• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.59-80
• /
• 2008

Recently, e-sports are growing with potentiality as a new industry with conspicuous profit model. But studies that dealing with e-sports are not enough. Hence, proposes of this paper are both to establish basic model that is for the design of e-sport marketing strategy and to contribute toward future studies which are related to e-sports. Recently, the researches to explain sports-sponsorship through the identification theory have been discovered. Many researches say that somewhat proper identification is a requirement for most sponsors to improve the their images which is essential to sponsorship activity. Consequently, the research for sponsorship associated with identification in the e-sports, not in the physical sports is the core sector of this study. We extracted the variables from online's major characteristics and existing sport sponsorship researches. First, because e-sports mean the tournaments or leagues in the use of online game, the main event of the game is likely to call it online game. Online media's attributes are distinguished from those of offline. Especially, interactivity, anonymity, and expandibility as a e-sport game attributes are able to be mentioned. So, these inherent online attributes are examined on the relationship with flow. Second, in physical sports games, Fisher(1998) revealed that team similarity and team attractivity were positively related to team identification. Wann(1996) said that the result of former game influenced the evaluation of the next game, then in turn has an effect on the identification of team supporters. Considering these results in the e-sports side, e-sports gamer' attractivity, similarity, and match result seem to be important precedent variables of the identification with a gamer. So, these e-sport gamer attributes are examined on the relationship with both flow and identification with a gamer. Csikszentmihalyi(1988) defined the term flow as feeling status for him to be making current positive experience optimally. Hoffman and Novak(1996) also said that if a user experienced the flow he would visit a website without any reward. Therefore flow might be positively associated with user's identification with a gamer. And, Swanson(2003) disclosed that team identification influenced the positive results of sponsorship, which included attitude toward sponsors, sponsor patronage, and satisfaction with sponsors. That is, identification with a gamer expect to be connected with corporation identification significantly. According to the above, we can design the following research model. All variables used in this study(interactivity, anonymity, expandibility, attractivity, similarity, match result, flow, identification with a gamer, and identification with a sponsor) definitely were defined operationally underlying precedent researches. Sample collection was carried out to the person who has an experience to have enjoyed e-sports during June 2006. Much portion of samples is men because much more men than women enjoy e-sports in general. Two-step approach was used to test the hypotheses. First, confirmatory factor analysis was committed to guarantee the validity and reliability of variables. The results showed that all variables had not only intensive and discriminant validity, but also reliability. Then, research model was examined with fully structural equation using LISREL 8.3 version. The fitness of the suggested model mostly was at the acceptable level. Shortly speaking about the results, first of all, in e-sports game attributes, only interactivity which is called a basic feature in online situation affected flow positively. Secondly, in e-sports gamer's attributes, similarity with a gamer and match result influenced flow positively, but there was no significant effect in the relationship between the attractivity of a gamer and flow. And as expected, similarity had an effect on identification with a gamer significantly. But unexpectedly attractivity and match result did not influence identification with a gamer significantly. Just the same as the fact verified in the many precedent researches, flow greatly influenced identification with a gamer, and identification with a gamer continually had an influence on the identification with a sponsor significantly. There are some implications in these results. If the sponsor of e-sports supports the pro-game player who absolutely should have the superior ability to others and is similar to the user enjoying e-sports, many amateur gamers will feel much of the flow and identification with a pro-gamer, and then after all, feel the identification with a sponsor. Such identification with a sponsor leads people enjoying e-sports to have purchasing intention for products produced by the sponsor and to make a positive word-of-mouth for those products or the sponsor. For the future studies, we recommend a few ideas. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to find new variables relating to the e-sports, which is not mentioned in this study. For this work to be possible, qualitative research seems to be needed to consider the inherent e-sport attributes. Finally, to generalize the results related to e-sports, a wide range of generations not a specific generation should be researched.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.23-34
• /
• 2010

The current interests in e-sports is being extended to the fields of education these days. Professional game players, so called as 'Pro-Gamers', therefore, should be recognized as human resource for education, and the theoretical foundation for them needs to be established. This study examines informal learning styles, motivation, and interactions among professional game players in South Korea. The aim of this grounded theory study is to discover the trajectory of professional game players' experiences and explain what properties and interactions they are facing depending on the stage of the trajectory. This study conceptualizes educational meaning within and across the society of StarCraft Pro-Gamers, providing suggestions for the management of human resource using models constructed. Data was analyzed by interviewing 1 consultant, 2 directors and 9 Pro-Gamers. By analyzing the data, this study explored what learning strategies Pro-Gamers construct and apply in their trajectory as Pro-Gamers. It includes how they organize learning, how they formulate their motivation and goals, how they cooperate and compete, what curricula they adapt, how they become one of the ace players overcoming their slump, and how informal education works in practice in the interaction among members of a StarCraft Pro-Gamer team. Finally, in this paper the stage theory was presented. It is argued that when the stage of the players shifts (Stage Shifting). It also brings changes to proficiency properties, emotional properties, interactional properties and educational properties related to each stage. Stages are categorized by five levels: Enjoying, Struggling, Achieving, Slumping, and Recovering. Although each stage has its own properties, the stages are grouped by two main properties, one of which is a Communicative Stage and the other is a Practicing Stage.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.163-173
• /
• 2018

This study aims to diagnose and analyze the business model of domestic e-sports industry and draw its implications. In-depth interviews with business executives of the e-sports teams, the e-sports media, the e-sports stadium and the game companies was had to identify the cost and revenue of each e-sports industry. The results was that the revenue of the e-sports team, stadium and game company mainly consisted of the sponsorship of the parent company. And main revenue of e-sports media was advertising, subscription fees and copyright income, whereas their expenses was the production costs. Especially the purpose of sponsorship of the game companies was not the profit of e-sports, but the promotion of the parent company game. Result implies the necessity of the development of revenue sources, executing the admission ticket charge in stadium and the development of new sponsorship. This study is expected to contribute to opening the new area of the business model of the e-sports industry that was not nearly so far treated, and consequently the development of the e-sports industry in Korea.

• Korean journal of communication and information
• /
• v.74
• /
• pp.7-37
• /
• 2015

The study explores how the discourses on game addiction, which emphasize diligence and sincerity for labor and self-control, and professional gamers, who are trapped in pleasures of playing games in the virtual world, cohabit in Korean society. Progamers have grown from entertainment industry enlarged along with the current of the economic 'postmodernization,' mentioned by Hardt and Negri(1997; 2001; 2004). Hardt and Negri have elaborated on the economic postmodernization with the notion 'immaterial labor,' which blurs the line between economic (instrumental) actions and humane qualities as well as pertains to the potentiality of resistant practices against the power of modernity. From this perspective, progamers' labor is understood as 'affective labor,' an aspect of immaterial labor with the potentiality of resistance. However, meticulous examination of progamers' labor in this study reveals that progamers control their affects systematically, strategically, and rationally for their materialistic success. Progamers, while performing postmodern mode of labor, are subordinate to modern work ethics, which lead them to lose the potentiality of resistance. Consequently, while the discourses on game addiction and progamers outwardly form sharp contrast to each other, the two indeed are placed in tandem in the vein of modern work ethics of Protestantism.