The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author under the terms of the Nilai University Intellectual Property Regulations. Due to acknowledgement shall always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis.
?ZHANG RUI, 2014
All rights reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the lecturers in the faculty of business of University, for giving me the necessary guidance, knowledge and directions to help complete my research. Most of my sincere thanks go to my supervisor Mr. William Lok for his timely guidance and suggestions that have helped me immensely in my research work.
I would also like to express my appreciation to my friends and family who have supported me financially and emotionally throughout my study.
I would like to thank everyone who has been involved directly or indirectly in assisting me to complete this project.
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the work has been done by myself except quotation and citation, which has been duly acknowledged, and no portion of the work contained in this Thesis has been submitted in support of any application for any other degree or qualification on this or any other university or institution of learning.
ZHANG RUI
Date: 12/12/2014
ABSTRACT
Recent researches have witnessed the rapid growth of online games in the world. The online game market becomes diversification with the development of technology and the players have more choices.
This study tries to study online game customer behavior in view of the players. In order to make research more pertinently, this study will pick the most popular online game as the study, and with related theory of management, marketing, economics, consumer behavior and etc., to explain the factors affecting th e online game players’ behavior. And this study purposes a theoretical model that uses the concept of behavior, consumer experience and demographic to explain why people want to play online game.
First, this study used the previous literature review to summarize the conception and theory of online game,consumer behavior and game player behavior. In addition, this study also investigated the economic value of online game and gives it a fixable description.
Then, this study analyzes the factors that are aff ecting game players’ behaviors through investigation and factor analysis, there are four factors named “Game C ontent” “Game I nteractive” “Game S afety” and “Game A chievement”. In addition, this study also proves related compare means analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis through SPSS software.
In the end, based on the summary of this study and the current situation on Malaysia online game market, the study will refer a suitable online game marketing strategy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
C OPYRIGHT PAGE (ii)
ACKNOLEDGEMENT (iii)
DECLARATION (iv)
ABSTRACT (v)
TABLE OF CONTENTS (vii)
LIST OF TABLES (x)
LIST OF FI GURES..............................................................................x ii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION . (1)
1.1 Background (1)
1.2 Current online game market (1)
1.2.1 Global online game market (1)
1.2.2 Malaysia online game market (5)
1.3 Research Objectives (8)
1.4 Significance of the research (9)
1.4.1 Current state of online game researches (9)
1.4.2 Purpose of study (9)
1.5 Scope of the Study (10)
1.6 Operational definitions (11)
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW (16)
2.1 The concept and theory of online game (16)
2.1.1 History of online game (16)
2.1.2 Classification and definition of online game .................... 错误！未定义书签。
2.1.3 Economic analysis of online game industry ..................... 错误！未定义书签。
2.2 Consumer behavior theory .......................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
2.2.1 The concept of consumer behavior ................................... 错误！未定义书签。
2.2.2 Research method and model of consumer behavior ......... 错误！未定义书签。
2.2.3 The motivation and demand of consumption ................... 错误！未定义书签。
2.3 Review of online player behavior (40)
2.4 Review of marketing sturcture of onlien game industry (47)
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY .................................................. 错误！未定义书签。
3.1 Relevant data review ................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
3.2 Questionnaire design and pre-testing .......................................... 错误！未定义书签。
3.3 Hypothesis (56)
3.4 Sampling and data collection ...................................................... 错误！未定义书签。CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS ................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
4.1 Descriptive Analysis (61)
4.1.1 Respondents demographic (61)
4.1.2 Respondents behavior (63)
4.2 Statistical analysis ....................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
4.2.1 Factor analysis (65)
4.2.2 Reliability analysis (69)
4.2.3 Descriptive analysis (71)
4.2.4 Compare means analysis (72)
4.2.5 Correlation analysis (82)
4.2.6 Regression analysis (84)
4.2.7 Explore analysis (87)
4.3 Hypothesis analysis ..................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS .. (92)
5.1 Results analysis (92)
