A Qualitative Analysis of Online Gaming:

The popularity of Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) has risen dramatically over the last decade. Some gamers spend many hours a day in these virtual environments interacting with others gamers, completing quests, and forming social groups. The present study set out to explore the experiences and feelings of online gamers. The study comprised 71 interviews with online gamers (52 males and 19 females) from 11 different countries. Many themes emerged from the analyses of the interview transcripts including (i) relationship with social networking, (ii) social interaction, (iii) the community, (iv) learning real-life skills, (v) reinforcement schedules and operant conditioning, (vi) game design and content, (vii) escaping from real life, (viii) playing longer than intended, and (ix) gamers’ obligations towards others in online worlds. These findings specifically showed the social networking capabilities of online gaming, the community aspects and the psychological mechanisms within MMORPGs that can lead to excessive online gaming. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to previous qualitative and quantitative research in the area

The hidden cost of microtransactions:Buying in-game advantages in online games decreases a player’s status

With the advent of the internet, computer games have undergone substantial changes. Many games now contain some form of social interaction with other players. Furthermore, many games offer players the opportunity to buy upgrades using microtransactions. Based on social psychological theories on social comparisons, deservedness, and envy, we tested whether the use of these microtransactions would affect how players perceive another player using them. In one survey and two experimental scenario-studies with active gamers as participants (total N = 532), we found evidence supporting the idea that a player using microtransactions will be judged more negatively. More specifically, we find that gamers dislike it more when microtransactions allow the buying of functional benefits (that provide an in-game advantage) than when they are merely ornamental, and players who buy these functional benefits are respected less. In Studies 2 and 3 we found that players who use microtransactions are perceived as having a lower skill and status. This happens both when the microtransaction-using player is an enemy who bought a competitive advantage, as well as in games where one cooperates with the microtransaction-using player and the advantage is thus effectively shared. The findings have important practical implications for game-design. They indicate how micro-transactions can be implemented so that they have fewer negative social consequences, demonstrate the value of social psychological theories in predicting online behavior, and provide several avenues for further theoretical exploration. Keywords: Microtransactions, free-to-play, real money transactions, social comparisons, status, multiplayer gamin

Consumption attachments of Brazilian fans of the National Football League A netnography on Twitter interactions

Purpose – The National Football League (NFL), the most lucrative sports league in the world, has its second largest foreign audience in Brazil. Its Brazilian broadcasts stimulate the audience to extrapolate television reception and interact through a social media platform, seeking to integrate a collective consumption. Thus, attachments are established between consumers and league. Based on this, this study aims to analyze how the interaction in social media of the Brazilian NFL audience, during the transmissions of its games, results in consumption attachments. Design/methodology/approach – The method undertaken was Netnography, commonly used to investigate cultural practices occurring in online environments. The research corpus consisted of messages posted on Twitterhashtags created by the ESPN Brazil channels to reverberate its broadcasts of the league between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons. Findings – The findings of this study indicate that Brazilian audience interaction in social media establishes consumer attachment with the NFL by means of the brand elements and aspects of social life, mediated by the league. Research limitations/implications – The research observed only the part of the Brazilian audience of the NFL that engages in the broadcasts of the games through social media. Practical implications – The research of this study demonstrates how brands can use social media to enable social interactions that create or improve consumer attachments with them. Originality/value – The study presents how a media brand imbricated in the American culture has been the target of attachment by Brazilian fans through social media interactionsPurpose – The National Football League (NFL), the most lucrative sports league in the world, has its second largest foreign audience in Brazil. Its Brazilian broadcasts stimulate the audience to extrapolate television reception and interact through a social media platform, seeking to integrate a collective consumption. Thus, attachments are established between consumers and league. Based on this, this study aims to analyze how the interaction in social media of the Brazilian NFL audience, during the transmissions of its games, results in consumption attachments. Design/methodology/approach – The method undertaken was Netnography, commonly used to investigate cultural practices occurring in online environments. The research corpus consisted of messages posted on Twitterhashtags created by the ESPN Brazil channels to reverberate its broadcasts of the league between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons. Findings – The findings of this study indicate that Brazilian audience interaction in social media establishes consumer attachment with the NFL by means of the brand elements and aspects of social life, mediated by the league. Research limitations/implications – The research observed only the part of the Brazilian audience of the NFL that engages in the broadcasts of the games through social media. Practical implications – The research of this study demonstrates how brands can use social media to enable social interactions that create or improve consumer attachments with them. Originality/value – The study presents how a media brand imbricated in the American culture has been the target of attachment by Brazilian fans through social media interaction

Persuasive technology and digital design for behaviour change

Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Research NetworkThe convergence of the 'digital' and 'real' worlds has been rapid and transformative of everyday life, as well as design practice - to the extent that talking about 'digital design' and 'the digital context' seems anachronistic and redundant. Nevertheless, the arrival of digital technology, the Internet and social media has, from a design perspective, created a new field of a ffordances, constraints, information flows and possibilities. This paper reviews some of the ways in which digital architecture infl uences behaviour, and what the implications could be for designers seeking to infl uence behaviour for social and environmental bene fit. Topics covered include Persuasive Technology, gami fication, Lessig's 'Code is Law' perspective, digital rights management and Zittrain's concept of generativity

Toward an Ecology of Gaming

In her introduction to the Ecology of Games, Salen argues for the need for an increasingly complex and informed awareness of the meaning, significance, and practicalities of games in young people's lives. The language of the media is replete with references to the devil (and heavy metal) when it comes to the ill-found virtues of videogames, while a growing movement in K-12 education casts them as a Holy Grail in the uphill battle to keep kids learning. Her essay explores the different ways the volume's contributors add shades of grey to this often black-and-white mix, pointing toward a more sophisticated understanding of the myriad ways in which gaming could and should matter to those considering the future of learning