Chapter II- Literature Review
2.6 Relationship between Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty
3) Secondary Behaviour: this is the behaviour of customers whether they are willing to recommend the company or its products/services to others.
Oliver (1999), on the other hand, classified loyalty into short run (recommending behaviour, and WOM), and long run (conscious, emotion, will, and purchase). And Griffin (1997) suggested that level of immunity from competitors is also an indicator of loyalty formation.
But, since we are measuring loyalty on F2P MMORPGs, we are not looking at repurchase behaviors per se. The attitudes of loyalty stay the same, but there need not be any purchases necessary. The gamer only needs to show a willingness to continue playing the game as an act of loyalty. Of course, the best form of loyalty for F2P MMORPGs is the gamers’ willingness to pay for virtual items, which is the ultimate goal for the F2P model game developers.
2.6 Relationship between Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty
Goodman (1989) suggestd that customers are in need for satisfaction, and this craving will lead to repeated usage of the product or service and prolonged loyalty. Thus, how to retain old customers, build long term relationship and increase customer loyalty is the main priority for businesses. Reichheld and Sasser (1990) proposed customer satisfaction is positively related to customer loyalty. This means by increasing customer satisfaction, the possibility of repurchase will increase, leading to higher profits for the companies. Day (1997) and Zeithaml & Bitner (1996) also had similar findings in their researches.
Many of the newer researches, including the ones Liu (2007) and Wansink (2003) published, all point to the importance of keeping customer satisfied in the long-run instead of short-run by means of promoting loyalty programs to enhance consumer purchase behaviour and loyalty, which will lead to higher profitability for the firms.
Therefore, there are strong theoretical and empirical backups as to the importance of generating not only customer satisfaction, but also customer loyalty as well, with the latter being the more important.
2.7 Organized Literature Reviews for the Study
The following tables (Table 2-2 & 2-3) are the organized literature reviews that are examined and taken into account in this study.
Table 2-2 Organized literature review- Attractiveness of game design elements Author
Table 2-3 Organized literature review- Satisfaction Author
Chapter III
Research Methodology
This chapter will go through in detail the research method performed in the study, including the conceptual framework of the research model, explanations of the related variables, and base on the purpose of research, derive our research hypotheses. The development of the questionnaire and its contents, along with the sampling process will also be explained in depth.
3.1 Conceptual Framework
The purpose of the study is to look at how gamers’ perceived quality on the various aspects of the attractiveness of game design elements (story, visual presentation, sound & music, character setting, control, and interaction) that might influence gamers’ satisfaction toward the game, and how that will then relate to the gamers’ loyalty towards the game. Most empirical studies have found significant evidence to support the conclusion in ordinary MMORPGs. Here, this study extends the conclusion to see if the same goes to the new profit-maximizing form of MMORPG- the free-to-play MMORPGs.
This section will introduce the conceptual framework and research variables to properly explain the framework of the study. From the research motivation, goal of the study, and the literatures found in Chapter 2, the following conceptual framework is generated (see Figure 3-1).
Gamer Satisfaction Attractiveness of Game Design Elements:
1. Story
2. Visual Presentation 3. Sound & Music 4. Character Settings 5. Control
6. Interaction
Demographic Variables:
1. Gender 2. Age
3. Monthly Income
Gamer Loyalty
Figure 3-1 Conceptual framework
3.2 Research Variables
3.2.1 Demographic Variables
The demographic variables refer to the research objects’ social and economic backgrounds. The variable is here to provide a deeper understanding towards the personal backgrounds of the respondents, thus bringing more meaning into the interpretation of the research results. Since the study controls the education level due to the focus on Taipei students who are currently participating in a graduate study, education level and occupation are left out of the demographic variables, making it a rather focused study group. The following three items are included in the demographic variable (Table 3-1):
Table 3-1 Demographic Variables
1.Gender 2.Age 3.Monthly Income
3.2.2 Attractiveness of game design elements
The dimension of the attractiveness of game design element is based on Xu’s model of game design attractiveness as specified from the literature review in chapter 2.
Thus, the attractiveness of game design elements here will be the post-game perceived attractiveness of game design element (meaning that the answers and opinions the subjects give will be based on their post-game experience and perceived, instead of actual, attractiveness of the game elements). Game design is the structure of formal elements in a work of art- in this case, the free-to-play MMORPGs. From the past literatures and studies examining upon this topic, the core attractiveness of game design elements included in this study will be: story, visual presentation, sound & music, character setting, control, and interaction. Here will provide the definition of each of these variables that will be used as the basis of analysis in this study (Table 3-2):
Table 3-2 Defining Game Design Element Attractiveness Variables
Story
Through story writing and designing the story framework (including protagonist’s destiny, virtual world concept, culture, character development, etc) that affects gamers’ satisfaction during gaming
Visual Presentation
Using consistent art design to increase the level of quality and style of the game’s visual and content (including background design, character design, weaponry design, …etc.) that affects gamers’ satisfaction during game
Sound & Music Effectively including music, sound effects, or other potentially sounds that can promote the gaming atmosphere enjoyment that affects gamers’ satisfaction during gaming
Character
Settings The balance and fair setting of the virtual characters’
classes/races, techniques/magics, equipments/items, etc. that affects the gamers’ satisfaction during gaming
Control The ease of control of the character that allows the gamers to progress through the game smoothly which will in term affect the gamers’ satisfaction during gaming.
