The short answer
A game is heavy. Loading it as part of the page makes the whole page slow, including for the majority of visitors who never play.
Load it when someone chooses to play, and the cost falls on the people who wanted it.
Load on interaction
- Show a lightweight placeholder with a play button.
- Load the game only when that is pressed.
- Show progress while it loads.
- Keep the rest of the page usable throughout.
- Do not shift the layout when it appears.
Point five matters for the page as a whole. Content jumping as a heavy element loads is disruptive and affects how the page is assessed.
Contain it
| Concern | Approach |
|---|---|
| Page performance | Load on interaction only |
| Layout stability | Reserve the space in advance |
| Scrolling on mobile | Do not trap the page scroll |
| Audio | Never autoplay |
| Escape route | Obvious way to stop playing |
Trapping scroll on a phone is a common and infuriating fault. A player who cannot scroll past the game leaves the page entirely.
Keep the page working without it
If the game fails to load, the page should still make sense and still contain whatever the visitor came for. A blank area with no explanation is worse than no game.
Show a short message and keep the rest of the page intact, including the enquiry route if there is one.
Measure whether it earns its place
- How many visitors start playing
- How many finish
- What they do afterwards on the page
- Whether page speed changed measurably
- Whether enquiries from the page changed
The last two together are the honest assessment. A game that entertains while reducing enquiries from the page is not working, however engaging it is.