Cluster Computing

, Volume 17, Issue 3, pp 849–859 | Cite as

Emerging factors affecting the continuance of online gaming: the roles of bridging and bonding social factors

Article
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Abstract

The forecasted growth of the online gaming industry in Korea is expected to reach over 11.8 trillion Korean won (KRW) by 2014. Nearly 60 % of domestic residents play online games. Online games are becoming an integral part of life and we need different perspectives to look into this subject rather than focus on the negatives such as online gaming addiction. In addition, although achievement motivation for online games has been emphasized in earlier research, communicating and socializing with other players is commonplace in today’s online gaming world and socialization motivation is emerging as an important factor influencing online gamers. With stress on the communication and socialization aspects of online gaming, we need different perspectives from those of the past to investigate online gaming and draw on social capital theory. By socially interacting with other gamers, the online gamer not only builds new relationships (bridging social capital), but he/she also strengthens existing relationships (bonding social capital). However, previous research has concentrated only on one of these types of user interactions, and has not analyzed interactions for both bridging and bonding social capital at the same time. Therefore, this study explores both bridging and bonding social capital in online gaming with a neutral dependent construct, the continuance of online gaming, and provides new insights and implications for future research and the industry.

Keywords

Online game Continuance of online gaming Bridging social capital Bonding social capital 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Konkuk University.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Division of Business Administration and EconomicsKonkuk UniversityChungcheongbuk-doRepublic of Korea
  2. 2.Department of Computer EngineeringChungbuk National UniversityChungcheongbuk-doRepublic of Korea
  3. 3.Department of E-BusinessDongyang Mirae UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea

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