Hardcore Gamers Research Articles

Is mobile gaming a new pillar of esports? Exploring players' in-game purchases in PC and mobile platforms by using flow and clutch

PurposeThe tremendous market growth of mobile platforms for esports underscores the need to understand players' psychological states and consumption behavior. Based on flow theory, this study examines players' psychological states (flow and clutch experiences) and consumption behavior based on the interaction effects of playing frequency, playing duration and players' levels on the PC (LOL – League of Legends) and mobile (LOLWR – League of Legends: Wild Rift) versions of the same esports title.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 930 valid responses and analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression (PROCESS macro, Model 3).FindingsThere are two main findings. First, across PC and mobile participants, casual gamers (low playing frequency and duration) have firm purchase intention when they have a clutch experience, but flow experience hinders their purchasing intention. Second, hardcore gamers' (high playing frequency and duration) psychological states are clearly distinguished according to technological platforms. Flow experience is the most effective for their purchase intention in the PC platform, but both flow and clutch states are important in the mobile platform. Flow experience is essential overall for hardcore gamers to intend their in-game item purchasing.Originality/valueThis study has two primary originality/values. First, this study explores flow and clutch together to measure psychological states and the impact on the purchase intention of in-game items. Second, the interacting effects of playing frequency, duration, and skill level with technical platforms (i.e. PC and mobile) for esports gaming.

Perfunctory gamification in the world of second language learning

Abstract Gamification is a trend that is steadfastly increasing in popularity in several fields that involve learning. Several concepts borne out of this have recently been applied with the intent to facilitate second language learning. This is most notably visible in the form of apps and online teaching courses that take advantage of mechanics that are drawn directly from video game design principles. In the context of language learning, the incorporation of game mechanics can be used to construct effective systems of incentive and ultimately enrich the FL learning experience in various ways, potentially resulting in improved outcomes. However, the prevailing trend in the gamification of language learning apps is to rely on a Black Hat gamification mechanics. These are propagated without much reflection in manner that can only be described as perfunctory gamification. Nevertheless, the subpopulation of so-called hardcore gamers is not only unsusceptible to these techniques, but exhibits a strong aversion to them. As a result, hardcore gamers are for the most part functionally excluded from the pool of potential CALL app users. The present work outlines several potential solutions to the problem of perfunctory game design practices that alienate hardcore gamers. Chief among these is the proposal to actively work towards a paradigm shift from gamification towards game-based learning.

Measuring Video Game Dedication: The Development and Validation of Casual Hardcore Assortment Scale

Gaming literature has noticed for a long-time the existence of two distinct types of video game players. In the current paper, we are proposing a scale that aims to differentiate gamers between two types: hardcore and casual. Casual players invest limited time and resources in video games and are not taking the games too seriously. Their counterparts, hardcore gamers, do the opposite, such as investing substantial monetary and emotional resources in video games, personalizing their private objects in line with their hobbies, spending more in-game time, and taking games more seriously. Based on the characteristics mentioned above, we propose in this paper a 5-item scale called Casual Hardcore Assortment Scale (CHG). The items of the scale look at the following characteristics that distinguish the hardcore player: monetary investments, cultural investments, emotional investments, and time spent in the game. The answers are on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, a higher score indicating a more pronounced presence of the previously mentioned characteristics. That would suggest a high match of the respondent in the typology of the hardcore player. The scale has been tested on a sample of 492 respondents and it showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .75).

