If anyone knows me, they know I love mobile games. I’ve been playing one in particular for the last 2 or 3 years and rarely miss a day. Mobile games have a lot to offer. Gaming on the go, stimulation, relief from boredom, and fun! The amount of games I have on my phone varies. I will download, try, and delete games often. I think they get a lot of slack for being something awesome to do with your time. For instance, I’m playing a My Hero Academia game that is continuing my love for the story.

That all being said I am disgusted by what seems to be the latest trend in advertisements. I cannot tell you the amount of games I’ve seen an advertisement for, downloaded and the actual game has NOTHING to do with the ad that I just watched. These jerks are trying to inflate their download numbers so they will show you something completely different to get you to download their game. It’s stressful but these ads can also be triggering.

Let’s take Gardenscapes/Homescapes for instance. I’ve been playing the game off and on for years, depending on my mood. I have seen several ads where a woman catches Austin (the butler character) cheating on her. THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GAME. THAT ISN’T EVEN A TINY PART OF THE GAME! They are trying to “spice up” their games in hopes that we will download something scandalous to play. However, after you download the game you will quickly learn that this game is nothing more than connect three. You connect items and finish levels to build a beautiful garden/house. That’s it.

And it gets worse. I’ve seen more of these ‘innocent games’ (simple builds, merge, connect threes) do terrible things in their ads. A man leaves his wife after she says she’s pregnant. A daughter clinging to her Daddy in court to not leave her and her mother. A very pregnant woman saying she wants to get rid of her baby. Not only do these have nothing to do with the game they are advertising, these are harmful and potentially triggering to people who are just watching an add to get more coins for their Tycoon game.

The bottom line is that this isn’t ok and shouldn’t be allowed. If we bought a game for console or computer that advertised something that it wasn’t (which has happened) people lose their shit! As they should! Now I know mobile games are just a waste of your time and typically not your money. However, if we don’t do something about it then these ads will continue and could even get worse. What if every game started it’s ads that way? What then? We can barely trust what we see now but would we be able to trust any of them?

The only solution I have at the moment is this, if you download a game that isn’t what it’s advertised to be, make sure you leave a one star review and warn others. You can also leave reviews of games if you are disgusted by their ad content. If we fight back and hit them where it hurts, then maybe we can actually get them to actually be advertising the game that we will be playing instead of something we want to play or worse, something that triggered some trauma.

I am also aware that the world isn’t going to tip-toe around our trauma triggers. I 100% get that and there are things we will have to endure. However, these are not a scene in a show I’ve been watching or a part in a movie. These are ads for mobile games and they are deceptions.

So pleases join me, mobile game players, give poor ratings to games that lie or have absured ads. They need to know that we aren’t going to stand for it.

I’m always looking for a new mobile game to play! What is your favorite and why?