• Journal of KIISE
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.314-322
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• 2017

In MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), users advance their own characters to get to the maximum (max) level by performing given tasks in the game scenario. Although it is crucial to retain users with high levels for running online games successfully, little efforts have been paid to investigate them. In this study, by analyzing approximately 60 million in-game logs of over 50,000 users, we aimed to investigate the process through which users achieve the max level and churn of such users since the moment of achieving the max level, and determine possible indicators related to churn after the max level. Based on the result, we can predict churn of the max level users by employing behavioral patterns before the max level. Moreover, we found users who are socially active and communicate with many people before the max level are less likely to leave the service (p<0.05). This study supports that communication patterns are important factors for persistent usage of the users who achieve the max level, which has practical implications to guide elite users on enjoying online games in the long run.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2008

Games can be divided into different genres such as action, adventure, role playing, simulation and etc based on the types of the play provided to a player. And each genre has various kinds of balancing system. Fighting games are classified as one of the action genres. They seem to have a simple structure but there is a variety of complex balancing factors. Because there are quite a number of the fighting games that were developed in a relatively short period, it is possible to identify diverse balancing systems in the fighting games from unstable ones in the early stage to the recent ones in a stable condition. The balancing system allows players to use all the contents offered in the game by eliminating the imbalance created among the various components. It helps players maintain their interest during the procedure. Furthermore, it gives the justification, increases the efficiency of controlling, and develops the empathy in the process. Therefore, the balancing system plays a crucial role in the games when it comes to getting an evaluation and building popularity, which can determine its lifespan. In this study, we researched on the possibilities of expanding an application to the other genres by understanding the established balancing model developed from the case study of the fighting games.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.57-66
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• 2009

A quest system is one of the important parts in the MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) contents. Because of its complexity in combining various content components, quest reward design belongs to a complicated work in estimating quest reward levels correctly in the initial development stage. In this paper, we suggest a new quest reward design technique by considering optimal quest play paths. We model a quest reward problem as the TSP (Traveling Salesman Problem) and solve that by adopting genetic algorithms. With our system, game designers easily estimate the optimal quest play path and it can be useful in reducing the trial-errors in the initial quest design process.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.103-119
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• 2006

One of the most important reasons for using online game is intrinsic motivation which relates the drive to perform a behavior for perceptions of pleasure and satisfaction from the behavior itself. Therefore, most studies for using online game have been based on theories for intrinsic motivation such as flow. However, such theories have some limitations for explaining social aspects of online games such as Massively Multiplayer Online Role Game (MMORPG), which provides a society for game players by using a virtual space for playing games so called 'persistent world'. Adaptive structuration theory (AST) is one of trying to capture the change of using IT due to social interactions between users and system. In order to explain online game players' behavior considering social interaction, we suggest a research model based on AST. Our model aims to investigate the relationship between appropriation which is determined by faithfulness of appropriation (FOA) and consensus on appropriation (COA) and performance which is represented by the relationship among perceived winning, flow, and intention of reuse. An empirical test of our model for 125 MMORPG users which is analyzed by Partial Least Square method shows very satisfactory and interesting results. While hypotheses suggested in our model are supported, the influence of COA on game performance is shown to be stronger than that of FOA.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2007

The maps in the world of the role playing games provide not only areas for motions and actions of player characters, but also worlds of totally included monsters and NPC(Non Player Character). However, the design of maps and monsters in them could not be tested for their balances until the games had been developed quite a bit. So they need additional expense of extension period of developments. In this paper, we have designed and developed a map simulator to expect the popularities of the maps in the early stage of the game planning in order to prevent inefficient concentration of users on some maps by expecting the popularities of the maps in the early stage of game planning and by setting the parameters of monster arrangements in the map.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2008

