A Study on Extended Technology Acceptance Model for On-Line Games : Japanese Experiences

확장된 기술수용모형을 이용한 온라인 게임 성공요인 분석 - 일본 게이머를 중심으로

Online game business has emerged as the most lucrative entertainment industry, with over 10 million players in South Korea and over 30 million in Japan in 2005. The popularity of online games can be attributed to the availability of broadband network, pushing online games into the mainstream entertainment culture. The age distribution of online game players is expanding and a variety of new games are under development to target certain age groups. While the interactive entertainment market continues to expand, with many new online game publishers entering the Japan, relatively little is known about which factors influence online game players' behavioral intentions to play continuously in this area. This study investigates major factors which influence the acceptance of online game services based on the theoretical backgrounds of the technology acceptance model(TAM) and the flow theory. This paper extended the Davis' TAM model by including the flow concept as another major factor toward the intention to play online game. Based on data collected from online questionnaire survey, we show that the proposed model provides an adequate fit to the data, and that the flow experience is another important factor influencing the intention to play online game, as well as the perceived ease of use.