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Why do players buy in-game content? An empirical study on concrete purchase motivations
Abstract
Selling in-game content has become a popular revenue model for game publishers. While prior research has investigated latent motivations as determinants of in-game content purchases, the prior literature has not focused on more concrete reasons to purchase in-game content that stem from how the games are being designed. We form an inventory of reasons (19) to buy in-game content via triangulating from analyses of top-grossing free-to-play games, from a review of existing research, and from industry expert input. These reasons were operationalized into a survey (N ¼ 519). Firstly, we explored how these motivations converged into categories. The results indicated that the purchasing reasons converged into six dimensions: 1) Unobstructed play, 2) Social interaction, 3) Competition, 4) Economical rationale, 5) Indulging the children, and 6) Unlocking content. Secondly, we investigated the relationship between these factors and how much players spend money on in-game content. The results revealed that the purchase motivations of unobstructed play, social interaction, and economical rationale were positively associated with how much money players spend on in-game content. The results imply that the way designers implement artificial limitations and obstacles as well as social interaction affects how much players spend money on in-game content.
... Seperti bagaimana tantangan yang kompetitif (tim vs tim) dan keterampilan dalam bermain game dapat menciptakan nilai kenikmatan dan memicu pemain melakukan konsumsi dalam game (Wang et al., 2020). Alasan para pemain mengeluarkan uang untuk konten di dalam game juga didorong oleh interaksi sosial di dalam game (Hamari et al., 2017). Seperti contoh beberapa game free to play membatasi jumlah untuk menambah lebih banyak teman di dalam game, jadi para pemain diharuskan menggunakan uang sungguhan untuk dapat menambah lebih banyak teman dalam game (Hamari dan Järvinen, 2011;Yee, 2006). ...
... Dalam pengujian pada H8, peneliti mendapatkan hasil not supported yang berarti tidak ada hubungan signifikan antara variabel daya saing dengan intensi membeli barang virtual. Tidak diterimanya hipotesis serupa juga ditemukan pada studi terdahulu (Hamari et al., 2017, Syahrivar et al., 2022. Syahrivar et al. (2022) me ngatakan bahwa stigma buruk yang diasosiasikan dengan pemain yang membeli barang virtual mencegah pemain untuk mengeluarkan uang pada game dengan model freemium. ...
... Pemain dalam game berekosistem multiplayer memiliki motivasi untuk menampilkan sebuah citra tertentu secara terus menerus pada pemain lainnya (Ellison et al., 2006). Cara untuk membentuk citra bahwa mereka memiliki kemampuan bermain yang hebat adalah menunjukkan ranking atau poin yang tinggi (Hamari et al., 2017 ...
The purpose of this research is to find out whether the consumption of compensation affects the intention to play and to buy virtual goods in context of the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Researchers included the variables utility, self-indulgence, social interaction, and competitiveness to measure compensatory consumption indirectly. The data collection survey was conducted using an online judgmental sampling technique with the criteria of respondents being Mobile Legends: Bang Bang players aged 16 to 24 years living in Indonesia. SEM (Structural Equation Model) analysis using AMOS software was carried out on 292 samples obtained from online questionnaires using a judgmental sampling technique. The main findings in this study: (1) social interaction has a direct positive effect on the intention to buy virtual goods, (2) utility and self-indulgence are negative predictors of purchase intention, (3) the intention to play has a mediating effect on the effect of self-indulgence, interaction social media, and competitiveness towards purchase intentions of virtual goods.
... Furthermore, metaverse platforms would be susceptible to aggressive commercial activities, such as predatory monetization of online games . Online games with a "free-to-play" business model are free to play, but they constantly encourage players to make microtransactions by selling rare virtual goods (e.g., avatars' clothes) only through a random selection, a practice known as "loot boxes" (Hamari et al., 2017;Macey & Hamari, 2018). Such business models could become common in the metaverse because they could bring enormous profits to platform developers. ...
... Costs would influence user preference for digital forest recreation in the metaverse. Many social media platforms, such as Instagram, do not charge users for their services, and "free-to-play" business models are common in online games (Hamari et al., 2017;Macey & Hamari, 2018). As a result, this study assumed that digital forest recreation in the metaverse would not necessitate user subscription fees. ...
... Establishing compliant platforms, however, is complicated due to the difficulty in defining "fairness" that is acceptable to all stakeholders (e.g., game users vs. publishers), developing consumer protection policies across multiple countries with different statutory laws, and motivating game publishers to support responsible game designs (Hamari et al., 2017;. These lessons from online games suggest that to establish responsible metaverse platforms, the development of digital forest recreation in the metaverse would need to overcome these challenges. ...
The metaverse could provide a new way of interacting with nature through immersive three-dimensional virtual worlds. This digital nature recreation has the potential to shape users' perceptions, knowledge, and behavior toward nature. Despite this potential, its user demand is currently unknown. This study analyzes the demand for digital forest recreation in the metaverse by conducting a discrete choice experiment with university students as potential metaverse users to fill this knowledge gap. The study results revealed that users preferred digital forest recreation to experience outdoor adventure and a nature-based digital twin in the metaverse, indicating that digital forest recreation has the potential to influence human-nature interactions. The students required responsible and immersive metaverse platforms for digital forest recreation that were not subject to invasions of user privacy (e.g., selling big data of users), biased algorithms (e.g., racism), algorithms selling virtual goods, cyberaggression (e.g., trolling), and less immersive virtual experiences. These findings highlight both opportunities and challenges for creating user-centered digital forest recreation in the metaverse. The research contributes to understanding potential interactions between technological, social, and ecological systems.
... Some of the most profitable video game publishers such as Activision Blizzard [1] saw more than half of its annual income, i.e., more than 4 billion USD, being made by microtransactions [43]. But since only a small percentage of players contributes the most to revenue and microtransaction volumes of such games [25], e.g., only 3% of freemium players actually pay for content [18] and over 60% of the revenue gained from freemium games comes from under 1% of players [17], the question arises which attributes distinguish this particular subgroup of players [70]. This paper therefore characterizes consumers who play freemium games and who pay in those games by means of motivations and demographic attributes resulting from an aggregation of academic literature. ...
... While Hamari et al. [29] also provide a summary of motivations and demographic attributes for playing, they have limited their analysis to one free-to-play game. Overall, despite the increase in research on purchases of in-game content and virtual goods [24,25], there is no derivation of playing and paying motivations and demographic attributes of freemium game players conducted from past studies. ...
... Our main found motivations for paying in a freemium game (see Table 2) are socialization [14, 25-27, 29, 40] but also to continue playing, to unlock content, or to advance in the game [17,25,26], and due to a special offer, a good price/value for money, and convenience [17,25,32,40]. ...
This paper presents a derivation of freemium game players’ playing and paying motivations and demographic attributes by aggregating the results of 17 studies. For further characterization and a clear distinction from other gamer subgroups, this paper also contains an aggregation of playing motivations and demographic attributes of video game players in general, and of non-freemium game players. Our results suggest that socialization and competition are common motivations for playing a freemium game, and we derive enjoyment to be a particularly important playing motivation for freemium games. We further find that freemium game players who proceed to pay particularly name economic factors and applied, freemium game-specific mechanisms as motivations. Regarding demographics, while the studies which were analyzed to derive freemium gamers’ playing motivations have a dominance of female participants, the studies which were analyzed to derive freemium gamers’ paying motivations have mainly male participants. For analyses by both motivations and demographic attributes, we suggest a more differentiated picture including genre and platform considerations. For marketers and developers, we suggest a differentiation between markets, a mechanism transparency, and an emphasis on socialization in freemium games.
... There has been a clear increase in academic studies investigating purchase motivations of in-game goods during the last decade [6]. Researchers have approached this issue from both qualitative [7][8][9][10][11][12] and quantitative perspectives [6,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. ...
... There has been a clear increase in academic studies investigating purchase motivations of in-game goods during the last decade [6]. Researchers have approached this issue from both qualitative [7][8][9][10][11][12] and quantitative perspectives [6,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. ...
... Video game researchers have done much work to explore and verify the videogame players' in-game purchase motivations. A series of in-game purchase motivations have been identified from different perspectives, including perceived values [17,26,36], psychological factors [5], videogame design [6], and service quality [3]. ...
Video game companies are increasingly diversifying their profit models. Rather than relying exclusively on the sale of video game titles or the subscription model, video game companies are maximising the revenues and extending the lifecycle of their games by means of a strategy based on the sale of in-game goods. This study contributes to the theory on in-game goods purchases by explaining why and how video game players purchase different types of in-game goods. We used an inductive approach involving qualitative data analysis based on grounded theory. Six types of in-game goods are grouped into three categories: functional-based goods, probability-based goods, and ornamental-based goods. After acknowledging the heterogeneity of the categories, a conceptual framework is developed by conducting 21 in-depth interviews, from which it emerges that players purchase functional-based goods, probability-based goods, and ornamental-based goods for different motives and through the different behavioural processes. First, the purchase of functional-based goods is a strategy for entering the flow experience. Second, the purchase of probability-based goods is a compromise for purchase restrictions. Third, the purchase of ornamental goods is driven by the synergism of intrinsic motivations and exposure in the virtual world. Therefore, video game researchers should not treat in-game goods as a homogeneous concept. The findings also suggest that it is critically important for video game developers to strike a balance between the challenges of the gameplay and the skills of players because excessively raising (or lowering) the level of difficulty could pose a threat to the company’s sustainable profit.
... There have been some studies focusing on psychological variables that explain why gamers buy premium contents in free-to-play game applications (Guo and Barnes, 2012;Hsiao and Chen, 2016;Gainsbury et al., 2016;Kim et al., 2017;Hamari et al., 2017;Wang et al., 2020). The most cited reasons or motives for buying premium content in freemium games are to enable gamers to play continuously or without interruptions (e.g. ...
... The most cited reasons or motives for buying premium content in freemium games are to enable gamers to play continuously or without interruptions (e.g. lack of in-game points and intrusive in-game ads), to unlock items or to speed up games (Guo and Barnes, 2012;Hamari et al., 2017). The ability of premium content to speed up the gaming progress, continue playing without intrusive ads and unlock additional features can be seen as an in-game utility aspect (Hsiao and Chen, 2016;Hamari et al., 2017). ...
... lack of in-game points and intrusive in-game ads), to unlock items or to speed up games (Guo and Barnes, 2012;Hamari et al., 2017). The ability of premium content to speed up the gaming progress, continue playing without intrusive ads and unlock additional features can be seen as an in-game utility aspect (Hsiao and Chen, 2016;Hamari et al., 2017). ...
Purpose
A rarely discussed type of indulgence good is “virtual” goods featured in freemium games, one of the most important platforms for online retailing. The freemium business model becomes popular amid the growth of mobile games and smartphones. The purpose of this research is to look into the factors that influence the intention to play freemium games and purchase in-game virtual goods, as well as to compare male and female millennial gamers in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest mobile gaming market. This research discusses the phenomenon in the context of compensatory consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
This quantitative research used an online questionnaire for data collections. A total of 275 millennial mobile gamers were selected via purposive sampling. In total, there are six factors incorporated in this research: utility, self-indulgence, social interaction, competition, the intention to play freemium games and the intention to pay for virtual goods. This research used structural equation modelling (SEM) via AMOS software to test the hypotheses.
