• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.17-35
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• 2019

The objective of this study is to extract affecting factors on game satisfaction of a mobile game through the two mediated variables, self-fulfillment and flow. To apply mobile environment changed into the research model of a mobile game, we classify independent factors into three types such as system characteristics, cognitive characteristics, and individual characteristics. The previous studies for using mobile game have been based on intrinsic motivation, such as flow, as a mediated factor. However, the flow variable has some limitations in explaining user satisfaction aspects of mobile game, and the self-fulfillment variable is popularly used as an important mediated factor in the field of sports science. Because users of mobile game often attain their goals as sports event, we utilize self-fulfillment as well as flow as mediated variables. We developed a research model that includes independent factors, mediated variables of self-fulfillment and flow, and a dependent variable of game satisfaction. The data were collected from 438 users of mobile game and were used for analysis. Based on the survey results, we found the followings: (1) Immediate connectivity, enjoyment, relationship, early adopter tendency, and competitiveness affect self-fulfillment, and self-fulfillment affects the flow. (2) Enjoyment and competitiveness affect self-fulfillment, flow, and game satisfaction simultaneously.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.131-150
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• 2005

One of the reasons for popularity of online game is owing to the interactions with other game users that would lead game the users easily involving in it. Such a holistic state is called flow. Theoretically and empirically flow is one of the antecedents influencing the intension of reusing online game. However, since there are so many kinds in online games, all of them are not the same in the way of feeling flow and level of the relationship with reuse. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between flow, fators influencing flow and reuse intension in online games genre by genre. For this purpose, we classily online game into role playing, board, arcade and simulation, and suggest a research model that would explain relationship between online game and flow comparing its difference among four game genres. Sampling 730 from online game users, we analyze the suggested model empirically by PLS and prove it to be a valid one. The result of this study would not only provide differentiate Insights to the online game providers in each genre practically but also contribute to explaining intrinsic motivation for the use of information technology theoretically.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.183-206
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• 2019

Purpose Research purpose is extraction of the factors affecting game flow and satisfaction in mobile game. Design/methodology/approach In mobile game, the factors affecting game flow were classified into three parts: mobile game platform characteristics, user cognition characteristics, and user individual characteristics through previous studies for existing online game and mobile game. In the research we extracted the factors as follows: the connectivity, usability, network speed, pleasure, service quality, relatedness, proficiency, self-fulfillment, early adopter tendency, and competitive spirit. Using the factors, we established research model and tested hypotheses empirically. This survey was conducted five months targeting from teenagers to fifties with mobile game experience. The questionnaire items were reconstructed according to the questionnaires of the present study or those newly developed by the game experts and total 56 items in the literature of Internet game, smartphone game, and mobile game based on the existing literature study respectively. Findings According to the analysis result, this study showed that ease of use, enjoyment, self - fulfillment and competitive spirit had a significant influence on user flow and also that service quality, proficiency and competitive spirit had a significant influence on user satisfaction in mobile games.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.35-44
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• 2019

Purpose - This study examines the changes in the mobile MMORPG market in recent years and the factors affecting the performance of mobile games through flow experience according to the characteristics of game content. Research design, data, and methodology - This study focuses on the fact that the cause of game use behavior changes is the flow experience which influences the duration of mobile game continuation. The flow experience and the influencing factors are divided into the relationship between first, second-leading factors, and lagged factors. Results - The user's sense of challenge, skillfulness, concentration, and reality influenced the flow experience as a leading factor influencing the performance of MMORPG games. On the other hand, fun and preference were found to be the outcomes of the flow experience. This is because the game content is experienced not through passive enjoyment but by intentionally enjoying the game content. The flow experience has a positive effect on the intention of continuous use as in the previous study. Conclusions - This study found that the flow experience of game users is necessary for continuous use by organizing relationships of flow experience in mobile MMORPG users' gaming behavior.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.101-117
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• 2013

As the number of online game user has been rapidly increased thanks to the recent vitalization of online contents market, not only new business opportunity but also the opportunity to create high profits have been provided as well. However, the increase of the number of online game user and the rapid expansion of the market evoke a cutthroat completion among online game service providers, and also high barriers to entry to online game market have been erected. Thus, what kinds of efforts need for the business success and sales increase in online game market? In lots of researches regarding online contents business, the deepening of loyalty was considered as a critical factor for the business success. According to the study on user's behavior in online environment, users would experience the Flow while using online service, and then, if they were in state of the Flow, they would use the service constantly. High customer loyalty to online game means high will to use the online game too. The purpose of this research was i) to examine what factors enable users to be naturally immersed in online game while playing it, ii) to examine what properties of online game can make game more interesting and exciting, iii) to verify that such factors are critical in deepening customer loyalty, and iv) to suggest some essential factors to be fun and exciting games, on where the focus should be put, and the directionality for the development for sales expansion of online game developer or online game service provider. The research results are as below: First, the involvement and the perceived quality which were characteristics of brand appeared to be factors most affecting Flow. This shows that once game user get interested in online game that user has played frequently, even though new games are released, user will continuously flow the game not moving to new games, and also shows that users not only get more interested but also put more trust in games in the site to where users are frequently going than games in other sites, and consequently user can increasingly flow the game. Second, the compensation and graphics which are the characteristics of contents appeared to be factors affecting Flow. Proper compensation which is given to game users triggers fun and interests in game and makes them flow more and more. And graphics make users to feel game space as if real space and let them flow in game with more reality. Third, challenges, support, and the stability which are technical characteristics appeared to be factors affecting Flow. Challenges enable users to not only experience new virtual world but also solve various difficulties and obstacles. Once users feel fun and interests through this challenge, they can naturally flow games. In addition, the stability of network provides reliability in security and hacking. By doing so, it can induce users to flow more and more. Lastly, when aforementioned characteristics including contents characteristics, technical characteristics, and brand characteristics are organically combined each other, game users feel fun and total minutes are naturally increased, so that game users experience Flow, and consequently the customer loyalty will be deepened as well.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.197-224
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• 2020