This paper measures and compares the traffic of a series of Massively Multi-player On-line Role Playing Game (MMORPG). The purpose of this analysis is to characterize the MMORPG traffic and compare the traffic characteristics of those games caused by the game structure difference between 2D and 3D environment. The target game is 'Lineage I' and 'Lineage II' which represent world's largest MMORPGs in terms of the number of concurrent users. We collect about 280 giga bytes and 1 tera bytes of packet headers, respectively. We compare packet size, packet inter-arrival time and bandwidth usage of these two games. The MMORPG traffic consists of two kinds of packets: client-generated upstream packets and server-generated downstream packets. We observe that the upstream packet size of payload has grown from 9 bytes to 19 bytes, while the average payload size of downstream packets has grown from 37 bytes to 318 bytes. This asymmetry of growing rate is caused by 3D game structure. Packet inter-arrival time becomes shorter from average 2 milliseconds to 58 microseconds. Bandwidth consumption per client has grown from 4 kbps to 20 kbps. We find that there is a linear relationship between the number of users and the bandwidth usage in both case.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.55-62
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• 2015

In this paper we propose a method to analyze user's motion as a game command, and implement a sports serious game applied the motion analysis method as a command interpreter. Recently, various contents platforms appear in industrial market, the computer game contents plays an important role in these emerging platforms as a killer contents. The computer game has enough values as an independent major cultural product, moreover it has the potential to be applied in various other fields such as education, healthcare, training, and so on. It could motivate users to do something continuously, and it could also support an immersive environment in a certain special game contents such as VR game. The Serious game 'ChoDeungGangHo', implemented in this paper, is the sensory healthcare serious game based on 3D run game and fitness game. It is designed for user to train the various exercise element by just playing the game, and it also supports the user management system and the linkage of social media. We proposes the sensory serious game 'ChoDeungGangHo' as a model of commercial serious game.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.528-536
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to help preschool children in the interface design of educational game APP at the psychological level. The conceptual model is constructed through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use when children are playing educational game APP. The empirical study was conducted in the form of questionnaires collected after children used game. The research subjects were 3-6 years old children, and the research tool was the game app. Data collection under the guidance of their parents. The research shows that children educational game experience elements can effectively increase preschool children's psychological perception of educational games. Perceived ease of use also increases trust in educational games for children. The results were as follows: 1. Cronbach's Alpha and KMO were 0.969 and 0.955, and the P value was significant, which passed the reliability and validity test. 2. Through confirmatory factor analysis (Model fit index, Composite reliability, discriminant validity), we found that user experience is closely related to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. 3. The path analysis of the relationship proves that perceived ease of use play a key role in trusting preschool children educational game APP.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.475-492
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• 2023

This study investigated player responses to microtransactions in freemium Massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG), specifically focusing on the game LostArk using English language review data. To this end, structural topic modeling was employed and the following six microtransaction-relevant topics were identified: microtransactions, developer issues, real money trade (RMT), random number generator (RNG) upgrade system, game content, and collectibles & adventure. The first four topics were classified as being "not recommended". However, the proportions of microtransaction-related topics were relatively lower than the other topics. Additionally, this study did not extract keywords related to unfairness and unethical issues in previous microtransaction research. The last two topics, game content, and collectibles & adventure were "recommended" topics, indicating positive functions of microtransactions such as enhancing the game experience by purchasing virtual items. Moreover, it was found that players who do not engage in microtransactions can still be satisfied through continuous game content updates. Additionally, an examination of the interaction effect between time and recommendation status revealed that while the frequency with which the six microtransaction-related topics were mentioned increased over time in the reviews, the ratio of recommendations to non-recommendations varied differently. This study contributes to game-related research by revealing players' authentic opinions on microtransactions in freemium MMORPGs, thereby providing practical implications for game companies.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.147-154
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• 2023

With the recent popularity of smartphones, many games are being developed on mobile-based platforms. As a result, it has brought about many changes in the way mobile game is developed. Especially mobile platforms, which are divided into Android and IOS, can now be applied to each platform without additional development through cross-platform. This means that it is necessary to move away from the method of developing each using separate development tools and implement the development process through cross-platform unique features. In this paper, we studied various methods to increase the productivity and quality of game development for the development of mobile games, and a formal framework considering the development process was developed. The framework consists of process, development domain, and platform support parts, each playing its own role. Items of the detailed framework must be reflected so that detailed response data for efficient application of game development can be established in actual mobile game development. The framework was developed by approaching it from two domains, the need for a framework and the framework implementation of key item response data.