Findings
This research reveals that (1) utility is a negative predictor of the intention to pay for virtual goods, (2) self-indulgence is a positive predictor of the intention to play freemium games, (3) there is a mediation effect of the intention to play freemium games on the relationship between self-indulgence and the intention to pay for virtual goods, (4) social interaction is a positive predictor of the intention to pay for virtual goods, (5) competition is a positive predictor of the intention to play freemium games, (6) there is a mediation effect of the intention to play freemium games on the relationship between competition and the intention to pay for virtual goods and (7) the intention to play freemium games is a positive predictor of the intention to pay for virtual goods.
Research limitations/implications
This research has several limitations: first, half of the study’s millennial respondents were students whose gaming expenditures might depend on their parents or guardians' willingness to accommodate their gaming activities. Therefore, there might be some biases in the intention to pay for virtual goods. Second, the numbers of female respondents outweigh male respondents (44.4% males), hence the sample representativeness issue in a slightly male-dominated gaming industry in Indonesia. Third, the game genres the millennial respondents mostly played were the battle royale and the shooter games. Other game genres (e.g. puzzles) might involve a different mechanism. Lastly, the authors measured the compensatory consumption concept indirectly, such as by measuring variables associated with lack of time (utility), the need for virtual achievements or online recognitions (competition), mood-related issues (self-indulgence) and lack of belongingness (social interaction).
Practical implications
Game developers and online retailers (e.g. Google Play Store, Android App Store and Microsoft Store) should incorporate competition, indulgence and social interaction elements when designing and promoting freemium games. Based on the results of this research, a combination of these three elements improves the likelihood of purchasing virtual goods via online retail platforms
Originality/value
This is the first research to demonstrate a link between online retailing and compensatory consumption, particularly in the context of freemium games. This research extends the literature on online retailing in the context of freemium games, which has received little attention. In addition to theoretical support, this research provides new empirical evidence for previously unexplored and unsupported relationships.
... Customizing weapons offers the player different ways to modify their in-game experience and thereby (co)construct identities. The majority of player customization in the data aligned with individual and social aspects as motivation for buying in-game content, with few exceptions of economic rationale (Hamari et al, 2017). When asked about what kind of skins they liked, the participants claimed to prefer colourful skins. ...
... Further, both wielding weapons and in-game competency (Harper, 2013) are seen as masculine, however, emphasizing one's 'looks' has traditionally been seen as feminine. Additionally, the motivations for purchasing skins discussed here; economic and social values (Hamari et al, 2017), can be read as masculine and feminine respectively. Accordingly, as an activity, wielding skins can thereby be seen as both feminine and masculine, and I thereby advocate further research on purchasing and wielding skins as a gendered activity. ...
The article researches how identities are constructed online, highlights what frames identity (co)construction; what identities are possible , and thereby, who is possible online. In multiplayer online games, identities are shaped by (at least) two frames; the technological affor-dances of the game as well as the social norms of that particular platform (Ståhl and Rusk, 2020; Ståhl, 2021a). Here, this discussion is exemplified through empirical data from the multiplayer game CounterStrike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) from 2017-2018. The research project had a player-centred design and is positioned as an ethno-case study (Parker-Jenkins, 2018). The data was collected in collaboration with a vocational school with an esports programme in Finland that the participants (17-18 years old, all identifying as men) attended. In a previous analysis of the material, we (Ståhl and Rusk, 2020) noted five tools for identity (co)construction. One of these, player customization, will be the focus of this short paper. The aim is to discuss visual player customization as in-game identity (co)construc-tion concerning technological affordances as well as social norms through the lens of technomasculinity. Additionally, based on this discussion, the chapter provides some implications for future studies on visual agency in online gaming.
... Still, freemium games provide opportunities to spend money during the game to extend the experience in different ways (e.g., level boosts, game retries, fast-forwarding game processes, permanent game content). These in-game purchases enable the developers to generate revenue from an otherwise "free" experience (Alha et al., 2016;Hamari, 2015;Hamari et al., 2017). Mobile games often include structural characteristics intended to urge gamers to engage in in-app purchases. ...
... Access to resources and rewards may be plentiful during the early engagement with a mobile game, but as time progresses, artificial obstacles become more prevalent to encourage spending. Mobile gamers who make in-game purchases often report removing obstacles or restrictions as among their primary motivations for spending money in the game (Hamari et al., 2017). However, in-game purchasing is relatively rare, with an industry report by Swrve (2019) reporting that, in 2019, only a minority (1.6%) of mobile gamers spent money on in-app purchases. ...
Aims: Mobile gaming is a dominant form of gaming, known for its portability and for game characteristics that motivate continuous play and spending. Such involvement may also turn problematic, but research on problem gaming (PG) has tended to focus on non-mobile forms of gaming. The study was based on a cross-sectional observational design where students in upper secondary schools were recruited to a survey about mobile gaming. The age of the respondents ranged from 16 to 23 years ( n = 519; 52.4% men; mean age = 17.2 years, SD = 1.1). Methods: We examined (1) gaming frequency, gaming contexts, and in-game spending in relation to PG; (2) gaming context in relation to academic achievement and sleep quality; and (3) PG according to gaming platform (i.e., playing on mobile, console/computer, or mixed platforms) with Kruskal−Wallis tests, chi-square tests and Spearman rank-order correlations. Results: PG was positively associated with mobile gaming hours per week (η ² = .02, p < .01), minutes per session (η ² = .03, p < .001), making in-app purchases (Cramer's V = .15, p < .05), and gaming during homework (Cramer's V = .14, p < .05). Statistically significant associations were found between mobile gaming in bed and later sleep midpoint for weekdays ( r s = .18, p < .001) and weekends ( r s = .11, p < .05). Mixed platform gamers had increased likelihood of PG, console/computer gamers had increased likelihood of being at risk for PG, and mobile gamers had lower risk for PG (Cramer's V = .18, p < .001). Conclusion: Future studies should include specific measures of mobile gaming as it appears implicated in problem gaming, albeit to a lesser degree than console and computer gaming.
... Other work has included an examination of video game patents (King et al., 2019), and the examination of games from a design perspective to identify 'dark patterns' in the way monetisation has been implemented (Dahlan, 2020;Zagal et al., 2013). Hamari et al. (2017) incorporated the players into their taxonomisation, constructing six in-game purchase motivation dimensions based on a survey of 519 people. ...
... Our work continues the methodology of Hamari et al. (2017) and builds on the research directions of Alha et al. (2018) and Lin and Sun (2011) by developing a taxonomy of player-perceived problematic in-game purchases through a qualitative survey of players. This also aligns with recent recommendations for doing policy-relevant research in psychological sciences to involve stakeholders for identification of problems (IJzerman et al., 2020). ...
Technological shifts within the video game industry have enabled many games to evolve into platforms for repeated expenditure, rather than a one-time purchase product. Monetising a game as a service is challenging, and there is concern that some monetisation strategies may constitute unfair or exploitative practices which are not adequately covered by existing law. We asked 1104 players of video games to describe a time when they had been exposed to transactions which were perceived to be misleading, aggressive or unfair. We found 35 separate techniques over eight domains: game dynamics designed to drive spending, product not meeting expectations, monetisation of basic quality of life, predatory advertising, in-game currency, pay to win, general presence of microtransactions and other. Notably, several of these reported practices seem to not align with existing UK consumer protection regulations. We discuss this potential misalignment, as well as the implications of identifying what players believe to be problematic monetisation techniques.
... Les développeurs créent de la valeur pour les produits du jeu en configurant avec soin l'interaction entre le jeu et les produits qui sont vendus via diverses limitations artificielles telles que la dégradation intentionnelle d'éléments, l'obsolescence planifiée ou la peur de perdre le contenu qui a été rassemblé dans le jeu. Il s'agit de trouver un équilibre entre un jeu suffisamment amusant pour fidéliser les joueurs, mais également assez incommode pour attirer davantage d'achats dans le jeu (Hamari et al., 2017). Le modèle économique des jeux Pay-to-Win s'appuie sur l'idée que tous les clients ne sont pas égaux. ...
... Il s'agit à la fois de la vente d'articles offrant un avantage concurrentiel (objets fonctionnels) mais aussi de la vente Selon cette étude, la concurrence entre joueurs ne constitue pas une motivation très importante d'achat de contenu dans le jeu. (Hamari et al., 2017). (Griffiths et al., 2016). ...
... Several studies have investigated motivation to purchase in-game content. For example, Hamari et al. [8] found that the purchase motivations of unobstructed play, social interaction, and economic rationale were positively associated with the amount of money spent in the game. More recently, Marder et al. [3] found that the motivation for spending in the game League of Legends was not necessarily linked to the value of the item purchased but sometimes actually aimed to support the video game developer, highlighting the importance of the act of purchasing itself. ...
Free-to-Play games (F2P) have spread widely all over the world in recent years. The current economic model for these games is based on microtransactions, where gamers can purchase additional items or services inside the game. The aim of the present study was (1) to describe the profiles and gaming patterns of F2P gamers, and (2) to compare F2P gamers who spend money and those who do not, in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, gaming experience, motivations, impulsivity, and risk of Internet gaming disorder (IGD), in a representative sample of 5062 French online gamers. Among the total sample, 68.6% were past-year F2P gamers. Among the F2P gamers, 26.1% had spent money in the game. Spending in the game was strongly associated with IGD (6.9% of F2P gamers were disordered gamers). Flow (gaming experience) and escape (motivation) were strongly associated with spending in the game and IGD. Negative urgency (impulsivity) was positively associated with spending in the game while positive urgency was positively associated with IGD. Given the strong association between spending in the game and IGD, these results highlight the importance of prevention and regulation in the field.
... Xu et al. (2021) also emphasized that loyal gamers may even stream the game online, which is another game-driven earnings stream. So, overall loyalty can make people engaged in spending behavior in e-commerce along with online games supported by (Hamari et al., 2017;Zheng et al., 2017). ...
Purpose-The research aims to get a deeper insight into the factors that impact players' loyalty to online streaming games in Thailand. Design/Methodology/Approach-The methods include research design, sampling plan, Questionnaire design, pilot test, validity check for the questionnaire, Methods to gather the data and its procedures, and the statistical treatment of the data. The research also made a new conceptual framework based on 3 frameworks from previous related studies. Findings-The loyalty to online streaming games in Thailand has factors that impact it. Such factors or independent variables are gaming intensity, experience, avatar identification, and flow. Loyalty is the dependent variable. The results show that all the independent variables are significant and impact players' loyalty to online streaming games in Thailand. Research Limitations/Implications-The main limitation was the COVID-19 pandemic; as most people stay at home and practice social distancing, it was somewhat hard to collect data personally. The research on gaming topics is also quite new, so the researchers could not dig too deep into the case. Originality/value-The study is about the loyalty of players in online streaming games in Thailand and the important factors that impact it.
