Cole Schmidt
Mr. McKendree
AP Capstone Research
Period 2
1 October 2018
10 Annotated Bibs
Cleghorn, Jack, and Mark D. Griffiths. “Why Do Gamers Buy ‘Virtual Assets’? An Insight in to the Psychology behind Purchase Behavior.” Digital Education Review, no. 27, June 2015, pp. 85–104. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In this scholarly article “Why Do Gamers Buy ‘Virtual Assets’? An Insight in to the Psychology behind Purchase Behavior,” Jack Cleghorn investigated the phenomenon of buying ‘virtual assets’ for game avatars. Virtual Assets are items that are bought with real-world money for an avatar in-game. Weapons, items, pets, mounts and skin customizations are the most popular examples. Six gamers that regularly bought in-game assets were interviewed and each participant had subjective experiences of gaming and purchase behavior. He focused on themes of motivations for purchase behavior, the resulting psychological impact on the gamer, the social benefits of gaming and virtual asset purchasing, emotional attachment, self-expression through the avatar, and the impact of a transaction on the ‘game experience’. It was found that virtual items enable the gamer to express themselves, feel real satisfaction, and build lasting friendships. Essentially, virtual assets and gaming mostly had a very positive impact on the participant’s psychological wellbeing. The authors of this article are highly credible as they both work on the International Gaming Research Unit, but their small sample of data implies that their conclusion cannot be assumed for all gamers. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 205
Wu, Shu-Ling, and Chiu-Ping Hsu. “Role of Authenticity in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs): Determinants of Virtual Item Purchase Intention.” Journal of Business Research, vol. 92, Nov. 2018, pp. 242–249. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “Role of Authenticity in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs): Determinants of Virtual Item Purchase Intention,” Shu-Ling Wu presents a conceptual model of how aesthetic design, avatar identification, and player co-creation behavior enhance the players' perceived authenticity of massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs), thereby increasing both the players' willingness to play and their virtual item purchase intention. In their model, authenticity is defined as the perception of genuineness that causes players to perceive people, and objects as real, and is considered a driving force of pleasurable game experience. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the model based on survey data from 393 MMORPG players. The findings show that aesthetic design, players' avatar identification, and player co-creation behavior all influence play intention and virtual item purchase intention. The results indicate that players' perceived authenticity increases players' intentions to play and purchase virtual items. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of how perceived authenticity affects players' participation and purchase intention in MMORPGs. The authors of this article are credible because both have doctorates in psychology, which plays a big role in understanding why people spend money on these virtual items. Their study is equally credible because they randomly selected 393 MMORPG players which is wide enough to make general assumptions about a population. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 239
Jung-Kuei Hsieh, and Ching-Yin Tseng. “Exploring Social Influence on Hedonic Buying of Digital Goods – Online Games’ Virtual Items.” Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 19, no. 2, May 2018, pp. 164–185. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “Exploring Social Influence on Hedonic Buying of Digital Goods – Online Games’ Virtual Items,” Jung-Kuei Hsieh and Ching-Yin Tseng are interested in the development of digital goods because of the growing popularity and profitability of these goods. They believe online game environment provides a perfect setting for investigating hedonic buying of digital goods. Using social influence theory and the theory of sense of community, they developed a research model to investigate the influence of online and offline social groups on consumers' purchase decisions. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data they collected. The analysis yielded several findings; Online and offline social influences affect purchase intentions, happiness has a complementary mediating effect on the relationship between online informational influence and purchase intention, happiness also has an indirect-only mediating effect on the relationships between offline informational influence and purchase intention, and between offline normative influence and purchase intention, and finally the sense of virtual community and sense of community moderate the effects of social influence on happiness and social influence on purchase intention for online and offline social groups, respectively. These findings extend current knowledge of social influence and digital goods and have implications for online businesses. This research was completed under pseudonyms so we do not know anything about the credibly of the authors. These researchers’ unique method confirms the results of many others but little is known about exactly how they collect this data. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 261