« Je suis un gamer ! » au-delà des stéréotypes, les enjeux d’une identité passionnelle

Context and objectivesNumerous scientific studies have focused on the psychological profiles and motivations to play of video gamers with problematic or excessive use of video games. However, this subset of gamers is not representative of the gaming community. The present study aims at exploring the personality profiles of gamers in non-clinic population and their motivations to play in order to identify possible differences or similarities with the profiles of non-gamers and problematic gamers. Methods and populationWe assessed personality traits (Big Five Inventory) and motivations to play (Motivation to Play in Online Games Questionnaire) of 883 francophone adults through an online survey. Our sample included non-gamers, people who play exclusively offline and people who play online (casual gamers, regular gamers and hardcore gamers). ResultsOffline gamers, regular gamers and hardcore gamers have lower levels of Extraversion than non-gamers. Hardcore gamers have higher levels of Agreeableness than non-players. The more people tend to be involved in video gaming, the more their Neuroticism scores and their motivation to play increase. ConclusionsGamers in general population appear to have personality profiles that are quite similar to non-gamers personality profiles. Further research is needed to identify a possible “tipping point” between high investment in video games (hardcore gamers) and excessive gaming (problematic gamers).

Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory model to analyze psychological effects on gamers

With the increasing popularity of android gaming applications on smart phones, detection of emotional states of hard-core gamers become the interest of study among psychologists. Although there exist a few interesting research works on the impact of video games over the child and adult group, most of them are only able to throw light on psychological aspects associated with the said cognitive task. The real-time detection of emotional states of the player while playing video game is still an unexplored area of research. The present work feels the void by proposing a novel scheme of detecting the emotional changes of human subject from their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal acquired during their engagement in playing video games. The problem is formulated in the settings of pattern classification, which involves four main steps: Data collection, pre-processing and artifact removal, feature extraction and classification.The novelty of the work lies in extracting the emotional content with a high recognition rate from the acquired EEG response using a deep learning algorithm. The primary contribution of the paper lies in efficient usage of a novel phase-sensitive Common Spatial Pattern algorithm for feature extraction and design of an attention-based Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) network for classifying the emotional states of a video-game player into five classes: happiness, sadness, surprise, anger and neutral. Moreover, the scarcity of labeled data in EEG-based brain–computer​ interfacing (BCI) tasks is a serious issue while understanding the performance capabilities of the data-driven deep-learning models. Therefore, the present work also makes an attempt to handle the scarcity in the dimension of the extracted feature using a novel feature augmentation algorithm before feeding the feature-vector to the proposed Bi-LSTM network. Experiments undertaken yield productive and conclusive results that validate the efficacy of the proposed framework with the accuracy rate of 88.71%.

The ambiguities of money-making

PurposeIndie developers are part of the creative fringe of the video game industry, fashioning an identity for themselves as a community committed to the development of video games as a cultural expression and art form. In playing this role, money-making is ambiguous inasmuch as economic return is honorable if such interests remain unarticulated and execute minimal influence on the development work process, while the possibility of producing a successful commercial video game is simultaneously one of the primary motivations for new industry entrants. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports on the empirical material drawn from a study of indie video game developers in Sweden, a leading country for video game development.FindingsTo reconcile tensions between video game development in terms of being both cultural/and artistic production and business activity, easily compromising the perceived authenticity of the subject in the eyes of audiences (e.g. hardcore gamers), indie developers distinguish between monetary motives ex ante and compensation ex post the release of the game. Indie developers thus emphasize the metonymic function of money as this not only indicates economic value and currency but also denotes a number of business practices that indie developers have otherwise avoided in their career planning as they believe these practices would restrain their creativity and skills.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the scholarship on video game development, the literature on creative industries, and the economic sociology literature examining the social meaning of money and how social norms and values are manifested in professional ideologies and practices.

The market between symbolic violence and emancipation: The case of female hardcore gamers

This article seeks to understand the process of market-based identity-building by looking at the life stories of female hardcore gamers. A dual theoretical framework is used: identity-building through consumption and gender via symbolic violence. Analysis of the meaning attributed to the underlying consumption practices and identity mindsets in the face of a masculine market norm reveals the following: (1) the relationship between female hardcore gamers and the gendered norm of the gaming market for hyper-players; (2) the ways in which this norm is appropriated and (3) the typical path of the female gamers concerned. The findings enable a discussion about the notion of symbolic violence driven by the market, where gender becomes an identity resource that can be manipulated through consumption practices that can lead to a certain emancipation, primarily linked to the possession of capital.