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... Several studies have investigated motivation to purchase in-game content. For example, Hamari et al. [8] found that the purchase motivations of unobstructed play, social interaction, and economic rationale were positively associated with the amount of money spent in the game. More recently, Marder et al. [3] found that the motivation for spending in the game League of Legends was not necessarily linked to the value of the item purchased but sometimes actually aimed to support the video game developer, highlighting the importance of the act of purchasing itself. ...
Free-to-Play games (F2P) have spread widely all over the world in recent years. The cur�rent economic model for these games is based on microtransactions, where gamers can purchase
additional items or services inside the game. The aim of the present study was (1) to describe the
profiles and gaming patterns of F2P gamers, and (2) to compare F2P gamers who spend money and
those who do not, in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, gaming experience, motivations,
impulsivity, and risk of Internet gaming disorder (IGD), in a representative sample of 5062 French
online gamers. Among the total sample, 68.6% were past-year F2P gamers. Among the F2P gamers,
26.1% had spent money in the game. Spending in the game was strongly associated with IGD (6.9%
of F2P gamers were disordered gamers). Flow (gaming experience) and escape (motivation) were
strongly associated with spending in the game and IGD. Negative urgency (impulsivity) was posi�tively associated with spending in the game while positive urgency was positively associated with
IGD. Given the strong association between spending in the game and IGD, these results highlight
the importance of prevention and regulation in the field
... Depending on the dimensions, online games attract several types of players. The goal is to trigger and sustain the players' purchase motivation, which can depend on social interaction (I and my friends or co-players buy content to play together or in teams), unobstructed play (buy time or barrier lifts and progress through paywalls), and economical (investing in an entertaining activity, when pricing is judged to be reasonable) benefit [7]. ...
Automatic persona generation has been shown to have specific measurable benefits for application creators and users. In most situations, personas are adequately descriptive and diversified to achieve user type accuracy and coverage. For specific market segments, such as online gaming, using personas may accurately describe existing user base but not changing habit and need that are introduced by the fluidity of the offerings and the delivery methods. Changes in the ways that applications are marketed, such as new payment methods, for example, subscription models, pay-to-play and pay-to-win, payment-driven-gamification, seriously affect user needs and result in direct impact on user acceptance. This work utilises structured user needs from online gaming players to augment personas using personalisation techniques. The personas are finetuned and de-diversified to result in concise personas, based on user needs that successfully convey information for creators and users alike.KeywordsPersonaOnline gamingDiversificationPersonalisationData-driven methodsCollaborative filteringUser studyUsability evaluation
... On one hand, the perceived benefit is usually associated with positive user experiences such as enjoyment, social engagement, perceived information system quality, and so forth (Hamari et al., 2020). In this regard, users pay for premium in-game items to enhance happiness, show off to friends, pursue competitive advantages, achieve better performance, and accelerate upgrades (Hamari, Alha, et al., 2017;Ravoniarison & Benito, 2019). On the other hand, users also encounter various costs during their transactions, including direct monetary costs, the psychological and physiological threats of addiction, and decreased repute in the eyes of other gamers (Evers et al., 2015). ...
Freemium open-world games have become one of the most profitable game genres through the sale of in-game items. However, despite the apparent commercial success of the freemium approach to open-world games, the antecedents of players’ in-game purchase intention have been understudied. In this study, we built a theoretical framework based on cognitive absorption (CA) theory to understand the mechanism underlying players’ in-game purchase intention in open-world games. Several hypotheses were proposed regarding how CA was formed and how CA’s influence on in-game purchase intention might be moderated by motivational affordances (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness). These hypotheses were tested by partial least-squares structural equation modeling, using a sample of 490 valid responses among open-world game players. The results suggest that CA significantly increased players’ in-game purchase intention, which is strengthened by two motivational affordances (i.e., autonomy and competence). In addition, personal innovativeness, playfulness, and perceived affective quality are verified as important determinants of CA in open-world games. We discuss the related theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
... Grinding may therefore increase the frequency and duration of play and create greater risk of harm associated with excessive gaming. Further, within a monetised gaming context, grinding may encourage greater purchases of 'payto-skip' or other microtransactional content, allowing tedious game play to be avoided and desired content to be obtained quicker (Columb et al., 2022;Hamari et al., 2017). More broadly, the shift towards gaming as a monetary activity may not well received by many gamers who already regard features such as loot boxes as a short-cut to game progress and an anathema to what should essentially be a skill-based activity or one based on entertainment (Darakjian, 2015;Macey & Bujic, 2022;Tregel, Schwab, Nguyen, Müller, & Göbel, 2020). ...
Background and aims
Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming is a newly emerging form of gaming increasingly based on blockchain technology. In this paper, we examine the mechanics and business model of these games and their potential benefits and risks for players.
Methods
The paper draws upon and critically synthesises the developing published literature on predatory monetization in gaming as well as objective market data drawn from credible online sources.
Results
P2E gaming blurs the boundaries between gaming and trading and may not yield many of the benefits promoted to consumers or otherwise conveyed through marketing and social media messaging. Particular risks include the deflationary nature of reward currencies and the asymmetric reward structures that heavily favour early investors and exploit late adopters.
Discussion and conclusions
This paper highlights the need for greater consumer awareness of the mechanics and risks of these new gaming models. It will be important for business models to be more transparent and designed so as to encourage more equitable game outcomes, sustainable returns, a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and protection for potentially vulnerable players.
... This access can be difficult and might not be possible due to customer data privacy issues. The second method is through primary self-reported spending data obtained directly from the gamers, which requires the user to keep track of their spending throughout a specific duration [23,26]. Furthermore, a self-report actual spending measure might also be subject to memory errors and biases. ...
What causes mobile gamers to be unwilling to spend money on in-app purchases (IAP)? This paper answers this question in two studies. The first study develops and validates the new construct of perceived aggressive monetization (PAM). The second study tests the proposed model with a total sample of 527 US and 526 Australian mobile gamers. The result shows a separate decision mechanism between conversion (i.e., to spend money or not) and the spending size (i.e., how much money to spend). PAM increases users' likelihood of spending nothing on IAP, while perceived fairness decreases that likelihood. However, neither influences how much money the users spend once they decide to spend money. The users' Willingness to Spend and the Time-spent playing the game explained both the conversion and the spending size. There is also a significant interaction between willingness to spend and self-control in explaining the size of spending.
... Digital assets in games are vital elements of a gaming experience. These assets can be in-game items, currencies, avatars, or any object within a game which players can utilize for a better experience (Cleghorn & Griffiths, 2015;Hamari et al., 2017;Lehdonvirta, 2009). Despite players being able to own these items through in-app purchases or other means like events or grinding levels, they conventionally do not truly own the asset. ...
A business plan exploring Blockchain's Non-Fungible Tokens as a catalyst in connecting game worlds and empowering customers in truly owning in-game assets. This paper extensively studies the market, the industry, and analyzes the internal and external environment of the proposed business.
... Prior literature has explicitly explored the antecedents of purchase behaviors in free-to-play games (Hamari et al., 2017;Choi, Ko, Medlin, & Chen, 2018;Guo, Hao, Mukhopadhyay, & Sun, 2019;Meng, Hao, & Tan, 2021;Wang, Sun, & Luo, 2022). For example, several studies have identified peer influence as an important driver of in-game purchase (Vahdat, Alizadeh, Quach, & Hamelin, 2021). ...
Peer influence is considered an important element in shaping an individual’s consumption decisions. Prior studies have noted the differences between strong-tie and weak-tie influences but have yet to examine the underlying mechanisms of these two kinds of peer influences. Hence, this study compared the influences of strong-tie versus weak-tie peers and investigated their influencing mechanisms by proposing two mediating variables (envy regarding the outcomes of peers and conformity to peer choices) in the context of non-functional item consumption in free-to-play mobile games. This study further unveiled how these variables’ mediation of peer influence channels through envy and conformity are adjusted by tie strength and individual differences, as well as their interactions. The model was tested using a scenario-based experiment that integrated the essence of field surveys and lab experiments. This study enriches theory by distinguishing the underlying mechanisms between strong- and weak-tie peer influences. Furthermore, our findings can be extrapolated to services that rely on freemium business models to generate revenue.
... These results suggest that paid players can tolerate-or are more likely to tolerate-product differentiations whereas nonpaying players do not. Social identity value (SV) (Hamari et al. 2017; • SV1. Using paid items would make a good impression on others. ...
Companies in platform-based business markets have widely embraced freemium business models, in which profit is primarily determined by a minority of paying customers. However, the key challenge of these models is transitioning participants from free users to paying consumers. To encourage paid consumption, companies often rely on product differentiation such as providing consumers who pay for products or services with enhanced features. Product differentiation can be broadly classified into two categories: taste differentiation and quality differentiation. The authors demonstrate that extending the magnitude of taste differentiation is an effective differentiation strategy. Quality differentiation, however, is a double-edged sword and should be used with care. Increasing product differentiation leads to greater perceived value of the service, but undermines fairness perceptions.
... Hence, it is interesting to know why players are willing to invest their money in games. The reasons for in-game spending include: perceived value, customization (Guo and Barnes, 2011), the importance of attaining advancement (Guo and Barnes, 2012), a positive attitude (Hamari, 2015), social value , socializing, nostalgia (Hamari et al., 2018), continued playing intention (Hamari, 2015;Hamari et al., 2017bHamari et al., , 2020, perceived network size, perceived enjoyment (Mäntymäki and Salo, 2013), an economic rationale, and unobstructed play (Hamari et al., 2017a). Collectively, the literature has indicated a similar set of factors that affect players' willingness to invest their money in games and continued playing intention. ...
Past research has identified some positive impacts of game escapism, but has not explored what drives gamers to escape into games. Research filling this gap will provide game makers with knowledge on ways to attract gamers and foster continued playing intention, motivating our study. We theorize how types of real-world frustration—namely autonomy frustration, competence frustration, and relatedness frustration—drive game escapism, fostering continued playing intention. We collected responses from 1,785 online gamers to empirically test our research model. We found that only autonomy frustration and competence frustration are related to game escapism and further to continued playing intention. Game escapism is a mediator in the link between real-world frustration and continued playing intention. Gamer anxiety positively moderates the link between competence frustration and game escapism, but negatively moderates the link between autonomy frustration and game escapism. Our model contributes to the video game literature by identifying those who are likely to engage in game escapism. Our model explained 40% of continued playing intention, indicating the practical significance of identifying a target audience and fostering their continued playing intention.
... Because functional and non-functional items are developed to satisfy different psychological needs of gamers, the relationship between game identification and different types of ingame purchase behaviours may be contingent on game orientation. It might be interesting to examine whether play-towin players are likelier to purchase functional items that make winning easier, or whether play-for-fun players are likelier to purchase non-functional items that boost self-presentation (Hamari, Alha, et al., 2017). ...
Despite extensive research on user behaviours in free‐to‐play games, what motivates users to purchase in‐game items is still not well understood. We classify game affordances, gamer orientations, and in‐game items into two dimensions according to the instrumental–hedonic dichotomy. Utilising the affordance theory, we propose that the fit between game affordances and gamer orientation determines game identification, whereas the fit between game identification and gamer orientations determines in‐game purchases. We test the proposed model using a two‐wave longitudinal survey. The results suggest that instrumental gamer orientation strengthens the relationship between instrumental game affordances and game identification as well as the relationship between game identification and instrumental in‐game purchase. A hedonic gamer orientation strengthens the relationship between hedonic game affordances and game identification as well as the relationship between game identification and hedonic in‐game purchases. This paper identifies different types of game affordances and gamer orientations and examines the interactions between the two, advancing the theoretical understanding of proactive behaviours in free‐to‐play games.
