Exploring the Meaning of College Students' Leisure Activity: Means-end Chain Analysis of Social Network Game Playing

Abstract

Social network games (SNGs), a rapidly growing online game genre, are built and played on social network sites. SNGs provide an online world for enjoying leisure time and interpersonal communication, and an increasing numbers of college students are involved in such game-playing as a leisure time activity. Despite the popularity, relatively few studies have been conducted to investigate the nature of game players, especially the meaning of such leisure time behavior by college students. This paper's aim was to explore a subjective meaning structure of online social network game play. The means-end chain model was used to link attributes of SNGs to the underlying values of game playing as a leisure activity. The results revealed two emerging end-values: the need for bridging and a sense of belonging. This study sheds light on the meaning of college students' leisure activities when playing social network games.