5.1.1 Compare mean results analysis (92)
5.1.2 Correlation results analysis (100)
5.1.3 Regression results analysis (102)
5.1.4 The difference between normal player and heavy player (103)
5.2 Recommendation......................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
5.2.1 Introduction ....................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
5.2.2 Operational model of Malaysia online game market ........ 错误！未定义书签。
5.2.3 Threat and opportunity of Malaysia online game industry错误！未定义书签。
5.2.4 Recommendation of Malaysia online game industry ....... 错误！未定义书签。
5.3 Summary ..................................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
5.3.1 Principal conclusion .......................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
5.3.2 Limitation and future work ............................................... 错误！未定义书签。REFERENCE .................................................................................. 错误！未定义书签。APPENDICES ................................................................................. 错误！未定义书签。
Appendix A. S ample Questionnaire (140)
Appendix B. Description of four factors ........................................... 错误！未定义书签。Appendix C. Description of Demographic and behavior characteristics错误！未定义书签。Appendix D. Factor analysis ............................................................. 错误！未定义书签。Appendix E. Reliability ..................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。Appendix F. Compare means ............................................................ 错误！未定义书签。AppendixG. Correlations .................................................................. 错误！未定义书签。Appendix H. Regression ................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。Appendix I. Crosstabs behavor with normal player and heavy player错误！未定义书签。Appendix J. Crosstabs Demographic with normal player and heavy player错误！未定义书签。
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 The top 10 game companies by revenues 5 Table 1.2 Horizontal comparison between DOTA 2 and LOL 14
Table 2.1The type of online games 18
Table 3.1The measures and layout of the questionnaire 57
Table 3.2 Demographics 59
Table 3.3 Player behavior59
Table 3.4 Player gaming experience56
Table 4.1 Respondents’ demographic statistics62
Table 4.2 Respondents’ characteristics and behavior64
Table 4.3 KMO and Bartlett’s Test65
Table 4.4 Total Variance Explained 66
Table 4.5 Component Score Coefficient Matrix68
Table 4.6 Reliability coefficients for the four factors70
Table 4.7 Items-total statistic 70
Table 4.8 Descriptive for four factors71
Table 4.9 Difference in four factors by gender72
Table 4.10 Difference in four factors by age73
Table 4.11 Multiple Comparisons of difference in four factors by age74
Table 4.12 Difference in four factors by martial state 75
Table 4.13 Difference in four factors by education level 76
Table 4.14 Multiple Comparisons of difference in four factors by education level 77
Table 4.15 Difference in four factors by occupation79
Table 4.16 Multiple Comparisons of difference in four factors by occupation80
Table 4.17 Difference in four factors by disposable money level81
Table 4.18 Difference in four factors by Race82
Table 4.19 Correlation between four factors and the characteristics of player behavior83
Table 4.20ANOVA 84
Table 4.21Multiple regression of time spending 85
Table 4.22Multiple regression of frequency85
Table 4.23 Multiple regression of consumption level 86
Table 4.24Results of regression analysis86
Table 4.25The level of player addiction*demographic Crosstabulation 88
Table 4.26The level of player addiction*player behavior characteristics Crosstabulation
89
Table 4.27The level of player addiction*four factors ANOVA90
Table 4.28Hypothesis analysis 91
Table 5.1Behavior Sequence Model (BSM) of female groups in Malaysia online game market 115
Table 5.2Behavior Sequence Model (BSM) of elder player groups in Malaysia online game market 116
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Global Games Market 2012-20162
Figure 1.2 Global Games Market per Region 20133 Figure 1.3 Global Games Market per Segment 20133 Figure 1.4 Generic map of a MOBA genre game 13 Figure 2.1The history of the video games 17 Figure 2.2 Types of online game research 26 Figure 2.3 Marshall Model 28
Figure 2.4 Basic consumer decision model 29 Figure 2.5 Black box model30
Figure 2.6Nicosia behavior model 31
Figure 2.7 EKB model 32
Figure 2.8 Howard-Sheth model34
Figure 2.9 Maslow demand model 37
Figure 2.10 Bandura’s three part model 38
Figure 2.11 D.I. Hawkins consumer decision model40 Figure 2.12 Trend of online game research41
Figure 2.13 Richard Bartle player types model42
Figure 2.14 Structure model for customer loyalty with flow, personal interaction, and social interaction43
Figure 2.15 Mental state in terms of challenge level and skill level44
Figure 2.16 Framework of Flow in CMEs 45
Figure 2.17 Game motivation model 47
Figure 3.1 Research framework51
Figure 5.1 Difference in four factors by gender93
Figure 5.2 Difference in four factors by martial state95
Figure 5.3 Difference in four factors by disposable money level 98
Figure 5.4The difference between normal player and heavy player104
Figure 5.5 Operation model of online game industry107