... These results suggest that paid players can tolerate-or are more likely to tolerate-product differentiations whereas nonpaying players do not. Social identity value (SV) (Hamari et al. 2017; • SV1. Using paid items would make a good impression on others. ...
Companies in platform-based business markets have widely embraced freemium business models where profit primarily depends on a minority of paying customers. However, the key challenge of these models is transitioning participants from free users to paying consumers. To encourage paid consumption, companies often rely on product differentiation such as providing consumers who pay for products or services with enhanced features. However, limited research has addressed how such product differentiation may convert consumers from “free” to “fee.” Our research examines multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games as a compelling example of freemium platform-based business models. We contribute to the freemium literature by introducing three new MOBA-specific differentiations—character competency, character variety, and character-appearance differentiation. We also extend consumption values theory (CVT) into a dual-path model to unveil the underlying mechanisms through which product differentiation influences in-game purchase. We empirically validate our dual-path model using data from a two-wave longitudinal experiment and three cross-sectional experiments. Our findings support opposing mediating paths for product differentiation in character competency and variety and indicate that these two types of differentiation can indeed undermine perceived game fairness. Conversely, character-appearance differentiation exerts only a positive influence on players’ purchasing of in-game items. Consequently, the findings of this study have important potential implications for platform-based companies leveraging freemium business models that seek to increase their share of paying customers.
... It has been suggested that the main motivations for ingame purchases are related to social appeal, exclusivity, function, and collectability [58] but can also be due to impulsivity [59]. Six factors have also been found to be related to in-game purchases: Unobstructed play, Social interaction, Economic rationale, Competition, Indulging children, and Unlocking content; with the first three factors in particular being specifically related to amount of in-game spending [60]. Since loot boxes involve in-game transactions there is scope to research loot boxes further and to examine players experiences and perceptions of loot boxes. ...
Loot boxes are a popular mechanic within many video games, but it remains unclear if some forms of loot boxes can be seen of as gambling. However, the perspectives of players are often neglected, such as whether they see them as ‘fair’ game elements and how closely they feel this aligns with gambling. In this paper, we synthesise a conceptualisation for loot boxes through players’ actual experience and explore if there are any parallels with gambling. Twenty-one participants who played video games took part in the research through either an interview or online survey. Thematic analysis suggested that six themes were core to exploring loot boxes: Random Chance Effects, Attitudes Towards Content, Implementation, Parallels with Gambling, Game Design, and The Player. The results suggested both indirect and direct parallels with gambling from the players experiences. Implications of game design and classifying loot boxes as gambling are discussed in relation to game design and risk factors of gambling and purchasing behaviour.
... There has been hitherto limited consideration of how 'gambling' might evolve into a more subtle construct when understood in relation to the constantmonetary, temporal, social and moretrade-offs that players must make when playing certain F2P games. Indeed, much existing research into what motivates players to spend on in-game content reveals a limited discursive framing of the gacha-gambling interplay (see Lehdonvirta, 2009;Hamari et al., 2017;Alha et al., 2018 for reviews). For example, Hamari et al. (2017: 538) identify six 'dimensions' -unobstructed play, social interaction, competition, economic rationalisation, indulging children and unlocking contentthat motivate monetary spend on in-game content. ...
This paper offers a counterpoint to existing research that explores the associations between gacha games and gambling. Whilst existing research tends to advance a view that playing these games is equivalent to gambling, I contend that such assertions rest on analyses that focus almost exclusively on investing money in the game. Moreover, they tend to view the game as separate from the structuring forces of everyday life. Arguing that players are embedded within a double structural frame that moderates the extent of seemingly “irrational” playing behaviours, I reinterpret grinding as a form of temporal investment that is motivated by more “rationalised” engagements with the gacha mechanic. Drawing on qualitative data derived from Singapore-based players of gacha games, I explore how discipline, desire and deferred value can lead to resource maximising behaviours that are rooted in a time-money tradeoff. In turn, these agentic patterns of play can be seen to “game-the-game”.
... Six elements such as social interaction, entertainment features, design features, music element, price of the game and the game storyline [1], [7], [16], [28]- [29] were used as our guideline to explore the player discussion. Using the qualitative method, 3 different human coders with at least 5 years of game playing experience were invited to help in the labelling process. ...
Understanding what motivates a gamer to pay to play a game could enhance the gaming industry. One of the ways to understand game players experiences is through exploration via their text communication. This study explores text communication posted on the Steam digital distribution platform on paid-play games. A total of 7255 gamer text communicated were collected and analysed. Reviews from the past pinpointed that elements such as social influence, entertaining features, graphic design, music, and soundtrack used in the game could influence the game playing experience. To study those, we use mix-method (qualitative and quantitative) methods to analyse the data. We invite three human coders to categorise statements associating with its elements and aspects. Next, with the aid of Wmatrix, a semantic analysis system, we tabulate and elaborate the emotion words associating with the gameplay elements. The result shows that the positive feeling of love and joy highly encourages the gamer's overall game playing experience. Elements such as the storyline, design of the Avatar and the entertaining features are the primary motivation of the gameplay.
... As mecânicas de jogos e gamificação no ambiente corporativo devem ser usadas com cuidado para envolver os usuários em várias dimensões, isto é, cognitivas, emocionais e comportamentais (HOFACKER et al., 2016), pois os elementos de design de jogos são identificados em diferentes níveis de abstração. Esse "modelo de nível" distingue o design da interface dos padrões de design de jogos ou mecânicas de jogos (DETERDING, 2011). ...
Embora os jogos sérios possuam a mesma forma de jogos comuns, apresentam um objetivo principal que difere da diversão. Atrelada a esse setor, a gamificação, que é o uso dos elementos dos jogos, vem em constante crescimento. Só em 2019, no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, por exemplo, esse mercado produziu 138 jogos, aplicativos ou softwares, gerando um faturamento de 32,5 milhões de reais. Diante disso, o propósito deste estudo consiste em analisar a atuação de seis desenvolvedores de diferentes empresas quanto à motivação e ao engajamento dos usuários de jogos sérios e gamificação. Para isso, uma pesquisa qualitativa foi aplicada, por meio de uma entrevista semiestruturada, com seis profissionais de diferentes empresas que atuam no mercado gaúcho de jogos sérios e gamificação. Como resultados, verificou-se que o trabalho dos desenvolvedores visa à motivação e ao engajamento dos usuários, mas que essa meta não constitui a essência de tal trabalho. Além disso, os entrevistados citaram aspectos de treinamento e comunicação percebidos em meio à competição ou colaboração que ocorre na aplicação das ferramentas de gamificação e jogos sérios, bem como foco no engajamento do grupo de trabalho, com destaque para os elementos de pontuação, feedback e recompensas.
... Skins are one mechanism by which video games are monetised in otherwise free-to-play business models (Alha, Koskinen, Paavilainen, Hamari, & Kinnunen, 2014;Hamari & Lehdonvirta, 2010;Hamari et al., 2017;Lehdonvirta, 2009). Johnson and Brock (2020) argue that this trend to monetisation in digital games has been driven by the increased costs of developing and marketing "blockbuster" games, market saturation, and significant shifts in the corporate culture of the gaming industry where games are designed to maximise profit through continued innovation and gamblification of microtransactions in games. ...
Background and aims
Skin gambling uses in-game items (skins) acquired in video games, to gamble on esports, games of chance, other competitive events and privately with friends. This study examined characteristics of adolescent skin gamblers, their engagement in monetary gambling, and relationships between skin gambling and at risk/problem gambling.
Methods
Two samples of Australian adolescents aged 12–17 years were recruited to an online survey through advertisements ( n = 843) and an online panel provider ( n = 826).
Results
In both samples, past-month skin gamblers ( n = 466 advertisements sample; n = 185 online panel sample) were more likely to have lower wellbeing, score as having an internet gaming disorder on the IGD, engage in more types of monetary gambling, and meet criteria for problem gambling on the DSM-IV-MR-J. Past-month skin gambling uniquely predicted problem gambling when controlling for past-month gambling on 11 monetary forms and the total number of monetary gambling forms.
Discussion and conclusions
Underage participation in skin gambling is a growing concern. The strong convergence between engagement in skin gambling and monetary gambling suggests common risk factors may increase the propensity of some adolescents to gamble on these multiple forms. Nonetheless, past-month skin gambling predicted problem gambling even when controlling for past-month monetary gambling, indicating its unique contribution to gambling problems and harm. While the study was based on non-probability samples, its results strengthen the case for regulatory reforms, age restrictions and public health education to prevent underage skin gambling and its potentially harmful consequences for children and young people.
... Herrewijn and Poels [158] further examined that placements of the advertisements distract the attention of the players. In-game purchases [159] might be a better method for revenue gaining than sudden advertisements. In-game purchases remove unwanted delays in gaming and even motivates game users to progress further in the games. ...
Our study generates a review of serious games in the container terminal logistics field. Serious games deliver certain knowledge to the user and improve the user’s understanding of the problem. We analyse 68 games in published research papers and gaming websites and classify them based on the types of container terminal logistics problems, G/P/S (gameplay, purpose, and scope) concept, and the gaming platform. We enrich the existing classification of container terminal logistics problems by adding new fields considered by the listed games. Moreover, further analysis related to user experiences of the games is also conducted. The classification results provide insights regarding the existing studies related to gamification in the container port logistics field. It gives ideas for future developments to support the effectiveness of the learning process in the related area. Our main suggestions are increasing learning stages for game users, a list of required topics for new games, and gaming quality improvements in the existing games. Developing games with a good user interface is as important as considering the complexity of real problems in the games to allow an effective training process for the game users.
Keywords: container terminal logistics; gamification; serious game; review; game user experience
... Several instances do occur where customers are concerned about fairness in other online games. A case in point is where customers of free-to-play (non-betting) online games are then offered in-game purchases that allow those willing to spend extra money to advance faster (Hamari et al., 2017;Lin & Sun, 2011). In games of chance, where at least to a certain degree, outcomes depend on probabilities, perceived fairness among customers is seen as an important guarantor that all other influences are accounted for and equal for all. ...
Recreational gambling has become an accepted pursuit, and the advent of the Internet has rendered online gambling ubiquitous. However, the resultant rapid growth in online recreational gambling is not matched by an understanding of the drivers of customers' intentions to gamble online. While this is potentially a fascinating aspect of consumer behavior, marketing scholars have shied away from giving online gambling much attention. This research seeks a better understanding of the drivers of recreational online gambling intentions among customers by applying the latest version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Technology-UTAUT 2, to customers in an online gambling context. It also proposes additional hypotheses that account for the role of anticipated enjoyment and perceived fairness. Data are collected from 593 casino customers of an online gambling firm and analyzed using PLS-SEM via Smart PLS. Results show that perceived fairness and anticipated enjoyment are significant drivers of online gambling intention, with perceived fairness being fully mediated by effort expectancy, anticipated enjoyment, and social influence. Shorn of drivers and moderators that are not significant, an online gambling intention model is proposed. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, limitations are noted, and areas for further research are suggested.