Interaction The setting of interaction with other players (including conversations, transactions, teaming up or build alliances) that affects the gamers’ satisfaction during gaming.
3.2.3 Gamer (Customer) Satisfaction
As proposed by Engel and his colleagues (1986) and several other scholars later, this study will define customer satisfaction as the difference between expected and actual gaming experience based solely upon the design elements of the game. In other words, we are trying to compare to pre-game experience and post-game experience of the gamers, pre-game being the expected experience while post-game being the actual experience. If the actual experience is above the expected experience, then player satisfaction will be positive, and vice versa. Therefore, scoring high on perceived quality on certain aspects of game design element means the subject is attracted by that particular game design element. This study will examine and interpret the post game (actual) experience and draw results from this analysis.
3.2.4 Gamer (Customer) Loyalty
From the vast amount of past literatures studying on the matter of customer loyalty, this study will use this term as: The replay (continuous playing) intention, acts of primary and secondary behaviors from the gamers. Borrowing the concepts of the literatures of customer loyalty and applying on gamer loyalty, and in the field or game genre of Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (literatures from chapter 2) as: a gamer is defined here as loyal when s/he is willing to play the F2P MMORPG continuously, tempted to invite friends to join the gaming experience, feels a sense of belonging towards the game, and/or feels a certain level of uneasiness when s/he stopped engaging the game.
Bringing the concepts of the scholars suggested above and considering the nature of profit generation for free-to-play MMORPGs also mentioned prior in this chapter to the field of online gaming, and in this particular study, on F2P MMORPGs, we see that it is very fitting to consider testing satisfaction effects on loyalty under this case scenario. Thus, this research not only considers gamer satisfaction generated by various game design and services elements, but also how well those aspects can keep a gamer from defecting away from the game, in other words, generating gamer loyalty.
Since F2P MMORPGs make money not from gamer satisfaction, but gamer loyalty for the players to willingly spend money on virtual items (they will only spend money when they value the virtual item is worth it, and with the longer gaming time intentions, this
value increases), this model of testing both satisfaction and loyalty best suits the needs of the study to examine the true effects of the various design elements on satisfaction which leads to loyalty.
3.3 Research Hypotheses
Base on the purpose of the study and the designed research framework, the following hypotheses are generated to be tested:
1). Test whether there are differences between gamers with different “demographic variables” and attractiveness of different game design elements:
Hypothesis 1-1 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of different game design elements have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-1-6 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of game design element -“interaction” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-1-5 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of game design element -“control” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-1-4 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of game design element -“character settings” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-1-2 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of game design element -“ visual presentation” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-1-3 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of game design element -“sound & music” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-1-1 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and attractiveness of game design element -“story” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of different game design elements have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of different game design elements have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2-6 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of game design element -“interaction” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3-1 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of game design element -“story” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3-2 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of game design element -“visual presentation” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3-3 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of game design element -“sound & music” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3-4 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of game design element -“character settings” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3-5 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of game design element -“control” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-3-6 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and attractiveness of game design element -“interaction” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2-2 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of game design element -“visual presentation” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2-3 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of game design element -“sound & music” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2-4 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of game design element -“character settings” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2-5 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of game design element -“control” have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 1-2-1 H0: Gamers with different “age” and attractiveness of game design element -“story” have no significant relationship.
2). Test whether there are differences between gamers with different “demographic variables” and gamer satisfaction towards the game:
Hypothesis 2 H0: Gamers with different “demographic variables” and the gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
3). Test whether there are differences between gamers with different “demographic variables” and the gamer loyalty:
Hypothesis 3 H0: Gamers with different “demographic variables” and gamer loyalty towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 2-2 H0: Gamers with different “age” and the gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 2-3 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and the gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 3-1 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and gamer loyalty towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 3-2 H0: Gamers with different “age” and gamer loyalty towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 3-3 H0: Gamers with different “monthly income” and gamer loyalty towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 2-1 H0: Gamers with different “gender” and the gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
4). Test whether there are differences between attractiveness of different game design elements and gamer satisfaction towards the game:
Hypothesis 4 H0: Attractiveness of different game design elements and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 4-4 H0: Attractiveness of game design element - “character settings” and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 4-5 H0: Attractiveness of game design element - “control” and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 4-6 H0: Attractiveness of game design element - “interaction” and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 4-3 H0: Attractiveness of game design element - “sound & music” and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 4-2 H0: Attractiveness of game design element - “visual presentation” and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
Hypothesis 4-1 H0: Attractiveness of game design element - “story” and gamer satisfaction towards the game have no significant relationship.
5). Test whether there are differences between gamer satisfaction and gamer loyalty towards the game:
Hypothesis 5 H0: Gamer satisfaction towards the game and gamer loyalty has no significant relationship.
3.4 Questionnaire Design
This study’s questionnaire design process includes two main stages:
1. Pre-test
The initial design and pre-testing of the questionnaire is developed first to test whether the wordings and contents are understandable and clear for the subjects.
