How strategic, offensive, and defensive engagement impact gamers’ need satisfaction, loyalty, and game usage

Abstract

Online games are popular digital technologies that enable gamers to engage in competitive play. However, little is known about how competitive engagement satisfies gamer needs and builds their loyalty and game usage. This lack of knowledge prevents game makers from properly designing in-game competition functions. Our research aim is to theorize the contextual features of online games, namely, competitive engagement, and build a theoretical model to explain how competitive engagement satisfies online gamers’ needs and increases their game usage. We collected data from 1543 online gamers and used structural equation modeling to test the model. Our analytical results indicate that strategic engagement is positively related to competence need satisfaction. Offensive engagement is positively related to competence and autonomy need satisfaction. Defensive engagement is positively related to relatedness need satisfaction. Satisfaction of all needs is positively related to online gamer loyalty and game usage. Our study uniquely introduces three novel elements of competitive engagement—namely, strategic, offensive, and defensive engagement—into the online gaming domain. Our findings offer a new insight to game makers that suggests they should focus on motivating gamers’ competitive engagement.