Abstract
Playing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is no longer just a personal hobby, and the genre has evolved into a forum that encourages continual interaction among its users. To determine the motivation behind the user’s participation of MMORPG, we suggest social comparison and self-expansion theories. Specifically, this study proposes a research model that comprehensively identifies the effects of psychological motives (social comparison motive and belongingness) and immersive gaming behaviors (social presence and f low experience) on behavioral factors (continuous play intention and loyalty). We analyzed 274 valid survey questionnaire responses. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature that identifies the motives of users to play MMORPGs by applying social comparison and self-expansion theories to understand the factors that inf luence people to play MMORPGs. Furthermore, the study’s results have practical implications for game developers, suggesting that they should develop content strategically to attract users.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 198-208 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Interacting with Computers |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 May 2024 |
Keywords
- belongingness
- continuance play intention
- flow experience
- loyalty
- social comparison
- social presence