... This research is focused on users' behavior for the random type item providing system (Gacha) in the social game of the smartphone application. There are many research about smartphone game users behavior [9][10] [11] [12]. The most interest matter is why users charge in games or what motivation users have for purchase items. ...
In recent years, the number of players of otome games, which target the niche market of young females, has been rapidly increasing in Asia. Although previous studies have attempted to explain continued playing intention and in-game purchase intention in terms of social influence among players, the parasocial phenomenon has never been used to understand female players' emotional psychology and interactive behaviors. In this study, we obtained the responses of 615 female otome game players from China and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. The results show that social anxiety and real-life interaction had positive effects on parasocial interaction (PSI), real-life interaction had a negative effect on romantic PSI, and online social interaction had a positive effect on romantic PSI. In addition, PSI and romantic PSI positively affected continued playing intention, and romantic PSI positively affected in-game purchase intention. The present study also found a strong association between PSI and romantic PSI, meaning that, as the interaction and intimacy between female players and male characters in otome games increases, the PSI between players and game characters may convert to romantic PSI.
Online games make up the largest segment of the booming global game market, in terms of revenue as well as players. Unlike games that sell games at one time for profit, online games make money from in-game purchases by a large number of engaged players. Therefore, Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) is particularly vital for game companies to improve marketing decisions and increase game revenues. Nowadays, as virtual game worlds are becoming increasingly innovative, complex, and diverse, the CLTV of massive players is highly personalized. That is, different players may have very different patterns of CLTV, especially on churn and payment. However, current solutions are inadequate in terms of personalization and thus limit predictive performance. First, most methods just attempt to address either task of CLTV, i.e., churn or payment, and only consider the personalization from one of them. Second, the correlation between churn and payment has not received enough attention and its personalization has not been fully explored yet. Last but not least, most solutions around this line are conducted based on historical data where the evaluation is not convincing enough without real-world tests. To tackle these problems, we propose a general system to predict personalized customer lifetime value in online games, named perCLTV. To be specific, we revisit the personalized CLTV prediction problem from the two sub-tasks of churn prediction and payment prediction in a sequential gated multi-task learning fashion. On this basis, we develop a generalized framework to model CLTV across games in distinct genres by heterogeneous player behavior data, including individual behavior sequential data and social behavior graph data. Comprehensive experiments on three real-world datasets validate the effectiveness and rationality of perCLTV, which significantly outperforms other baseline methods. Our work has been implemented and deployed in many online games released from NetEase Games. Online A/B testing in production shows that perCLTV achieves a prominent improvement in two precision marketing applications of popup recommendation and churn intervention.
Design/methodology/approach: A primary quantitative study was conducted using a structured questionnaire. To test our hypotheses across different cultures and increase the generalizability of our findings, we surveyed potential users of freemium mobile games in the UK and Singapore. Our final sample consisted of 295 users. Purpose: While a lot of research focus has been placed on mobile games, studies on the factors influencing the adoption of this form of entertainment do not distinguish between pay-to-play and freemium games. We argue that the freemium model, where the user downloads a stripped-down version of a game for free and pays for updates, requires distinct focus. Our research aims are to: a) explore the factors determining the adoption of freemium mobile gaming as a form of entertainment and b) identify the conditions under which the gap between intending to play freemium mobile games and making in-game purchases is created. Findings: Our study’s contribution to current research is twofold. Firstly, its findings reveal the factors determining the adoption of freemium mobile games using TAM. Secondly, our findings indicate the additional factors that bridge the gap between intention to play and intention to pay, namely loyalty with playing mobile games and perceived economic value. Originality/value: To our knowledge this is the first study exploring the factors determining the adoption of freemium mobile gaming as a form of entertainment and identify the conditions under which the gap between intending to play freemium mobile games and making in-game purchases is created.
The advent of various in-game purchasing systems has led to several ethical concerns in contemporary gaming ecosystems, including the monetary dark patterns in game design and the potential harms on gamer welling by introducing cheating, gambling, and addictive mechanisms. These concerns have resulted in the rise of tensions regarding the impacts of in-game purchases on players who pay versus those who do not pay, such as their perceptions of "fairness" in highly competitive gaming contexts when spending is involved. Using 2,685 Reddit posts from five subreddits of popular online sports and card games that focus on player-to-player competition, we investigate how players of these games perceive fairness of their in-game purchases. This research expands our existing knowledge on ethical concerns and fairness in gaming by highlighting consumers' (players') diverse ethical judgments regarding the increasingly popular monetization mechanisms in modern gaming. It also highlights ethical dilemmas surrounding competition, spending, and enjoyment in online gaming and informs the design of future digital consumption systems for fairer, healthier, and more ethical gaming dynamics.
The purpose of this study is to investigate Turkish esports players’ motivations for intention to play esports games. The factors influencing esports players' intention to play esports games were tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). An online survey was conducted with 502 esports players to test the research model. The results indicate that fantasy, competition, and challenge statistically affect intention to play esports games. In addition, it was determined that social interaction and diversion did not have a statistically significant effect on the intention to play esports games. Challenge, competition, and fantasy motivations explain 65.5% of the variance in intention to play esports games. In particular, it has been determined that challenge motivation has a large effect on the intention to play. Examining the gaming motivations of Turkish esports players, who represent a different culture, differentiates the study from its counterparts. This study makes new theoretical and practical contributions by showing that fantasy, competition, and challenge play important roles to predict on intention to play esports games.
The games as a service model have enabled game developers to reach worldwide audiences and regard games as services rather than products, opening up new avenues to establish value propositions. Freemium–premium gaming models of value co-creation have been studied in the past. Fostering the conversion of free users to premium subscribers and retaining those premium users are critical objectives for premium service providers. It is critical to effectively enable value co-creation through appropriate value propositions when the logic shifts from products to services such as depicted in the service-dominant logic. Since value propositions are the cornerstone of value, they must include insights about the customer’s preferences, capabilities, and expectations, which can be gathered through the customer’s value co-creation activities. Furthermore, little is known about the value realization that is assessed after using premium gaming services. The current study, which builds on the conceptual foundations of S-D logic, intends to investigate the gaming players’ in-game co-creation experiences in the premium gaming setting through value co-creation activities. The model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM)-based partial least based on survey data collected from 346 online gamers who used in-game premium services. The findings indicate that superior functionality, competition, sociability, personalization, and self-indulgence all have a substantial impact on players’ desire to co-create with gaming service providers. Furthermore, the data revealed a significant outcome of value realization, which is appraised based on the premium gaming players’ co-creation experience aspects. The findings of study 1 were further validated through qualitative intuitions to ensure the robustness of the valuable key insights, which confirms that different premium gaming motivations are necessary to enhance the value co-creation ties and gamer’s overall co-creation experience positively. To improve premium players’ co-creation experiences, online game service providers should route co-creation media into premium gaming settings.
Consumers like to try innovative technologies when they perceive them to be approachable, convenient, and entertaining. The purpose of this study was to explore the adoption of AI voice recognition avatar in the gameplay. This study's interesting insights show us that gamers are keen and interested in voice recognition technology. The study augments value to TAM theories, perceived value theory, and the flow theory with localization's moderating role. The 218 respondents from China provided useful insights. In China, gaming is a vast industry, and such gaming options can attract current and new gamers. Thus, AI can benefit gamers in this regard and give them the freedom to interact with their avatar through the power of voice recognition.
This study aimed to examine gambling motivations for esports betting and skin gambling and their association with gambling frequency, problems, and harm. Data were collected via a cross-sectional online survey with 736 participants aged 18 + who engaged in esports cash betting (n = 567), esports skin betting (n = 180), or skin gambling on games of chance (n = 325). Respondents were asked to rate their motivations for the three activities across seven domains: social, financial, positive feelings or enhancement, internal regulation, skill building, competition/challenge, and skin acquisition. The results highlight both similarities and differences in gambling motivations across products. Financial gain and enhancement (i.e., excitement) were the main motivations endorsed for all activities, whereas skin acquisition was an additional motivation for esports skin betting and skin gambling. Across all three products, gambling to escape or improve mood was associated with higher levels of problem gambling and harm. Financial gain motivation was associated with problem gambling only for esports skin betting and skin gambling on games of chance. These findings underscore the importance of considering motivational influences on engagement with emerging gambling activities, especially since some motivations may be a contributing factor in harmful gambling outcomes.
Mobile gaming applications (apps) are increasingly engineered to encourage the sending and receiving information between players in hopes of generating word-of-mouth and stimulating purchases. This research utilizes a social influence perspective to examine the trait antecedents (identification as a member of the gaming community, susceptibility to informational influence) and behavioral consequences (paying for downloads of mobile app games, making in-app purchases, sharing of gaming experiences) of the desires to send and receive market information in mobile gaming apps.
A structural equation model was constructed and tested from a survey of 265 US adults who identified themselves as playing mobile gaming apps. Results show dramatically different antecedents and consequences between trait desires to send and receive market information in mobile gaming apps. The desire to send market information significantly and positively affected all three gaming behaviors, while the desire to receive market information had a negative effect on in-app purchases. The desire to send market information also fully mediated the impact of susceptibility to informational influence on all three behaviors. These findings help expand knowledge of informational exchange in mobile games to help developers increase engagement and monetization.
In game updates research, there has been little research on what kind of updates elicit what kind of reactions from players. In this paper, we test the efficacy of three game update patterns, namely major but infrequent updates, minor but frequent updates, and irrelevant updates on enhancing player engagement in the context of DOTA2. Surprisingly, we find that not all feature updates will have a positive effect on player engagement. Specifically, in the vast majority of cases, players will significantly be stimulated to engage in the game after major but infrequent updates (range from 11% to 49%). By contrast, minor but frequent updates may work ineffectually and even present a hazard to player engagement (range from −4.7% to 5.9%, 3 times is positive and 3 times is negative). Finally, player engagement has no obvious difference before and after irrelevant updates. Furthermore, we find that although players will have more leisure time after the outbreak of COVID-19 due to the mandatory quarantine policy, their intentions to play games will be reduced, which further void the effect of game updates. Also, updating the game during a big game event might not be a good opportunity as updating at this moment will make the benefits that should be brought less obvious. Our results offer theoretical and managerial implications to scholars and the game industry on how to improve player engagement by properly releasing game update patches.
Günümüzde dijital oyun teknolojilerinin her geçen gün ilerlemesi, düzensiz kentleşme
ve oyun alanlarının bozulması gibi nedenlerden dolayı bireylerin eğlenme, boş zaman
değerlendirme, sosyalleşme gibi ihtiyaçları artık dijital ortamlar vasıtasıyla karşılanır
duruma gelmiş ve dijital oyunlar bireylerin günlük yaşamının önemli bir parçası hâline
gelmiştir (Sağlam, 2019: 1). Dolayısıyla kullanıcı sayısı her geçen gün artan dijital oyun
teknolojisi ürünleri, günümüzde neredeyse bütün demografik gruplara ve cinsiyet yapı-
larına erişim imkânı sağlamaktadır. Bu anlamda tüketicilerin yaş, cinsiyet, kişilik ve ilgi
alanlarına yönelik hazırlanan dijital oyunlar, bireyleri eğlendirmek ve boş vakit değerlendirmek gibi çeşitli sosyal amaçlara sahipmiş gibi görünse de hedef kitleye pazarlama
mesajlarının ulaştırılmasında aktif rol oynamaktadır (Kuşay ve Akbayır, 2015, s. 137).
