The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support

Online gaming has gained millions of users around the globe, which have been shown to virtually connect, to befriend, and to accumulate online social capital. Today, as online gaming has become a major leisure time activity, it seems worthwhile asking for the underlying factors of online social capital acquisition and whether online social capital increases offline social support. In the present study, we proposed that the online game players’ physical and social proximity as well as their mutual familiarity influence bridging and bonding social capital. Physical proximity was predicted to positively influence bonding social capital online. Social proximity and familiarity were hypothesized to foster both online bridging and bonding social capital. Additionally, we hypothesized that both social capital dimensions are positively related to offline social support. The hypotheses were tested with regard to members of e-sports clans. In an online survey, participants (N = 811) were recruited via the online portal of the Electronic Sports League (ESL) in several countries. The data confirmed all hypotheses, with the path model exhibiting an excellent fit. The results complement existing research by showing that online gaming may result in strong social ties, if gamers engage in online activities that continue beyond the game and extend these with offline activities.     

Social interaction and continuance intention in online auctions: A social capital perspective

This study explores how interaction within an online auction community affects online auction actor intention to continue trading with others. Adopting a social perspective drawing on social capital theory and IS literature, this study investigates how interactions among actors contribute to the creation and advancement of social capital. The analytical results demonstrate that the influence of user interaction on continuance intention in online auctions is mediated by the creation of various dimensions of social capital at the community level. Finally, the implications of the study findings are discussed.     

Mediating roles of self-presentation desire in online game community commitment and trust behavior of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), which allow simultaneous participation of several gamers, have attracted a great deal of attention recently. Since MMORPGs can be categorized as a type of online community, the behavior of MMORPGs users needs to be considered as the general behavior in online communities. However, previous studies of online communities did not pay enough attention to MMORPGs, in which users can express themselves by interacting actively through games and game avatars. Understanding the characteristics of MMORPGs as online game communities where users communicate and interact will allow games to be vitalized and users to be immersed in games in a more positive way. Hence, using self-presentation theory and social identity theory, this study examined the factors influencing self-presentation desire and the mediating role of self-presentation desire examined in terms of trust of and commitments to online game communities. The results showed that the interactivity in the spaces of MMORPGs had the biggest impacts on self-presentation desire; personal innovativeness and game design quality also was influential. The results also indicated that self-presentation desire caused trust of online games and eventually led to even stronger commitments to gamers.     

Third-Person Perceptions and Online Games: A Comparison of Perceived Antisocial and Prosocial Game Effects

The popularity of online games has inspired controversial discussion on the effects of game-play in both mass media and academia. However, we know little about ordinary people's opinions about the effects of game-play. The current study applies the theory of the third-person effect (TPE) to examine people's perceptions of game effects on self and on others, and detects significant third-person perceptual discrepancies. The results show that the magnitude of third-person perceptions is influenced by the social desirability of the message, the social distance between self and others, and by differential exposure to online games. The data supports the hypotheses that Internet efficacy and interdependent self-construal are significant antecedents of third-person perceptions, and partially supports the interaction effect of self-construal with Internet-efficacy and the interaction effect of self-construal with media social desirability.     

The effects of a lack of social recognition on online communication behavior

Online services and applications extend the influencing opportunities of traditional word-of mouth (WOM). Unlike traditional word-of-mouth, the online environment allows for special features such as anonymity in user-generated content. Furthermore, the personality of online users affects their motivation when creating this content. The aim of this paper is to link specific online activities, i.e., the posting of product ratings and participation in discussions in online forums, with certain personality traits within an empirical study. The findings, based on an online survey with more than 16,900 completed questionnaires, indicate that opinion leaders in the online environment cannot be compared with traditional opinion leaders in terms of their articulation and personality structure. In regard to online activities with a high influencing potential, the results of moderated regression analyses show that persons with an introverted personality are more active as online opinion leaders due to the lack of social recognition they experience. The results have implications for how marketers should present incentive structures to address and integrate potential online opinion leaders, and how scholars should understand the role of opinion leaders in the online environment.     

Exploring the relationship between perceptions of social capital and enacted support online

Online social networking sites enable users to connect with large, heterogeneous groups of people. While extant research suggests individuals benefit psychologically from the perception that they are well connected, little is known about the nature of tangible resources embedded in these online networks. In this study 49 participants sent 588 requests for instrumental help to their Facebook friends to determine the accessibility of networked resources and online social capital. Almost 80% of these modest requests went unanswered, and perceived bridging and bonding capital did not explain enacted support. However, people who occupied socially prestigious positions were the most likely to benefit from their friend's help. These results suggest that expansive mediated networks may yield limited instrumental benefits.     

The role of trait emotional intelligence in gamers’ preferences for play and frequency of gaming

This paper examines the role of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) in gamers’ preferences for play and frequency of gaming in a sample of 1051 young adult US/European gamers, who play frequently the online massively multiplayer game, World of Warcraft (WoW). Trait EI was shown to predict social and achievement preferences for play as well as frequency of gaming. In particular, trait EI was positively correlated to a preference for social practices per se and negatively correlated to a preference for achievement-oriented, instrumental practices. These findings advocate that gamers’ preferences for play are in accordance with their emotion-related personality characteristics. Trait EI was also negatively associated with frequency of gaming suggesting that lower scorers on trait EI are more likely associated with more frequent game use.     

