reflecting a localized version of playbour and mobile networked creativity, mirrors Indonesia's mobile media ecology.

Conclusion: Mobile esports in the Indonesian mobile media ecology

The Indonesian mobile media ecology is generally understood as gaining access to new ICT skills through mobile media (Tapsell, 2015; Puspitasari & Ishii, 2016). Mobile esports is one of these new skills that has gained momentum following the emergence of Chinese mobile games and their use as competitive sports (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020). Over time, the popularity of mobile esports has led to the spread of mobile playbour, as discussed earlier. It combines the commodification of play with the use of mobile media, community networking, and the appropriation of technologies within Indonesia's informal economy. Ultimately, it creates a picture of productivity that is counterbalanced by job insecurity.

This picture renews the importance of mobile networked creativity as a digital gaming practice. Previous studies on mobile networked creativity in mobile games have focused on their community-gathering aspects (Andrade & Filho, 2022) and explored online game entrepreneurship (Mirani, 2023). My work sits at the intersection of both fields, investigating mobile game entrepreneurship activities and contract work within the esports community, both online and offline, as is often the case with mobile networked creative practices (de Souza e Silva & Xiong-Gum, 2021; de Souza e Silva, 2022a; 2022b).

These playful ventures of mobile playbour are located at the crossroads of mobile networked creativity and playbour. This intersection underscores the importance of play in Indonesia's mobile media ecosystem, which is focused on unstable esports work. Consequently, it expands the idea of playbour by integrating it with mobile creativity through esports. As a result, playbour in Indonesia has evolved from the original focus on game-based (Kücklich, 2005; Goggin, 2011) and platform-based businesses (Liboriussen, 2016; Chew, 2023) to include offline esports competitions and esports entrepreneurship. Playbour plays an essential role in linking mobile game esports with other facets of Indonesia's mobile networked creativity, such as social media and mobile game apps, with esports work serving as a unifying element.

That linking informs my contribution. Firstly, framing mobile esports in Indonesia through the lenses of mobile networked creativity and playbour helps to identify the significance of mobile gaming within the Indonesian media ecology. The confluence is evident in the multitude of grassroots entrepreneurial activities and casual work on digital and offline platforms. It signifies mobile gaming as a practice that transcends gaming communities, infiltrating Indonesian society's media uses and behaviors. Secondly, this article argues that Indonesia's mobile media culture is inseparable from its digital game culture. This is evident in that digital gaming practices diversified only after the rise in popularity of mobile game esports (Jiwandono & Purwandi, 2020; Jiwandono, 2025). Mobile media have become the center of both productivity and the ecosystem of mobile games.