Özellikle dijital oyunların eklentisi olan pazarlama iletişimi uygulamaları vasıtasıyla
oyuncuya haz ve heyecan verici duygular pompalanırken, oyun içerisine yerleştirilen
örtük mesajlar ile tüketici satın almaya güdülenmekte veya bu alandaki mevcut satın
alma güdülerinin pekiştirilmesi sağlanabilmektedir. Bu bakımdan günümüzde oyuncuların günlük yaşantısında önemli bir yere sahip olan dijital oyunlarda yer alan pazarlama
iletişimi mesajlarıyla üretilen içerikler, zaman kavramı olmayan “akış” olgusuyla birleş-
tiğinde çevrim içi tüketim alışkanlıklarının dijital oyuncular üzerindeki etkisini pekiş-
tirmektedir (Kuşay ve Akbayır, 2015, s. 137).
Since the launch of the first web browser, the early-nineties was dominated by a view of the Internet as a utopian space for identity play and community building. However online platforms are currently not utopian environments where people can be a anyone or anything they want. This thesis discusses how these online platforms continue to be shaped by the identity categories we inhabit in offline contexts. Here, I view identities as multiple yet parallel, somewhat stable but simultaneously renegotiated and changing with social context. Additionally, the focus is on what characterized the identities that the participants construct rather than the identity categories they inhabit. The overarching aim of the thesis is twofold: a)to explore what frames identity construction online and how the youth participants (co)construct identities on online platforms as well as b) to discuss methodological implications for employing screen recordings in an ethno-case study within educational research. The aim is approached through the following research questions:
RQ1. What frames the possibilities for identity construction online?
RQ2. How is the participant identity (co)construction shaped by these frames?
RQ3. What are the practical ethical challenges with employing ethnographic methods when conducting research on identity (co)construction online?
This thesis is a qualitative case study informed by ethnography, or an ethno-case study. Case study as a methodology focuses on an immersed understanding of a phenomenon trough a specific case and can offer insight into how previous research and empirical data are connected. Both case study and ethnography focus on a participant’s perspective of a phenomenon and use varied forms of data collection. However, in ethnography, more emphasis is put on extended periods of time in the field and gaining insight into this phenomenon from multiple contexts, whereas a case study can be more limited in terms of time and researcher immersion into the field.
Here, the research questions are answered through insight into two cases. The first is ethnographic and thereby spanning a longer time period, with multiple sources of data and where research immersion spans both online and offline contexts. The second is framed as an ethno-case study and thereby employs ethnographic methods on a specific case yet is shorter in timespan than the first and where the data collection primarily focuses on the online context.
The first case, Textmöten, was an ethnographic research collaboration focusing on exploring how students in upper secondary schools in Finland used mobile phones in school. The data consisted of video recordings of students during their school day, during lessons as well as breaks, and at the same time as there was a recording of their mobile phones. The application that allowed the mobile phones to be recorded was student controlled, and the students were thereby in control of the material being recorded. During a total of 18 days, the data was collected between the spring of 2015 to the autumn of 2016 at two different Swedish language upper secondary schools with a total of seven students (of age 16-18 at the time). In addition to the video recordings as well as the recordings of the mobile phones, five of the seven students were interviewed.
The second case, esports in education, was conducted in collaboration with a Swedish language vocational school with an esports programme in Finland in 2017-2018. The aim of the project was to explore online gaming through players that took their play seriously. Seven students (of age 17-18 at the time, all identifying as male) playing CS:GO took part in the study by sharing screen recordings of their in-game matches (ten matches and almost six hours in total) and by taking part in interviews (seven in total). The focus students volunteered to participate in the study through a teacher. The design of the study was dependent on the students’ engagement due to the physical distance between the researchers and participants. Regular meetings, held at their school, functioned as interviews and were recorded.
The thesis focuses on three of the platforms the participants engaged with; Instagram, Tumblr (case 1) and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (case 2). The results show that the participants identity (co)construction online was framed by both the platforms technical affordances as well as the online and offline communities they were part of. Additionally, their identity (co)construction was characterized by visuality, community and diversity. The practical ethical challenges revolved around maintaining participant integrity in terms of; a) gaining informed consent from players that became co-observed, b) defining privacy online during the analysis as well as in the published results and c) portraying participants accurately despite stakeholder interests.
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the effect of social structure variables on the purchase of virtual goods. Using field data, it also tests whether their effects on a social networking service are dynamic.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the research objectives, the authors have applied the random effects panel Tobit model with actual time-series corporate data to explain a link between network structure factors and actual behavior on social networking services.
Findings
The authors have found that various network structure variables such as in-degree, in-closeness centrality, out-closeness centrality and clustering coefficients are significant predictors of virtual item sales; while the constraint is marginally significant, out-degree is not significant. Furthermore, these variables are time-varying, and the dynamic model performs better in a model fit than the static one.
Practical implications
The findings will help social networking service (SNS) operators realize the importance of understanding network structure variables and personal motivations or the behavior of consumers.
Originality/value
This study provides implications in that it uses various and dynamic network structure variables with panel data.
Purpose
The purpose of the present research was to examine the effects of content, spatial, temporal and social presences stimulated by augmented reality (AR) technology on game enjoyment and continuing behavioral intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 355 mobile AR game players participated in an online survey posted via the nationwide crowdsourcing web service in the US. A structural equation modeling was conducted using a maximum-likelihood estimation procedure to test the relationships among the variables.
Findings
Results of structural equation modeling revealed the mechanism through which multiple dimensions of presence on the mobile AR game generated positive effects on consumer responses and showed the effects of four dimensions of presence stimulated by the AR technology on game enjoyment, performance and behavioral intention. Content, spatial, temporal and social presences are integrated to create a sense of realness. These dimensions of presence simultaneously increased game enjoyment that influenced the perceived game performance, commitment to it and ultimately the intention to play other mobile AR games.
Originality/value
Although AR technology brings a unique experience to the game player, research on the effects of its use in mobile games on consumer responses is currently limited. The results of this study add value to the existing mobile game literature and provide practical insights for mobile game service providers on how to enhance players’ game enjoyment and continuing behavior.
Les applications sur smartphone constituent depuis peu le segment le plus profitable de l’industrie des jeux vidéo. Aux vues des perspectives de ce marché, des éditeurs leaders sur les plateformes traditionnelles intègrent ce nouveau moyen d’accès prometteur en apportant un contenu plus élaboré sous un modèle d’affaires Free-To-Play. Ces jeux, plus sophistiqués, auront comme effet d’attirer des joueurs plus impliqués dans la pratique des jeux vidéo. Les utilisateurs, caractérisés par des motivations différentes de participer au jeu, vont percevoir
différemment la valeur des biens virtuels vendus au sein de celui-ci. Ce mémoire, par le biais d’une enquête en ligne administrée à 464 personnes qui ont joué à 3 jeux sophistiqués en vogue sur téléphone, cherche à mesurer l’influence du niveau d’implication du joueur sur son intention d’achat et sur ses motivations d’achat. Les résultats indiquent que le niveau d’implication influence considérablement et positivement l’intention d’achat et le degré des 12 motivations issues de la littérature sur le sujet.
In recent years, there has been an upsurge in the number of mini-games on mobile commerce platforms. The emerging gamification phenomenon of e-commerce still requires theory and investigation in order to supplement its explanation. This study aims to explore the intention of users to play games on mobile commerce platforms, as well as the influence of gamification mechanisms on users' purchase intentions on these platforms. From the perspective of perceived value theory, data from 1586 mobile commerce shoppers in China were collected and analyzed using a structural equation model. The results of the study found that utilitarian value, hedonic value, and social value are positively correlated with game use intention, while spending less time/energy also positively affects game use intention. These games are more attractive to women. The usage rate of games and the average monthly spending amount on a mobile commerce platform are both positively correlated with users’ purchase intentions on the platform.
Critical acclaim is considered to be one of the main predictors of profitability of game products. Major game publishers face tremendous hurdles in order to fare well in different forums that review and rate their products. However, little evidence exists on the relationship between ratings and profitability beyond anecdotal assumptions. In this study we investigate the relationship between critical acclaim and commercial success in mobile free-to-play games via a mixed-method study. First we look at the correlation of reviews and profitability, and then present an exploratory qualitative inquiry, analyzing games with high Metascores and games with high grossing. The results reveal that the relationship between review ratings and profitability is even more problematic in mobile free-to-play games than in many other game categories. Games with high Metascores differ substantially from the top-grossing games, being closer to traditional single-player games than typical free-to-play games, with little emphasis on monetization mechanics.
The goal of this article is to add a complementary perspective to the study of social network sites by surveying how the political economy of social media platforms relates to the structure of free-to-play games in their commodity form. Drawing on the theory of multisided markets and critical political economy, this article surveys the political economy of game apps and investigates how it is symbiotically related to the technological and economic logic underlying connective platforms operated by Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. These social media platforms operate app stores that sustain the transformation of games as fixed, physically distributed products that follow a transaction logic, into digitally distributed, freely accessible, or “free-to-play” apps. Through a case study of the popular casual game Candy Crush Saga it is contended that the connective properties of social media platforms affect the form and format of game apps as cultural commodities. Candy Crush Saga developer King Digital Entertainment has been able to attract hundreds of millions of players and build a business model that combines the commodification of virtual items, connectivity, user attention, user data, and play. It is argued that the free-to-play commodity form comprises three commodity types: the product commodity, the “prosumer commodity,” and the player commodity. Furthermore, Candy Crush Saga’s commodity form is structured by a platformed modality of cultural production and circulation and therefore embedded in the political economy of its host platform.
