Virtual worlds in competitive contexts: Analyzing eSports consumer needs
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Virtual worlds in competitive contexts: Analyzing eSports consumer needs Thomas Weiss & Sabrina Schiele
Received: 19 October 2011 / Accepted: 23 July 2012 / Published online: 20 April 2013 # Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen 2013
Abstract More recently, 3D graphical environments on the Internet, that is virtual worlds, have moved to the center of scientific interest. Since virtual worlds are suggested to mold social computing, research has predominately focused on collaborative virtual worlds. Yet, virtual worlds increasingly move to competitive environments leaving operating businesses with the question as to what to offer in order to fulfill customers’ needs. To close this knowledge gap, we examine competitive virtual worlds in terms of eSports services intrinsically tying cooperation and competition; we illuminate competitive and hedonic need gratifications of continuous eSports use. We apply Uses and Gratifications theory reporting on ten in-depth expert interviews as well as survey data collected from 360 eSports players. We reveal that both competitive (competition and challenge) and hedonic need gratifications (escapism) drive continuous eSports use. Keywords Virtual worlds . eSports . Uses and gratifications JEL classification M1–Business Administration . M19–Other Responsible Editors: Hans-Dieter Zimmermann and Nilmini Wickramasinghe T. Weiss (*) Department of Business, Media and Technology Management, University of Cologne, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne, Germany e-mail: [email protected] S. Schiele Department of Information Systems and Information Management, University of Cologne, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Virtual worlds are persistent and non-persistent “graphical immersive environments that support a host of activities ranging from social interaction (...) to action-oriented gaming (...) [They] are multi-modal platforms that feature rich graphics, 3D rendering, high-fidelity audio and video, motion and interactivity” (Schultze 2010, 434). Especially in leisure settings, such virtual worlds reveal social interaction and learning functionalities (Petrakou 2010); they are said to foster social computing (Messinger et al. 2009). The literature on virtual worlds mainly stems from engineering and psychology. It predominately highlights the technological prerequisites and challenges of virtual worlds (Zhao 2011) or the effects of virtual world consumption (Fischer et al. 2007). The few studies focussing on the use of virtual worlds have developed within two broad themes. The first theme is user acceptance. Empirical studies of virtual world acceptance examine psychological processes of individuals forming the intention to use virtual worlds and virtual world communities (Fetscherin and Lattemann 2008); they identify previously unexplored antecedents regarding IT acceptance (e.g., role projection, emotional involvement) in both entertainment-oriented (e.g., Holsapple and Wu 2007) and more work- or learnin
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