Guo, Yue, and Stuart Barnes. “Virtual Item Purchase Behavior in Virtual Worlds: An Exploratory Investigation.” Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 9, no. 1/2, Jan. 2009, pp. 77–96. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “Virtual Item Purchase Behavior in Virtual Worlds: An Exploratory Investigation” Yue Gue and Stuart Barnes examine virtual worlds, such as Second Life, World of Warcraft and Everquest, since these games have demonstrated huge economic potential. In such virtual worlds, virtual items are bought and sold between individuals for real money. However, little empirical research has been conducted into players’ purchase behavior in virtual worlds. To help gain a better understanding of factors influencing purchase behavior in virtual worlds, four focus groups were conducted with 24 participants, selected according to demographic and experiential characteristics. Preliminary empirical evidence suggested that factors including effort expectancy, character competency, the quality of the virtual world system, social influence, virtual item resources, personal real resources, performance expectancy, and self-actualization are important for predicting virtual item purchase behavior in virtual worlds. The results showed that virtual item purchase behavior in virtual worlds has considerable variability involving a range of factors at different stages. These researchers are credible because they are highly awarded and recognized researchers in Asia but their method for collecting data is questionable since they hand-picked the subject so there might be a bias that would not be prevalent in a random sample. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 220
Lehdonvirta, Vili. “Virtual Item Sales as a Revenue Model: Identifying Attributes That Drive Purchase Decisions.” Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 9, no. 1/2, Jan. 2009, pp. 97–113. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
The global market for virtual items, characters and currencies was estimated to exceed 2.1 Billion USD in 2007. In the scholarly article “Virtual Item Sales as a Revenue Model: Identifying Attributes That Drive Purchase Decisions,” Vili Lehdonvirta claims that selling virtual goods for real money is an increasingly common revenue model not only for online games and virtual worlds, but for social networking sites and other mainstream online services as well. What drives consumer spending on virtual items is an increasingly relevant question, but she states that little research has been devoted to the topic so far. Previous literature suggests that demand for virtual items is based on the items’ ability to confer gameplay advantages on one hand, and on the items’ decorative value on the other hand. In her paper, she adopts a perspective from the sociology of consumption and analyzes examples from 14 virtual asset platforms to suggest a more detailed set of item attributes that drive virtual item purchase decisions, consisting of functional, hedonic and social attributes. This author is credible because she is a recognized researcher by Finland but her small sample size of data implies that their conclusion cannot be assumed for all gamers. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 217
Kim, Byoungsoo. “Understanding Key Factors of Users’ Intentions to Repurchase and Recommend Digital Items in Social Virtual Worlds.” CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 15, no. 10, Oct. 2012, pp. 543–550. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “Understanding Key Factors of Users’ Intentions to Repurchase and Recommend Digital Items in Social Virtual Worlds,” Byoungsoo Kim discusses the remarkable profitability of digital items in social virtual worlds (SVWs), such as SecondLife, Cyworld, and Habbo Hotel. She believes it has become crucial to understand SVW users' postadoption behaviors toward digital items. Her study develops a theoretical framework to examine key antecedents of users' intentions to repurchase and recommend digital items. Data collected from 256 users of digital items were empirically tested against the research model. The analysis results indicate that both user satisfaction and a perceived value play an important role in establishing users' postadoption intentions about digital items. Moreover, the results clearly show what roles perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and perceived fee play in SVW environments. Byoungsoo Kim is a credible researcher because she has written over 20 peer reviewed and published articles. Her study is equally credible because they randomly selected 256 SVW players which is wide enough to make general assumptions about a population. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 190
Hassouneh, Diana, and Malaika Brengman. “Shopping in Virtual Worlds: Perceptions, Motivations, and Behavior.” Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 12, no. 4, Nov. 2011, pp. 320–334. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018
In the scholarly article “Shopping in Virtual Worlds: Perceptions, Motivations, and Behavior” Diana Hassouneh and Malaika Brengman claim that gamers are spending millions of dollars yearly on shopping for virtual items in free-form Virtual Worlds (VWs), such as Second Life. Some studies explaining Virtual World users' motivations to spend real money on virtual items from a consumer point of view are only available for game-oriented VWs and not for the free-form type. By means of conducting in-depth interviews with Second Life shoppers, their paper explores the added value perceived from shopping in free-form VWs, discusses free-form VW shopping motivations in relation to those in game-oriented VWs as well as to traditional and online shopping motivations, reveals users' motivations to 'reside' in VWs, and finally classifies and profiles VW shoppers into distinct VW shopper types considering their shopping behavior and store preferences. Diana Hassouneh and Malaika Brengman are credible researchers because they have a combined total of over 30 peer reviewed and published articles. These researchers’ method of in-depth interviews confirms the results of many others but little is known about exactly how they collect this data or how many people they collect this data from. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 213
