The Return Intention of MMORPGs’ Gamers on Different Gaming Platforms

Abstract

Due to the continual improvement of smart phone hardware and the popularity of mobile networks personal computers are no longer the only gaming platform Game developers have thus started to implement a variety of types of mobile games to gain a share of these new markets However despite the rise of mobile platforms massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) are currently the most popular type of gaming on desktop computers ranking high also on the other major gaming platforms Therefore this study tries to explore the game experience factors related to personal computers and smartphones that affect the choice of gaming platform among gamers This research applies the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) model classifying various factors that would affect gaming experience in different constructs of PPM The push effects from smartphone (perceived control perception of sufficient participants low entertainment and low attitudinal loyalty) and pull effects from personal computers (perceived socialization perceived teamwork perceived escapism perceived fantasy perceived connectedness immersion and gameflow) are then tested with regard to their impacts on gamers’ return intentions with regard to various gaming platforms In addition the mooring effects serve as a moderator in this study Players with experience of playing role-playing games on personal computers and smartphones were the research subjects and a total of 678 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed by structural equation modelling and hierarchical regression analysis The results of the data analysis showed that the PPM model was able to interpret gamers’ switching intention between different gaming platforms; gameflow and low attitudinal loyalty have direct and positive effects on return intention of gaming platforms; and social norms switching costs and the negative electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) of mobile games positively moderate the return intention with regard to the gaming platform Lastly the results of this research suggest that mobile game developers should work to design new game contents by targeting the specific characteristics of smartphones They could also work to enhance the levels of competition and interaction among gamers by increasing the difficulty of the games thereby enhancing their loyalty In sum different gaming experiences from those available on desktop platforms should be provided for smartphone users in order to attract existing and potential MMORPGs gamers thus making mobile MMORPGs more profitable

Date of Award	2016 Aug 15
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hsin-Hsin Chang (Supervisor)