The determinants of network effects: Evidence from online games business ecosystems

From freemium to premium: the roles of consumption values and game affordance

“…Following Rong, Ren, and Shi (2018), fairness refers to the fact that game vendors assert "justice" in the game; hence, players feel they have a fair environment to achieve their goal, provided they dedicate resources such as effort, time or intelligence. Players will not want to spend time on a game where other players seem to have inexplicable and superior advantages.…”

“…Admittedly, challenges are perceived as pleasurable only when they match the player's skills (Hoffman and Novak, 2009). Recent studies have found that the balance between game challenges and skills is critical for game playability (Merikivi et al, 2017;Rong et al, 2018); this is an important antecedent of enjoyment value. Hence, we expect that the balance between challenges and skills positively predicts enjoyment value.…”

Value-informed pricing for virtual digital products: Evidence from Chinese MMORPG industry

“…At the same time, there are some specific characteristics for the virtual in-game accessories of MMORPG, for example, the virtual in-game accessories that players buy cannot be used repeatedly after buying, and the utility of virtual in-game accessories will no longer be attractive once they are equipped for decoration or to enhance the special abilities of avatars (Varian, 2000). Besides, MMORPG providers can maintain some degree of control over the frequency of consumption of virtual in-game accessories (Rong et al, 2018), such as how many times the virtual in-game accessories are used and further distributed in the game, as well as the virtual and real currency exchange rates are controlled by the game administrator (Lehdonvirta, 2009;Lehdonvirta & Kauppakorkeakoulu, 2009).…”

“…There are two widely used charging methods: (a) time-based model (customers purchase pre-paid cards to play for a fixed number of hours or for an unlimited amount of time within a specified number of days) and (b) item-based model (the game is free to play at the basic level, but the virtual in-game accessories [items] are sold to enhance the strength of the avatars and thereby generate revenue for the MMORPG operators) (Castronova, 2006; Nardi & Harris, 2010; Rong et al, 2018; Roquilly, 2011). One emerging method is called in-game advertising model, in which revenue is generated from the embedded advertisements (Nelson, Keum, & Yaros, 2004).…”

“…To fill this gap, this study seeks to explore the process through which a value-informed pricing strategy is applied to determine the price level of virtual digital products (virtual in-game accessories) by using the Chinese Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) industry as the case. The reasons of case selection are as follows: first, MMORPG is one of the most commercially successful entertainment software applications which determines the price level of digital products (virtual in-game accessories; Ang, Zaphiris, & Mahmood, 2007; Sourmelis, Ioannou, & Zaphiris, 2017); second, China has surpassed the United States and become the largest game market with a sale of 24.6 billion US dollars in 2016, and has a great potential for further growth (Rong, Ren, & Shi, 2018; Roquilly, 2011). Thus, we believe that the pricing study on the Chinese MMORPG industry is of importance for the expansion of value-informed theory and can be generally referred by other countries to further develop this promising industry.…”