Gamers’ Behavior Via Avatars In Online Games

Gamers use avatars to represent themselves to interact with others in online games. However, gamers’ behavior via avatars has received insufficiently attention by electronic commerce scholars, warranting further study on this issue. Positive interactions among online gamers should foster their loyalty to the game. Therefore, this study investigated how avatar design affects gamers’ behavior via avatars. This study obtained responses from more than one thousand online gamers that were used for further analyses. Criteria were set to exclude some invalid responses, so as to increase data validity. Moreover, reliability and validity were checked by using six tests, demonstrating the adequate performance in psychometric properties. Structural equation modeling was conducted for analyses. This study found that avatar design has an important impact on gamers’ behavior via avatars. Specifically, positive perceptions on avatar design motivate the gamers to exhibit positive behavior via avatars. Findings of this study provide feasible means for electronic commerce managers to encourage gamers’ positive interactions and thus should create strong virtual communities and subsequently loyal gamers

Pricing of Virtual Goods and Designing Game Challenge Level for Free-to-Play Mobile Games in the Presence of Copycat Competitors

In-game purchases, virtual currency, content design for heterogeneous consumers and strong competition are key challenges for mobile game providers. This study addresses determination of optimal game design strategies for game providers in the presence of heterogeneous players and copycat competitors. Moreover, this paper incorporates pricing of virtual goods/currency into the Free-to-Play (F2P) mobile game design via a duopoly model and characterizes the optimal strategies for game providers in terms of pricing of virtual goods/currency and the game challenge level

A digitális kultúra hatása az emberi viselkedésre a gamifikáció példáján keresztül = The impact of digital culture on human behiavor through the example of gamification

Kutatásom két legfontosabb megállapítása: 1. A technológia terjedés sebesség miatt egy olyan nemzedék jelenik meg, mely (digitális) kultúrájának kialakításakor nem támaszkodhat elei tudására és tapasztalatára – "magára hagyott nemzedék". 2. A játékszerű gondolkodás messze túlmutat a szórakozáson, társadalmi működési rendszer. Meglátásom szerint a gamifikációs mentális logikák működése (a digitális kultúra számos jellemzőjének összegeként is) meghatározza a digitális kultúrába belépő, de még inkább az ebben nevelkedő emberek viselkedését

Factors Affecting Expectancy for Character Growth in Online Games and Their Effect on Gamers' Loyalty

This study aims to understand the effect of expectancy for character growth (learning, novelty, escapism, enjoyment, social value, audio-visual value, and value for money) on online games towards online gamer loyalty. This quantitative research uses a purposive sampling method with a sample of 375 respondents. The data were processed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method. The results showed that learning, escapism, audio-visual value, and value for money have a positive effect on expectancy for character growth. However, novelty, enjoyment, and social value do not have an effect on expectancy for character growth. Furthermore, expectancy for character growth has a positive effect on online gamer loyalty. Therefore, game developers need to know the fantasy of gamers, improve the quality of graphics, and provide discounts to increase gamers’ loyalt

The Interplay between Real Money Trade and Narrative Structure in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

A narrative structure is one of the main components to constitute the genre of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Meanwhile Real Money Trade (RMT) enables a player to adjust an ex post level of challenge by skipping the narrative structure of a game. However, RMT may concurrently disturb a player who enjoys game following the narrative structure hierarchically. In pursuance of developing the knowledge about the relationship between RMT and the usage of MMORPG, we investigate the role of the strictness of predetermined narrative structure. We present the dual structure of societies to describe a player that arbitrarily decides to reside in a virtual society. Then we adopt the social nominalism to explain how individual motif of playing a game is expanded to the nature of game. Finally, we argue that a game with weakly predetermined narrative structure is more positively associated with RMT volume, since these games arouse a player’s sentiment of fun by relying more on their socially oriented motivation. With empirical evidence from the Korean MMORPGs market, we proved the hypothesis

A Novel Method to Enhance ISSP Compliant: an Approach Drawing Upon the Concept of Empowerment in Erm System Workflow

Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Nowadays, enterprises employ information security system to protect organizational assets, then enforce employee to follow system workflow (i.e., information security policies). Although companies control employee by predefined workflow, employees tend to circumvent the workflow when the workflow is impeded and being inflexibility. Thus, the goal of this study is to delineate the new concept of system workflow, which is the method of increasing system workflow flexibility. We propose the notion of empowered system workflow through in the specific context of the enterprise digital rights management system (ERM). The ERM as an example of an information security system plays a role in persistently protecting information assets. This study examined the differences between the proposed notion of ERM system and the conventional ERM system through three aspects (psychological ownership, perceived benefit, and awareness of audit). The results of this study are expected to shed light on new approach to compliance behavior.https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-51/st/cyber-of-things/3

Possession work on hosted digital consumption objects as consumer ensnarement

This paper extends prior critical discussions of digital prosumption by demonstrating that prosumer reliant online business models represent new ways to valorise consumer labour through the creation of multiple realities whereby digital consumption objects are simultaneously enacted as assests by companies, and as possessions by consumers. We argue that this ontological multiplicity means that consumers’ ‘possession work’ no longer serves to separate these objects from the market sphere, as in prior work. This produces a new form of consumer lock-in, or actually ensnarement as it is consumers’ own efforts to make objects meaningful that keep them in the market, similar to the psychological attachments seen in ‘brand love’, but also incorporating aspects of proprietary tie-ins, and access-based market systems. We further consider the implications of such a system. For companies we portray such ensnarement as an attractive, emerging mechanism for ongoing valorization of ‘free labour’. Yet we also argue that this presents significant consequences for ensnared consumers who may be subject not only to the ongoing financial exploitation of their possession work, but also restrictions on possession. As a broader contribution we highlight how the examination of multiple, potentially conflicting

The Loyalty of Players in Online Streaming Games in Thailand

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

Virtual fitness: investigating team commitment and post - pandemic virtual workout perceptions

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the fitness landscape leading to phenomenal growth in virtual workouts. This study investigates factors influencing virtual workout team commitment and post-pandemic workout intentions. A conceptual framework is developed that is grounded in the social identity theory. Online data collection is employed to gather responses from 406 team virtual workout participants. Results reveal that virtual workout team participation positively influences team identification, satisfaction, and compliance with team norms. Additionally, virtual workout team identification, satisfaction, and compliance to team norms were found to be antecedents of commitment to the virtual workout team. Commitment to virtual workout teams is revealed to be positively associated with post-pandemic virtual team workout intention and post-pandemic traditional team workout intention. However, the relationship with post-pandemic traditional team workout intentions was found to be stronger. Valuable theoretical and practical insights emerge, providing a better understanding of virtual workout team commitment and how marketers and practitioners can ensure post-pandemic success by better understanding customer behaviour

Identification with Game Characters: Theoretical Explanations, Predictors, and Psychological Outcomes

This review investigates theoretical explanations, predictors, and psychological outcomes of identification with game characters. Theoretical explanations depended on Cohen’s conceptualization of identification with media characters, wishful identification, similarity identification, embodied presence concepts, self-perception, self-discrepancy, and social identity theories. Predictors included customizability, how the character is perceived (ideal, attractive, similar, real), narrative, immersion, presence, age, time spent playing/playing history, player’s psychological characteristics, and perceived performance. Psychological outcomes included enjoyment, flow experience, addiction, problematic gaming, playing motivations, self-efficacy, competence, short-term outcomes (change in aggression, empathy), intention to continue playing, game-related spending, social identification, and in-group bias. The self-discrepancy perspective provides the most prevalent explanation, which proposes that game characters are closer to players’ ideal selves, and identification with the game character reduces their self-discrepancies. However, the social identity perspective offers more overarching explanations discussing identification with game-related groups (groups created within the game and game community) and the game character together, thus pointing to a bigger picture where players develop social identities through interaction with game-related groups. Therefore, unlike other explanations discussing game character identification as a temporary experience, the social identity perspective indicates it may be a lasting experience. Regarding predictors, only two were game-related (customizability, narrative), while most were player-related (e.g., age, time spent playing, player’s psychological characteristics), which might show that player characteristics deserve more attention than the game itself to understand the identification process. Concerning psychological outcomes, while two were positive (enjoyment, flow experience) and two were negative (addiction, problematic gaming), most had various aftermaths, such as a short-term outcome of an increase in aggression or empathy