Towards an Ordinary Transmedia Use: A French Speaker’s Transmedia Use of Worlds in <em>Game of Thrones</em> MMORPG and Series

Towards an Ordinary Transmedia Use: A French Speaker’s Transmedia Use of Worlds in <em>Game of Thrones</em> MMORPG and Series

Hardcore Gamer Profiling: Results from an unsupervised learning approach to playing behavior on the Steam platform

Based on a very large dataset of over 100 million Steam platform users we present the first comprehensive analysis of hardcore gamer profiles by over 700,000 hardcore players (users playing more than 20 hours per week) covering more than 3,300 games. Using an unsupervised machine learning approach we reveal the specific behavioral categories of hardcore players, i.e. First Person Shooter, Team Fortress 2 player, Action game player, Dota 2 player, Strategy and action combiner, Genre-switching player. Subsequently we derive individual patterns of hardcore gamers in the categories found, such as strategy-action games combiner or game switching players. Our results are useful for computer science and information systems scholars interested in individual differences in user behavior as well as practitioners interested in game-designing.

Xbox One

On April 4, 2013, a video game website reported that the next-generation Xbox console—due to be released by Microsoft the following month—would require an always-on Internet connection in order to operate. The new version of the SimCity game that had been released earlier that year with an always-on requirement had been a disaster. Hardcore gamers reacted negatively to the news.When the Xbox One console was officially revealed on May 21, Microsoft effectively confirmed that it would require an always-on connection for validating digital rights. Predictably, gamers reacted negatively, a response that was exacerbated when Microsoft's president of the interactive entertainment business, Don Mattrick, made dismissive statements about their concernsAfter reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to: Address the challenge of marketing a product to multiple adjacent but very different customer segments Understand the need for a unified vision before going to market Develop a strategy that addresses the complexity of a world in which the company may no longer own the “loudest voice in the room”

An instrument to build a gamer clustering framework according to gaming preferences and habits

In the era of digital gaming, there is a pressing need to better understand how people's gaming preferences and habits affect behavior and can inform educational game design. However, instruments available for such endeavor are rather informal and limited, lack proper evaluation, and often yield results that are hard to interpret. In this paper we present the design and preliminary validation (involving N = 754 Spanish secondary school students) of a simple instrument that, based on a 10-item Game Preferences Questionnaire (GPQ), classifies participants into four ‘clusters’ or types of gamers, allowing for easy interpretation of the results. These clusters are: (1) Full gamers, covering individuals that play all kinds of games with a high frequency; (2) Hardcore gamers, playing mostly first-person shooters and sport games; (3) Casual gamers, playing moderately musical, social and thinking games; and (4) Non-gamers, who do not usually play games of any kind. The instrument may have uses in psychology and behavioral sciences, as there is evidence suggesting that attitudes towards gaming affects personal attitudes and behavior. Besides, we propose applying the instrument to help designers of educational games to get better tailored their games to their target audiences.

Individual Differences in Video Gaming

The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) replicate the results of Phan, Jardina, Hoyle, and Chaparro (2012), and 2) extend their work on video gamers by understanding how female and male hardcore gamers differ from those who play casually, as well as examine the differences between hardcore gamers. Two hundred and twenty-five undergraduate students completed an online survey related to gaming behaviors, technology usage, and demographics. The outcomes of our study aligned with a majority of the findings of Phan and colleagues (2012). However, we extend these results by explaining the differences between females and males who play often (e.g., hardcore) and those who play occasionally (e.g., casually). The results indicated that men were more likely to be hardcore gamers than women. Hardcore female and hardcore male gamers did not significantly differ on most of the outcome measures. The implications of these results will be discussed at greater length.