Social network games are popular pastime for millions of players on Facebook. Despite their popularity, qualitative research on experiences in these games has been scarce. In our study, 110 informants played 23 games on Facebook and reported their experiences using the Playful Experiences (PLEX) framework. We analyzed 110 reports containing 330 PLEX descriptions and present findings from three perspectives. First, we provide an overall analysis on playful experiences in social network games. Then we focus on genre specific experiences in casual puzzle, casual simulation, and mid-core strategy games. Lastly, we provide examples of interesting outlier experiences. Based on our study, Competition, Completion and Challenge are the most common playful experiences in these games. The genre-specific analysis revealed both similarities and differences between the genres, while the outlier experiences provide new perspectives on social network games. Through the PLEX framework, this research helps to understand the playful experiences in social network games
The present study investigated the phenomenon of buying 'virtual assets' for game avatars. Virtual Assets are items that are bought with real-world money for an avatar in-game. Weapons, items, pets, mounts and skin customisations are the most popular examples. Using a qualitative methodology – in this case Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) – six gamers that regularly bought in-game assets were interviewed. IPA was chosen because of its emphasis on lived experience, and each participant had subjective experiences of gaming and purchase behaviour. Of particular focus in this study were the superordinate themes of motivations for purchase behaviour, the resulting psychological impact on the gamer, the social benefits of gaming and virtual asset purchasing, emotional attachment, self-expression through the avatar, impulsivity versus thoughtfulness in purchase intention, and the impact of a transaction machinery on the 'game experience'. Motivations that were found to be of particular importance were item exclusivity, function, social appeal, and collectability. It was found that virtual items enable the gamer to express themselves, feel real satisfaction, and build lasting friendships. Essentially, virtual assets and gaming mostly had a very positive impact on the participant's psychological wellbeing. Implications for gamers and games production companies are considered. Why do gamers buy 'virtual assets'? An insight in to the psychology behind purchase behaviour J. Cleghorn and M. Griffiths Digital Education Review-Number 27, June 2015-http://greav.ub.edu/der/
In this study we investigate purchase behavior for virtual goods in three free-to-play game environments. In the modern free games, publishers sell virtual goods in order to generate revenue. However, game publishers face dire negative attitudes towards the business model as it can entice publishers to degrade the enjoyment of the game in order to sell more virtual goods that address the artificial gaps in the game. This study focuses on this looming question in the game industry whether people buy virtual goods because they enjoy the game and want to keep on playing it or rather because their attitudes towards virtual goods are favorable and they believe it’s also accepted in the peer-group. Player responses (N=2791) were gathered from three different game types: Social Virtual World (Habbo) (n=2156), First-Person Shooters (n =398), and Social Networking Games (Facebook games) (n=237). The results support the both main hypotheses 1) enjoyment of the game reduces the willingness to buy virtual goods while at the same time increasing the willingness to play more of the game. Continued use, however, does positively predicts purchase intentions for virtual goods. 2) Attitude towards virtual goods and the beliefs about peers’ attitudes strongly increase the willingness to purchase virtual goods. Beyond these interesting results the paper points to several further lines of inquiry.
This paper reviews empirical literature on adoption/acceptance, continued use as well loyalty in the context of games. The study reviews dependent variables, independent variables, coefficients between independent and dependent variables, used methodologies as well as types of games covered in the reviewed literature.
Researchers have found that "social" factors contribute to purchasing intentions of virtual goods in an online social game, but little is known about actual purchasing behavior. Study 1 examined the relationship between social factors and virtual goods purchasing patterns using large scale data obtained by server logs of an online social game. Exchange of virtual goods and number of friends increased the likelihood of spending real money compared to no spending. Among those who did spend real money, giving virtual goods to others was the strongest factor associated with the amount of spending. Study 2 examined purchasing patterns of players who spent real money: High real-money spenders were buying items for visual customization while low spenders were buying consumable items necessary to sustain playing the game.
Online games have exploded in popularity, but for many researchers access to players has been difficult. The study reported here is the first to collect a combination of survey and behavioral data with the cooperation of a major virtual world operator. In the current study, 7,000 players of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) EverQuest 2 were surveyed about their offline characteristics, their motivations and their physical and mental health. These self-report data were then combined with data on participants’ actual in-game play behaviors, as collected by the game operator. Most of the results defy common stereotypes in surprising and interesting ways and have implications for communication theory and for future investigations of games.
This paper investigates the free-to-play revenue model from the perspective of game professionals. To court larger player audiences and to address their wide willingness-to-pay spectrum, game developers have increasingly adopted the free-to-play revenue model. However, at the same, worrying concerns over the revenue model have been voiced. For example, free-to-play games have been deemed as exploitative and unethical. We investigated this contrast by conducting a thematic interview study. We employed grounded theory in the analysis of the data containing 14 game professionals’ interviews about their views on the free-to-play model. The results show, that the free-to-play model is something that the developers view favorably while the public writing about the games can even be hostile. The games have evolved, while the voiced opinions still talk about games of the beginning of the model. Relatively few ethical problems were seen that would address the whole model, and the future of the free-to-play games was seen bright.
This paper investigates different ways in which players have been typified in past research literature in order to distinguish relevant typologies for further research as well as for designing and marketing of games. The goal is to synthesize the results of various studies and to find the prevailing concepts, compare them, and draw implications to further studies. The research process for this study proceeded from a literature search, to author-centric (Webster & Watson 2002) identification and categorization of previous works based on the established larger factors such as demographic, psychographic and behavioral variables. The previous works on player typologies were further analyzed using concept-centric approach and synthesized according to common and repeating factors in the previous studies. The results indicate that player types in previous literature can be synthesized into seven primary dimensions: Intensity, Achievement, Exploration, Sociability, Domination, Immersion and In-game demographics.
Millions of teenagers today engage in social virtual worlds (SVWs). However, teenagers, often referred to as digital natives, represent an under-investigated group in the virtual world research and the Information Systems literature. To this end, we draw on developmental psychology and the uses and gratifications approach to examine teenagers’ continuous SVW use with a multi-method approach. We first investigate role of psychological gratifications and social influences in predicting teenagers’ intention to continue using Habbo Hotel. Thereafter, to gain a deeper understanding of their in-world activities, we triangulate our findings with a structured content analysis of the respondents’ open-ended comments. Our quantitative and qualitative findings show that the intentions to continue SVW use are predominantly hedonically motivated. Moreover, we demonstrate that inside the platform users engage in social activities that are often associated with the hedonic experience. Finally, we discuss how these activities both extend and are distinct from digital natives’ offline and online social interactions.
This article presents the results of an interview study on how people perceive and play social network games on Facebook. During recent years, social games have become the biggest genre of games if measured by the number of registered users. These games are designed to cater for large audiences in their design principles and values, a free-to-play revenue model and social network integration that make them easily approachable and playable with friends. Although these games have made the headlines and have been seen to revolutionize the game industry, we still lack an understanding of how people perceive and play them. For this article, we interviewed 18 Finnish Facebook users from a larger questionnaire respondent pool of 134 people. This study focuses on a user-centric approach, highlighting the emergent experiences and the meaning-making of social games players. Our findings reveal that social games are usually regarded as single player games with a social twist, and as suffering partly from their design characteristics, while still providing a wide spectrum of playful experiences for different needs. The free-to-play revenue model provides an easy access to social games, but people disagreed with paying for additional content for several reasons.
This chapter examines mechanics of game design in social games that are used in building customer relationship. The developments in the game industry towards service orientation, and increased emphasis on social design, have resulted in overlap of game design and business design. This chapter examines the junction of these domains in contemporary social games, by studying how game design is used in pursuing business goals of the related business models. Several virtual worlds and social games are examined with the support of secondary data provided by experts in the field. The identified mechanics are then categorised and analysed in the context of business model literature on customer relationship building. The results provide several game mechanics that are located in the union of game design and business planning. Moreover, the results imply a new approach to game design in general by exemplifying how the traditional way of thinking about game design is no longer sufficient when the design of engaging mechanics needs to meet with business goals.
Do digital games and play mean the same things for different people? This article presents the results of a 3-year study in which we sought for new ways to approach digital games cultures and playing practices. First, the authors present the research process in brief and emphasize the importance of merging different kinds of methods and materials in the study of games cultures. Second, the authors introduce a gaming mentality heuristics that is not dedicated to a certain domain or genre of games, addressing light casual and light social gaming motivations as well as more dedicated ones in a joint framework. The analysis reveals that, in contrast to common belief, the majority of digital gaming takes place between ‘‘casual relaxing’’ and ‘‘committed entertaining,’’ where the multiplicity of experiences, feelings, and understandings that people have about their playing and digital games is wide ranging. Digital gaming is thus found to be a multifaceted social and cultural phenomenon that can be understood, practiced, and used in various ways.
The authors explore Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) business models in order to characterize two main problems: big initial investment and continuous expenditures. The four main actors of a MMOG environment - game producer, Game, Players and Business Model - are analysed resorting to Actor Network Theory in order to understand their alignment in Business Models and how they can influence game design. The conclusion ends in the fact that the Business Model, directly or indirectly, influences and constrains the game design in the following ways: the high economic risks inhibits game design innovation, the players have power to demand poor game design decisions while the virtual economy games simply embrace the business model into its design. Author Keywords
Virtual worlds, e.g. World of Warcraft (WoW) and RuneScape - have demonstrated huge economic potential. However, little empirical research has been conducted into players' purchase behavior in virtual worlds. This research was designed to help gain a better understanding of factors influencing purchase behavior in virtual worlds by empirically developing and testing a conceptual model of purchase behavior in virtual worlds. An online survey was conducted within WoW (n=253) and structural equation modeling was used to test the research model. Among the statistically significant paths found in the model, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, advancement, perceived value, customization, habit, enjoyment and perceived social status all have strong impact on players' purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. The study rounds off with a discussion and conclusions, highlighting implications for research and practice, research limitations.
The U.S. online retail sector has been steadily growing in the past years, but it is noteworthy that many Internet users are still reluctant to use online channels for shopping frequently. Given this consumer resistance and the fierce competition among shopping channels, this study aims to provide managerial insights into how online merchants can reinforce and maximize unique and differentiated values in executing shopping services as an Internet-based system. To that end, this study compares two types of products/services that online merchants can market —―real‖ and ―virtual‖ items — with respect to factors affecting purchase intention and consumer characteristics. Using a survey of 350 college students, this study reveals that college students apply different criteria in making the decision to use an online shopping channel, according to the product types. Perceived benefits and risks of online shopping are salient factors affecting intention to purchase real items through the Internet, but they do not have any impact on intention to purchase virtual items. Specifically, perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, security, social norm, flow, and gender affect intention to purchase real items through the Internet. Social norm and gender are the two predictors of intention to purchase virtual items.
Selling virtual goods is an increasingly popular revenue model for operators of social online services, examples of which are virtual worlds and social networking services. Compared to more traditional revenue models, such as time-based pricing, the revenue generation logic in virtual goods sales has a tighter interdependence with service structures, such as the rules of internal economy and game mechanics. The sold products are in interaction with the virtual environment, both of which are designed by the developers. However, the planning of business models in synergy with such service design is not currently well understood.This thesis adopts a conceptual-analytical perspective. By reviewing literature pertaining to virtual goods sales and virtual world services, this thesis seeks to identify business aspects of virtual goods sales. Identified aspects and theories are then synthesised under one model utilising conceptual business model frameworks.The results provide a conceptual meta-model of virtual goods sales business, with fur-ther descriptions of business model components. Moreover, the results show business aspects that current business model frameworks cannot sufficiently describe. The thesis suggests modifications to current frameworks particularly pertaining to such aspects as user-generated content, service structure driven segmentation (self-selection), customer equity metric-driven development, and service context, which in virtual world design specifically includes game mechanics, social interaction design and rules of virtual economy.