Hee-Woong Kim, et al. “What Motivates People to Purchase Digital Items on Virtual Community Websites? The Desire for Online Self-Presentation.” Information Systems Research, vol. 23, no. 4, Dec. 2012, pp. 1232–1245. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “What Motivates People to Purchase Digital Items on Virtual Community Websites? The Desire for Online Self-Presentation,” Kim Hee-Woong discusses the sale of digital items, such as avatars and decorative objects, is becoming an important source of revenue for virtual community (VC) websites. However, some websites are unable to leverage this source of revenue, and there is a corresponding lack of understanding about what motivates people to purchase digital items in VCs. To explain the phenomenon, we develop a model based on the theory of self-presentation. The model proposes that the desire for online self-presentation is a key driver for such purchases. We also hypothesize that the social influence factors of online self-presentation norms and VC involvement as well as personal control in the form of online presentation self-efficacy are antecedents of the desire for online self-presentation. This work contributes to our understanding of the purchase of digital items by extending the theory of self-presentation and adds to the broader line of research on online identity. It also lends insights into how VC providers can tap this source of revenue. Kim Hee-Woong is a credible researcher because his scholarly article has been published in many scholarly journals. These researchers’ unique method confirms the results of many others but little is known about exactly how they collect this data. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 239
Huang, Echo. “Online Experiences and Virtual Goods Purchase Intention.” Internet Research, vol. 22, no. 3, Aug. 2012, pp. 252–274. EBSCOhost, 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “Online Experiences and Virtual Goods Purchase Intention,” Echo Huang examines the effects of interactive and social features on users' online experiences and their purchase intention of virtual goods from a social network site. He posted a banner with a hyperlink that connected to the author's web survey was posted on the homepage of Facebook. Of the 258 responses returned, 176 were fully completed. He used structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate the research model and hypotheses testing. The results of an empirical study supported the use of the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) model in a social networking site and showed how environmental features should be incorporated to enhance users' online experiences and purchase intentions. He found that affective involvement showed the greatest influence on purchase intention compared to flow and cognitive involvement. This paper draws on hypotheses from environmental psychology; specifically, users' intentions to purchase are modeled on user responses to the online stimuli of a Web platform and the online experience that such an environment elicits. Echo Huang is a credible researcher because his scholarly article has been published in many scholarly journals. His study is equally credible because they randomly selected 176 gamers which is wide enough to make general assumptions about a population. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 228
Xu, Xuexin, et al. “Examining the Effects of Network Externalities, Density, and Closure on in-Game Currency Price in Online Games.” Internet Research, vol. 27, no. 4, Aug. 2017, pp. 924–941. EBSCOhost, accessed 3 October 2018.
In the scholarly article “Examining the Effects of Network Externalities, Density, and Closure on in-Game Currency Price in Online Games,” Xuexin Xu purposes that massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) create quasi-real social systems in which players can interact with one another, and quasi-real economic systems where players can consume and trade in-game items with virtual currency. The in-game currency price, an important indicator of a virtual economy, is highly contingent on players’ behavioral interaction in MMORPGs. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a network perspective to examine how topological characteristics of social networks in an MMORPG, namely, network externalities, density, and closure, would exert impacts on the in-game currency price. Players’ behavioral data were collected from a popular MMORPG in China on a weekly basis for 52 weeks. With a time series analytical approach, the empirical model for the price function of in-game currency was estimated with vector autoregression. The results show that the number of core avatars and network density are positively associated with in-game currency price, while network closure has a negative effect on in-game currency price. However, in-game currency price is found to have no significant relationship with the trade volume of the currency. Xuexin Xu is a credible researcher because his scholarly article has been published in many scholarly journals. His study is equally credible because they collected data for a whole year which is wide enough to make general assumption about a population. This article is relevant to my topic as it researches why gamers spend real money on virtual items.
Word Count: 259