Platform adoption in system markets: The roles of preference heterogeneity and consumer expectations

Platform-based systems have become the dominant way to market consumer entertainment products. Video games are, for instance, distributed in digital data form, which can only be used on compatible hardware. Network effects drive the diffusion of such systems. This article provides insights into market heterogeneity and the role that expectations of the direct and indirect network effects plays in the game console market. The results of two empirical studies suggest that the console market is strongly fragmented and that the perceptions of network effects differ between the various target segments. The same holds for the importance of consumer expectations: For instance, hardcore gamers make predictions about the future software availability and incorporate these into their current adoption decision, while social gamers care more about the expected potential to interact with others. When introducing novel technologies, platform sponsors can benefit from improved targeting by, for example, providing software selectively, instead of large varieties early on. This study identifies the limits of go-to-market strategies derived from aggregate analyses when dealing with network effects and shows that behavioristic insights should complement them.

Platform Adoption in System Markets: The Roles of Preference Heterogeneity and Consumer Expectations

Platform-based systems have become the dominant way to market consumer entertainment products. Video games are, for instance, distributed in digital data form, which can only be used on compatible hardware. Network effects drive the diffusion of such systems. This article provides insights into market heterogeneity and the role that expectations of the direct and indirect network effects plays in the game console market. The results of two empirical studies suggest that the console market is strongly fragmented and that the perceptions of network effects differ between the various target segments. The same holds for the importance of consumer expectations: For instance, hardcore gamers make predictions about the future software availability and incorporate these into their current adoption decision, while social gamers care more about the expected potential to interact with others. When introducing novel technologies, platform sponsors can benefit from improved targeting by, for example, providing software selectively, instead of large varieties early on. This study identifies the limits of go-to-market strategies derived from aggregate analyses when dealing with network effects and shows that behavioristic insights should complement them.

Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages ed. by Daniel T. Kline (review)

Reviewed by: Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages ed. by Daniel T. Kline Andrew B.R. Elliott daniel t. kline, ed., Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages. Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture. London and New York: Routledge, 2014. Pp. xiii, 298. isbn: 978–0–415–63091–7. $125. With Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages, Kline and his various contributors have collectively fired the first volley in what will be, one hopes, a new and exciting [End Page 145] chapter in medievalism. However, the book is important not only because it is the first in this new subfield, but also because it is excellent in itself; the contributions are well-argued and clear, the collection has been carefully assembled and edited, and the whole contains a wide range of consistently insightful chapters. William J. White opens the collection with an interesting study of the emergence of video games by examining tabletop RPGs as the early forerunners of medieval videogames. While some might perhaps take issue with the implicit suggestion that video games are a mere extension of tabletop versions, this suggestion is not really his point, and his argument neatly brings out the themes often established as tropes of the medieval video game and ‘part of a broader fantasy and science fiction theme that is itself a component of geek culture’ (15). Candace Barrington and Timothy English’s essay on Beowulf offers an example of the best kinds of scholarship that are on offer in this new field. Rather than lamenting the inaccuracies (which are to be expected in a game based not on the poem but Zemeckis’ 2007 film), the essay instead examines why such changes were made and looks at players’ motivations and the narrative needs established by the gameplay. Their approach sidesteps tired old debates about fidelity and accuracy, examining instead how an Old English epic can be updated and made relevant to twenty-first-century audiences. In their ability to relate theoretical approaches, such as gender theory, to debates taking place in online fantasy worlds, Stone, Kudenov, and Combs also offer a remarkable contribution. Their imaginative analysis of the performance of gender roles in MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Play Games) reveals that, rather than challenging gender normativity, a deeply engrained application of traditional (though wholly imaginary) chivalric gender roles has been transferred to a very modern forum. As they argue, ‘high fantasy MMORPGs are designed to support medievalist notions of courtly love and romance’ (114), which are played out in assumed gender roles according to the player’s avatar (irrespective of the actual gender of the player). However, the standout chapter of the whole collection is Serina Patterson’s study of the ways in which social gaming’s use of the Middle Ages on Facebook, Twitter, and mobile devices integrates a memory of the period and incorporates it into users’ everyday lives. Patterson’s argument that casual medieval games ‘form pseudomedieval worlds’ (245) ‘that serve a variety of social and emotional needs’ (254) draws out a subtle argument that it is not merely a clique of hard-core gamers who ‘re-imagine the Middle Ages,’ but rather that to some extent we all engage with digital games and their various medievalisms. One minor criticism, which is in fact common to most books which open up new fields, is that from the outset several of the essays adopt a defensive mode and use their introductions to emphasize the importance, relevance, and scholarly justifications of studying videogames. Over time this posturing becomes a little repetitive, since not only is it likely that anyone having bought the book is already sympathetic to such approaches, but also, given the quality of both contributors and editor, it quickly becomes apparent that there is great scope for this kind of analysis. A second minor criticism is the perhaps inevitable repetition and disproportionate emphasis on certain games over others. It is perfectly logical that, with something [End Page 146] like 10 million subscribers, World of Warcraft should warrant a whole case study with 4 chapters devoted to it, but similar weight is given to Dante’s Inferno, a less obvious candidate and a game which even Welsh...