Four studies apply self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000) in investigating motivation for computer game play,
and the effects of game play on well-being. Studies 1–3 examine individuals playing 1, 2 and 4 games, respectively and show
that perceived in-game autonomy and competence are associated with game enjoyment, preferences, and changes in well-being
pre- to post-play. Competence and autonomy perceptions are also related to the intuitive nature of game controls, and the
sense of presence or immersion in participants’ game play experiences. Study 4 surveys an on-line community with experience
in multi-player games. Results show that SDT’s theorized needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness independently predict
enjoyment and future game play. The SDT model is also compared with Yee’s (2005) motivation taxonomy of game play motivations.
Results are discussed in terms of the relatively unexplored landscape of human motivation within virtual worlds.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
Studying information diffusion and the spread of goods in the real world and in many digital services can be extremely difficult since information about the information flows is challenging to accurately track. How information spreads has commonly been analysed from the perspective of homophily, social influence, and initial seed selection. However, in virtual worlds and virtual economies, the movements of information and goods can be precisely tracked. Therefore, these environments create laboratories for the accurate study of information diffusion characteristics that have been difficult to study in prior research. In this paper, we study how content visibility as well as sender and receiver characteristics, the relationship between them, and the types of multilayer social network layers affect content absorption and diffusion in virtual world. The results show that prior visibility of distributed content is the strongest predictor of content adoption and its further spread across networks. Among other analysed factors, the mechanics of diffusion, content quality, and content adoption by users’ neighbours on the social activity layer had very strong influences on the adoption of new content.
The gaming industry has seen dramatic change and expansion with the emergence of ‘casual’ games that promote shorter periods of game play. Free to download, but structured around micro-payments, these games raise the complex relationship between game design and commercial strategies. Although offering a free gameplay experience in line with open access philosophies, these games also create systems that offer control over the temporal dynamics of that experience to monetise player attention and inattention. This article will examine three ‘freemium’ games, Snoopy Street Fair, The Simpsons’ Tapped Out and Dragonvale, to explore how they combine established branding strategies with gameplay methods that monetise player impatience. In examining these games, this article will ultimately indicate the need for game studies to interrogate the intersection between commercial motivations and game design 2 and a broader need for media and cultural studies to consider the social, cultural, economic and political implications of impatience.
Social network games on Facebook have become a popular pastime for millions of players. These social games are integrated into the social network service and feature a free-to-play revenue model. Design characteristics of social games set new challenges for game design and playability evaluations. This article presents two studies for evaluating playability in social games. Study 1 features 18 novice inspectors who evaluated a social game with playability heuristics. The objective of the study was to explore possible domain-specific playability problems and examine how the established heuristics are suited for evaluating social games. The results of Study 1 show that social games' design characteristics can cause specific playability problems and the established playability heuristics are suitable for evaluating social games. Study 2 features 58 novice inspectors who evaluated 12 social games with playability heuristics. The objective of the study was to confirm the existence of domain-specific problems. As a result, six domain-specific playability problems were found: boring gameplay, click fatigue, interruptive pop-ups, friend requirements, spammy messages and aggressive monetisation. This article discusses their meaning for the gaming experience and how they could be fixed.
This paper reviews quantitative literature that addresses the questions of what explains why people buy virtual goods. The study reviews independent and dependent variables, path coefficients, used methodologies, theoretical backgrounds as well as types of services covered in the relevant literature. The goal of the paper is both to provide an overview to the literature and to investigate reasons for virtual good purchase. The results in the body of literature reveal that, for example, purchase behavior is most strongly driven by how satisfied people are with the use of virtual goods and whether they have a positive attitude towards using real money in virtual environments. Moreover, people seem to purchase virtual goods in order to give a favorable image of themselves. Furthermore, interestingly the enjoyment of using the platform where the virtual goods are sold in does not predict virtual good purchases.
In this paper we look at three different groups of games. The traditional payment methods for games, although they do have their problems, are typically less problematic from ethical perspective than their more modern counterparts. Payment methods such as lure-to-pay use psychological tricks to lock the player to the game. Whereas pay to pass boring parts or pay to win just use game-external mechanics to make the play easier, and thus intent to, and have consequences other than at least many of the players would want to. This paper is a first stab at the topic from a Moorean just-consequentialist perspective, and in future papers we intend to compare a wider range of philosophical methods, payment methods as well as look into empirical data on players views on the topic.
Based on the research of Social Networking Sites (for short SNS), the study involves the trading of virtual product development status, collates and summarizes the research results in China and abroad on consumers buying behavior of virtual products. The researchers attempt to explore factors influencing consumers to buy SNS virtual products by using questionnaires to collect personal information of SNS customers. In addition, the Theory of Planned Behavior (for short TPB) has been selected as theoretical model and the empirical analysis uses structural equation modeling method to analyze the factors affecting several different groups of users of SNS who will be the consumers or potential consumers of virtual products. The findings are as follows: (1) the passionate export-oriented consumer attitudes towards virtual product of SNS will clearly and directly affect the type of the Behavioral Intention (for short BI) of buyers of virtual products; the perceived behavioral control can even directly affect the final actual purchase behavior. (2) The Subjective Norm (for short SN) of traditional inward-oriented consumers has a significant impact on virtual product purchase behavior and will also directly affect the final purchase behavior. (3) The SNS under self-supporting consumers on virtual product attitudes and purchasing attitudes of virtual products mainly affected their BI.
Over the past decade, the most popular leisure activity in the world is to play online games. However, it is difficult to make the online gamers will to pay for the privilege of playing the game in present online game industry, especially in developing countries. Therefore, the purpose of the research was to study factors affecting purchase intention of online game prepayment card which is the main revenue source for free-to-play game. This study collected 335 respondent data from Thailand to test the research hypotheses. The results show the perceived enjoyment value, monetary value and promotion programs are significant positive factors to influence the purchase intention of online game prepayment card. The research findings can contribute to the understandings of online game consumer behavior in developing country such as Thailand and be adopted as marketing planning guideline for online game business managers to promote prepayment card purchase intention of consumers.
Free to play is supposed to be the future of monetizing games. On one side user can access the game for free, thus it is distributed quickly. On the other side the game generates turnover by user spending real money on virtual items. Even though only a small number of players buy in-game items, it seems to be a very successful revenue model for games. Yet there is little understanding of the purchasing behavior of paying customers. Due to the importance of understanding the small group of paying users, the customer lifetime value becomes a major issue. This paper contributes to the understanding of purchasing behavior in free to play games. With real data of paying users, we shed light on the purchasing behavior for conversion, retention and monetization of customers in free to play games.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ways in which information acts as a commodity in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and how players pay for items and services with information practices.
Design/methodology/approach
– Through meta-theoretical analysis of the game environment as a set of information systems, one of retrieval and one social, the paper shows how players’ information practices influence their access to game content, organizational status and relationship to real-money trade.
Findings
– By showing how information trading functions in MMORPGs, the paper displays the importance of information access for play, the efficiency of real money trade and the significance of information practice -based services as a relatively regular form of payment in virtual worlds. Players furthermore shown to contribute to the information economy of the game with the way in which they decide not to share some information, so as to prevent others from a loss of game content value due to spoilers.
Originality/value
– The subject, despite the popularity of online games, has been severely understudied within library and information science. The paper contributes to that line of research, by showing how games function as information systems, and by explaining how they, as environments and contexts, influence and are influenced by information practices.
Selling virtual goods for real money is an increasingly popular revenue model for massively-multiplayer online games (MMOs), social networking sites (SNSs) and other online hangouts. In this paper, we argue that the marketing of virtual goods currently falls short of what it could be. Game developers have long created compelling game designs, but having to market virtual goods to players is a relatively new situation to them. Professional marketers, on the other hand, tend to overlook the internal design of games and hangouts and focus on marketing the services as a whole. To begin bridging the gap, we propose that the design patterns and game mechanics commonly used in games and online hangouts should be viewed as a set of marketing techniques designed to sell virtual goods. Based on a review of a number of MMOs, we describe some of the most common patterns and game mechanics and show how their effects can be explained in terms of analogous techniques from marketing science. The results provide a new perspective to game design with interesting implications to developers. Moreover, they also suggest a radically new perspective to marketers of ordinary goods and services: viewing marketing as a form of game design.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of interactive and social features on users' online experiences and their purchase intention of virtual goods from a social network site.
Design/methodology/approach
A banner with a hyperlink that connected to the author's web survey was posted on the homepage of Facebook. Of the 258 responses returned, 176 were fully completed. Measurement items were adapted from previous literature. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate the research model and hypotheses testing.
Findings
The results of an empirical study supported the use of the stimuli‐organism‐response (S‐O‐R) model in a social networking site and showed how environmental features should be incorporated to enhance users' online experiences and purchase intentions. Specifically, social identity showed the strongest influence on involvement and flow. More specifically, affective involvement showed the greatest influence on purchase intention compared to flow and cognitive involvement.
Practical implications
The relative importance of both interactivity and social identity in platform features in shaping consumers' online experiences should not be ignored. The author suggests online games or apps. Additionally, platform providers should advance social identity features that show a strong positive impact on users' online experiences.
Originality/value
With the proliferation of online social gaming, there is growing evidence for virtual goods consumption; however, relatively few studies have discussed this phenomenon. This paper draws on hypotheses from environmental psychology; specifically, users' intentions to purchase are modeled on user responses to the online stimuli of a Web platform and the online experience that such an environment elicits.
In this study we focused on how Facebook games affect players' behaviors and influence their purchase intention. Participants (N = 194) completed questionnaires relating to their game playing behaviors on Facebook. We found that 3 factors – interactivity, challenge, and novelty – had a positive influence on players' flow experience, a concept introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1975); while a fourth factor – sociality – was found not to affect flow. Furthermore, price perception, i.e., players' views of value as measured against cost, also influenced their purchase intention. Therefore, we determined that flow and price perception significantly enhance purchase intention. Future game developers could focus on the game attributes that increase players' flow experience, thereby attracting more players, especially those willing to purchase a game.
The sale of digital items, such as avatars and decorative objects, is becoming an important source of revenue for virtual community (VC) websites. However, some websites are unable to leverage this source of revenue, and there is a corresponding lack of understanding about what motivates people to purchase digital items in VCs. To explain the phenomenon, we develop a model based on the theory of self-presentation. The model proposes that the desire for online self-presentation is a key driver for such purchases. We also hypothesize that the social influence factors of online self-presentation norms and VC involvement as well as personal control in the form of online presentation self-efficacy are antecedents of the desire for online self-presentation. The model was validated by using survey data collected from Cyworld (N=217) and Habbo (N=197), two online social network communities that have been pioneers in the sale of digital items. This work contributes to our understanding of the purchase of digital items by extending the theory of self-presentation and adds to the broader line of research on online identity. It also lends insights into how VC providers can tap this source of revenue.
The in-game sale strategy is considered one of the most promising business models for mobile gaming application industry. However, little knowledge has been found about the antecedent factors of a smartphone user's consumption intention. We integrate the hedonic use perspective with value based theories to investigate the effects of influential factors on the smartphone user's in-game purchase intention IGPI. We find that a user's perceived playfulness and the user's perceived added value of gaming applications on smartphones both have significant positive effects on the user's IGPI. We also instantiated five factors according to the mobile fun framework and empirically validated their influences on the user's perceived playfulness of gaming applications. The findings will contribute to the future gaming application commercialisation research, and provide several practical implications to gaming application developers.