(A)Social reputation: Exploring the relationship between online video game involvement and social competence

Affordable and accessible Internet has changed the way video games are played, allowing individuals to connect worldwide in shared gaming spaces. On the surface participation within these environments may seem socially beneficial, as these highly social, playful spaces allow players to connect, interact with, and learn from others. However, there is a growing concern that increased participation within online gaming environments comes with a wide variety of social consequences, contributing to numerous losses in ‘offline’ sociability. While considerable research has examined these claims, consistent relationships between social competence and online video game involvement have yet to be established. The current work (N = 515) aimed to examine the extent to which online video game involvement may support, or undermine, the development and maintenance of traditional social skills. The results indicate that there are unique relationships between social skills and video game involvement within online gaming populations. However, among online video game players, these links were not as negative or broad as hypothesized. The results of this assessment dispute the anecdotal attribution of a global level of social ineptitude amongst online video game players and provide insight into the potential effects of online video game play on skill development and maintenance.     

The impact of online game character’s outward attractiveness and social status on interpersonal attraction

Online games resemble miniature societies, in which social interactions occur within a virtual world. Previous studies have realized that the main motivation in playing games is to fulfill interpersonal needs. Players expect to own great interpersonal attraction to help them develop ideal interpersonal relationships. In the real world, individual outward appearance and social status are two important factors having influence on interpersonal attraction. In online games, the outward appearance of characters can be manipulated by changing the clothes and accessories used by those characters. This study proposes that difference in outward appearance, as in real society, affects player interpersonal attraction assessments. Additionally, when game experience and performance of players are accumulated, their grade in game would be raised. This study also proposes that the variation of role grade would influence its social status and the attitude of others. This study conducts experiments, and the results verify that a game character with high outward attractiveness and social status acquires higher online interpersonal attraction than one with low outward attractiveness and social status, and vice versa.     

The effects of interactive brand placements in online games on children’s cognitive,affective, and conative brand responses

This study investigated how persuasive messages integrated in an online game affects children’s cognitive, affective, and conative responses to the brand, as well as their attitude toward the game itself. An experiment conducted among 2453 girls between the ages of 11 and 17 demonstrated that confrontation with interactive brand placement in the game resulted in more positive attitudes toward the game, higher top of mind awareness of the brand, more positive brand images, and more favorable behavioral intentions. In addition, consistent with persuasion literature and theories on child development, this study showed that there was a three-way interaction effect between exposure to the brand placement, age, and prior brand use for behavioral intentions. The youngest girls who had no prior experience with the brand were more strongly influenced by the brand placement than the oldest girls who had no prior brand experience.     

The world’s most intense online gaming culture: Addiction and high-engagement prevalence rates among South Korean adolescents and young adults

Failure to establish agreed-upon criteria by which to measure and identify online video game addiction has resulted in a lack of reliable evidence of the actual percentage of individuals who are pathologically dependent. Building upon prior research, the present study sought to better determine the magnitude of pathological online video game play using a distinction between core and peripheral criteria for behavioral addiction. Preferences and perceptions towards online video games and addiction were also examined to better understand players’ habits. A questionnaire was administered to 1332 South Korean students across 11 high schools and 1 middle school in an area surrounding the capital of Seoul. Using a monothetic and a polythetic classification system, findings showed rates ranging between 1.7% and 25.5%, with a 2.7% addiction rate when distinguishing core from peripheral criteria. These results may suggest that online video game addiction rates in intense gaming cultures such as South Korea are not as high as otherwise believed. The findings will be of assistance to educators, policymakers, clinicians, and researchers in understanding the challenges in deriving meaningful video game addiction prevalence rates, and thus being able to better separate reality from conjecture with regard to the notion of pathological game play.     

Call of (civic) duty: Action games and civic behavior in a large sample of youth

The positive and negative influences of violent/action games, henceforth called “action games”, remains controversial in the scholarly literature. Although debate continues whether action games influence aggressive behavior, little research has examined the influence of action games on civic engagement. The current study addresses this gap by examining the correlation between exposure to action games on civic engagement and on-line prosocial behavior in a sample of 873 teenagers. Results indicated that girls as well as teens who had parents who were more technologically savvy tended to engage in more civic behaviors. Exposure to action games predicted more prosocial behavior on-line, but did not predict civic engagement either positively or negatively. However, exposure to action games and parental involvement interacted to promote youth civic engagement. Action-game-playing-youth whose parents were involved in game play and supervision were most civically involved, compared to youth who did not play action games, or whose parents were less involved. These results indicated little support for the belief that exposure to violence in video games decreases prosocial behavior and/or civic engagement. Conversely some support was found for the possibility that playing action games is associated with small increased prosocial behavior and civic engagement in the real world, possibly due to the team-oriented multiplayer options in many of these games.     