Mobile games have become one of the most important driving forces of the game industry. We focus on the continuous intention to use Chinese mobile games from the perspective of experiential marketing and network externalities. We integrate user experience, network externalities and flow theory into expectation confirmation model and explore the influencing factors of continuous usage intention of Chinese mobile game and propose a research model. Game experience, service experience, perceived enjoyment, social interaction, challenge, perceived number of users and perceived number of peers were employed as independent variables, while flow, perceived value and satisfaction as mediating variables and continuous intention as the dependent variable. After surveying 426 samples, the model is tested with structural equation model. The results reveal that perceived enjoyment significantly positively influences perceived value, flow, satisfaction, and continuous intention. The greater the enjoyment of the game, the greater the satisfaction of the game and the greater the willingness to use it continuously. Game experience has a significant direct effect on continuous intention, which indicates that a better game experience can retain more users. Service experience and perceive number of peers positively influence satisfaction. Another finding is that social interaction and perceived number of users positively influence perceived value and flow, which indicate that social attributes are critical roles for retaining users. Game challenge also positively influences flow. The proper level of challenge is more likely to cause users to enter the state of flow. Flow indirectly influences continuous usage intention through the satisfaction of the game, which indicates that satisfaction is driven by flow experience and further retaining users. Empirical results implied that mobile game companies need to focus on improving user experience, expectation satisfaction and extending network externalities to improve the continuous intention of using mobile game.

• Proceedings of the Korea Database Society Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.87-106
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• 2008

This study identified the properties of online game, and analyzed existing studies on the impact of the properties of online game on flow. As a result, graphics, sounds, scenarios, game speed, manipulability, and item difficulty were identified as properties of online game, which were influential factors to flow. As a result, the hypotheses on scenarios, game speed, and item difficulty were adopted as significantly influential factors to flow, Attribute of online game. Meanwhile, the hypotheses on graphics, sounds, and manipulability, which were expected to significantly impact flow, were rejected.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.205-218
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that the characteristics of Protection Motivation Theory affects the addiction of social game users in Korea and then, to verify how these factors make an impact on the addiction through the immersion. The characteristics of protection motivation theory are vulnerability, severity, efficiency, and disability, and we want to study the influence of each characteristic on social game flow and the relationship leading to addiction. The results of this research can be useful for 'social game addiction prevention education'. This study was conducted to survey the users who had experienced using the social game to verify the suggested hypothesis. As the results of the survey, first of all, vulnerability appeared to have a positive effect on the flow. Secondly, severity appeared not to have a positive impact on the flow. Thirdly, efficiency turned out to affect the flow. Fourthly, disability turned out to have a positive impact upon the flow. Lastly, flow was revealed to make a positive impact on the addiction. The results of this study will help to construct the content of 'social game addiction prevention education program'.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.227-253
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• 2021

Perceived game realism (PGR) has recently emerged as a key concept in explaining the mental processing of digital game playing and the societal impact of digital games. However, few studies have examined its conceptualization and educational effects from an empirical viewpoint, especially in educational games. This study's participants included 292 university students in South Korea. A total of 212 questionnaires were valid and used for the analyses. They learned English expressions using a computer-based educational game and then completed questionnaires on the research variables. We investigated six factors of PGR: simulational realism (SIR), freedom of choice (FRC), perceptual pervasiveness (PEP), social realism (SOR), authenticity (AUT), and character involvement (CAI). We expected the factors to have valid effects on the university students' flow and learning satisfaction after a game-based learning (GBL) experience. Our research results demonstrated a causal relationship between SIR, FRC, CAI, and learning satisfaction. Furthermore, the indirect effects of SIR and CAI on learning satisfaction through flow were statistically significant.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.85-94
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• 2016

The study aims to investigate the effects of social anxiety and self-discrepancy on the internet game flow of adolescents, and to explore the moderating effect of self-discrepancy on the relationship between social anxiety and internet game flow. For this purpose, questionnaires on social anxiety, self-discrepancy and internet game flow were administered to 900 middle and high school students in the Gyeonggi region. The data were analyzed through frequency analysis, t-test, Pearson's correlation analysis, stepwise multiple regression analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis using SPSS Win 21. The major findings of the research are as follows. First, social anxiety and internet game flow of adolescents showed a significant difference by gender. The level of social anxiety was higher for girls than that of boys, while the level of internet game flow was higher for boys than that of girls. Self-discrepancy showed a significant difference by grade. The level of self-discrepancy was higher for middle school students than high school students. Second, self-discrepancy was the most significant predictor of the internet game flow in adolescents. Also, gender and social anxiety were significant predictors. Third, the moderating effect of self-discrepancy was found in the relationship between social anxiety and internet game flow in adolescents.