Exploring persistence in gaming: The role of self-determination and social identity

The question of why players of video games persist gaming in the face of what seems to be insufficient reward has not yet been properly answered. This paper approaches the issue by combining two general psychological theories: Self-determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). A large scale survey (N=7252) enabled a comparison of three groups which differed in terms of their Gamer Identity Strength (GIS), namely the degree to which players define gaming as part of their social identity. GIS is highest in Hardcore gamers and lower for Heavy and Casual gamers. GIS was positively, and uniformly, related with needs for Competence, Autonomy and Relatedness. Meanwhile, regulation was greater and more internal in the higher GIS groups. Finally, persistence was found to increase with GIS. The structure of needs and regulation modes underlying persistence was comparatively analyzed for the three groups; similarities between GIS groups were more frequent than differences. Most importantly, results indicated that Casual and Heavy gamers were motivated to continue to play as a result of both the feelings of enjoyment and a sense of connectedness. Hardcore gamers were more intrinsically motivated through enjoyment enhancing their levels of persistence accordingly.

The Whole New World: Nintendos Targeting Choice

The case is set at the end of 2006 when Nintendo and Sony were preparing to launch their seventh generation gaming consoles while Microsoft had its console on the market for more than a year. Starting with the fifth generation (when the PlayStation was first introduced), the competition among the three main players in the market was focused mostly at the segment of hard-core gamers young adults spending substantial time playing elaborate games. By 2006 Nintendo was hopelessly losing the competition in this segment. The company had to come up with a bold move to remain relevant in the industry. So, rather than staying within the confines of the familiar segment, Nintendo decided to target its new console to a market that was all but neglected in the previous decade the casual gamers: kids, women, older folks, and families. The case is used as a basis for the discussion of targeting decision process.

Beyond the Flickering Screen: Re-situating e-books

Beyond the Flickering Screen: Re-situating e-books

Do you believe in magic? Computer games in everyday life

Huizinga's concept of a 'magic circle' has been used to depict computer games and gaming activities as something separate from ordinary life. In this view, games are special (magical) and they only come to life within temporal and spatial borders that are enacted and performed by the participants. This article discusses the concept of a 'magic circle' and finds that it lacks specificity. Attempts to use the concept of a magic circle create a number of anomalies that are problematic. This is not, as has been suggested earlier, primarily a matter of the genre of the game, or a discussion of what an appropriate definition of a 'game' might be. Rather, in this study with hardcore gamers, playing computer games is a routine and mundane activity, making the boundary between play and non-play tenuous to say the least. This article presents an alternative theoretical framework which should be explored further.