The effects of helping,self-expression,and enjoyment on social capital in social media: the moderating effect of avoidance attachment in the tourism context

ABSTRACT

A majority of senior Internet users maintains persistent social connections with others through social media (SM), such as Facebook and Twitter. This research explores the impacts of helping, self-expression, and enjoyment on bonding social capital and bridging social capital which in turn influence SM involvement; it also explores the moderating effect of avoidance attachment among senior SM users. The results show that helping, self-expression, and enjoyment have significant impacts on bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Also, bonding social capital and bridging social capital have significant effects on SM involvement. Furthermore, relationships between helping and bonding social capital, between self-expression and bonding social capital, and between self-expression and bridging social capital are stronger for seniors with high avoidance attachment. Conversely, the relationships between enjoyment and bonding social capital as well as between enjoyment and bridging social capital are stronger for seniors with low avoidance attachment. Accordingly, the results of this study provide theoretical contributions to the literature of behaviour and information technology. In addition, some implications of the research and various strategies for practitioners and marketers that can be used to better increase users’ involvement in SM for tourism-related activities are discussed.     

The role of perceived social capital and flow experience in building users’ continuance intention to social networking sites in China

The long-term development of social networking sites (SNSs) relies on their users’ continuance of use. This paper tested the role of perceived social capital and flow experience in driving users to continue using SNSs based on the expectation–confirmation model of information systems continuance. Using data from online surveys of social networking sites users in China, the proposed model was tested by using the Partial Least Squares (PLSs) technique. The results show that perceived bridging and bonding social capital have different role in building users’ satisfaction and continuance intention: perceived bridging social capital has remarkable influence on users’ satisfaction and continuance intention, but perceived bonding social capital has none. Flow experience has influence on users’ satisfaction but none on continuance intention. In addition, gender has impact on users’ continuance intention.     

The role of self-construal in consumers’ electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites: A social cognitive approach

The current study reconceptualized self-construal as a social cognitive indicator of self-observation that individuals employ for developing and maintaining social relationship with others. From the social cognitive perspective, this study investigated how consumers’ self-construal can affect consumers’ electronic word of mouth (eWOM) behavior through two cognitive factors (online community engagement self-efficacy and social outcome expectations) in the context of a social networking site. This study conducted an online experiment that directed 160 participants to visit a newly created online community. The results demonstrated that consumers’ relational view became salient when the consumers’ self-construal was primed to be interdependent rather than independent. Further, the results showed that such interdependent self-construal positively influenced consumers’ eWOM behavioral intentions through their community engagement self-efficacy and their social outcome expectations.     

The role of attachment style in building social capital from a social networking site: The interplay of anxiety and avoidance

Drawing on attachment theory, the present study examines the attachment styles of individuals relative to two ways of building social capital – bonding social capital and bridging social capital. In trying to relate attachment theory to the use of SNS, the present study argues that bonding social capital is reflected in the use of SNS for forming attachment bonds from trust-based strong ties, while bridging social capital is reflected in the use of SNS for causal affiliations among more socially distant people. The conceptual model was validated through an online survey completed by 368 Facebook users. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated several results. First, avoidance attachment was significant and negatively predictive of both bonding social and bridging social capital. Second, both bonding social capital and bridging social capital reported by respondents appeared to be greatest under conditions of low anxiety attachment coupled with low avoidance attachment. Third, levels of Facebook usage were significant and independently predictive of bridging social capital.     

Interactive effects of individual- and group-level variables on virtual purchase behavior in online communities

Focusing on social network theories, we examine the interactive influence of both group-level (i.e. community influences) and individual-level variables (intrinsic and extrinsic motivations) simultaneously as the drivers of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) players’ virtual purchase behavior. We demonstrate that several aspects of real-world behavior are reflected in virtual purchase behavior. Notably, normative interpersonal influences and community identity are critical drivers and moderators of virtual purchases. Moreover, clear advancement and enjoyment opportunities offer important triggers for virtual purchase behavior. This study provides insights for game developers to increase virtual purchases, and identifies domain-specificity of each gaming platform.     

The perspective of a revised TRAM on social capital building: The case of Facebook usage

The author explored the factors that affect user's acceptance of Facebook by analyzing data provided in a survey of Facebook users (n = 346) using hypotheses based on the Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model (TRAM). In addition, he investigated the role of a revised TRAM on social capital building.     

The mediator role of self-disclosure and moderator roles of gender and social anxiety in the relationship between Chinese adolescents’ online communication and their real-world social relationships

Based on theory and previous research, we examined relationships among gender, social anxiety, self-disclosure, quality of real-world friendships and online communication by Chinese adolescent Internet users. Results indicated that online communication and self-disclosure are not related to quality of friendship, and online communication is positively related to self-disclosure. For adolescent boys and adolescents with high social anxiety, online communication can explain more variance in users’ self-disclosure, indicating that gender and social anxiety moderate the relationship between online communication and online self-disclosure.