Through 50 online gamers as the pre-test subjects, their opinions and suggestions were taken into account; and after making several adjustments, the final official questionnaire is developed.
2. Official Questionnaire
This questionnaire survey is divided into four main sections- perceived quality on attractiveness of game design elements, gamer satisfaction, gamer loyalty, and demographic variables. Section one through three will be using Likert five point scale, from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree” (Table 3-3, 3-4 & 3-5).
Section 1: Attractiveness of attractiveness of game design element variables:
Table 3-3 Questionnaire Attractiveness of Game Design Element Variables Variable Type Name of Variable Scales of
Measurement storyline that clearly explains the plot of the game.
2. The game offers a rich and intriguing story content.
3. The events in the game are consistent with one another.
4. The characters show development throughout the progress of the game.
5. The game is expandable with lots of side stories &
quests to accomplish.
Visual Presentation
1. The game delivers amazing style of visual arts.
2. The character module design in the game is unique and consistent.
3. The background design in the game is consistent.
4. The equipments (armors &
weapons) in the game have unique artistic designs that are visually appealing.
5. The actions and
expressions of the characters are designed with great detail.
Sound & Music
1. The background musics in the game make me feel comfortable.
2. The musics in the game are chosen appropriately to fit the style of the game.
3. The sound effects in the game allows me to enjoy the gaming atmosphere more.
4. The sound effects and the background musics sync smoothly with one another.
Character Setting
1. There are many job
classes/races to choose from in the game.
2. There are many techniques/
maigcs available to use in the game.
3. The sets of equipments (weapons and armors) each job class/race can wear are clearly different from one another.
4. The job classes/races are balanced in a way that no one class/race is superior to another.
Control
conveniently team up with other players for questing in the game.
2. The players can
conveniently communicate with other players in the game.
3. The players can
conveniently make in-game transactions with other players in the game.
4. I am meet new friends easily in the game.
Section 2: Overall gamer satisfaction & gamer loyalty.
Table 3-4 Questionnaire Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty Variables Variable Type Name of Variable Scales of
Measurement
1. Overall, playing this free-to-play MMORPG satisfies me.
2. I am satisfied by the overall quality of the game.
3. The contents of the game fit my needs for gaming.
Loyalty
1. I feel a strong sense of belonging towards the game.
2. I feel uneasy whenever I discontinue playing the game.
3. I will continue playing this game.
4. I will recommend my friends to join me in playing the game.
Section 3: Personal information (demographic data)
Table 3-5 Questionnaire Demographic Variables Variable Type Name of Variable Scales of
Measurement
Questionnaire Content
Moderating Variable
Gender Nominal Scale 1. Male
2. Female
Age Ordinal Scale
1. Below 16 2. 17 ~ 23 3. 24 ~ 30 4. 31 ~ 37 5. 38 ~ 44 6. Above 45
Monthly Income (in NT dollars)
Ordinal Scale
1. Less than $10,000 2. $10,001 ~ $20,000 3. $30,001 ~ $30,000 4. $30,001 ~ $40,000 5. $40,001 ~ $50,000 6. More than $50,001
3.5 Sampling Design
The sampling process of this study is based on the following steps:
1. Defining population
This study’s primary objects are online gamers, and the population of the study is then defined as the Taipei’s graduate students who have some experience in playing F2P MMORPGs. Since various studies provide very different findings on the age profile of the gamers, an estimation from the past studies will be used, and players ages 17~23 will be the core mass of players, while stretching the figure to approximately age 44 to cover about 90% of players (GameSpot Audience Profile Study, June 2008; IDC, 2008).
2. Confirming the sampling framework
The sampling framework uses members of Taipei’s various graduate students to participate in the questionnaire survey. The questionnaire surveys are sent out via email to the students currently participating in graduate studies and the link to the questionnaire survey (which is produced by an online survey maker- my3Q) is disclosed within the mails for the subjects to respond to the survey. Using this kind of sampling method means the samples are not completely randomly selected, which also means the representativeness of the sample might be biased. However, since the purpose of the research is to study the gamers’ behavior and how perceived attractiveness of game design element on part of the gamers will affect their game loyalty level, selecting the samples from those who have actually played online games is still appropriate (since they must have experienced it themselves to give more accurate opinions) and should have a above average level of representativeness.
3. Choosing the sampling method
Due to the size of the population, and also limited by time, human & financial resources, this study will use systematic sampling method. Since the questionnaire survey is done on partly on the internet and partly by face-to-face, part of the entered answers are automatically stored and filed, this automation process not only reduces the potential human errors, but can also reduce cost and time of the research. In addition, by performing a portion of the survey online removes the need for excessive printing
hard copies of the questionnaires, which not only saves cost, but saves the environment at the same time.
4. Deciding on sample size
The decision on the sampling size is based on the principles Roscoe (1975) proposed:
1). A reasonable sampling size should be between 30 ~ 500 samples to be appropriate.
2). When samples are divided into sub-sample groups, each sub-sample groups need to
2). When samples are divided into sub-sample groups, each sub-sample groups need to