The role of wishful identification, emotional engagement, and parasocial relationships in repeated viewing of live-streaming games: A social cognitive theory perspective

Lim, Joon Soo; Choe, Min-Ji; Zhang, Jun; Noh, Ghee-Young

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106327

Cited by 209 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…For example, one participant mentioned living vicariously through the streamer, and it has become clear from our studies as well that viewers tend to be loyal to particular streamers and their communities, which was also found by Wohn et al (2018). Several researchers indicate that learning how to play, or get better at certain games is a motivation for watching a stream (Hamilton et al, 2014;Lim et al, 2020), although this motivation did not score highly in the present study. Lim et al (2020) indicate that this is a form of observational learning, a process in which one learns by observing a (role) model (in this case, streamers) exhibit a behavior (a game play strategy) and the response they receive in return (e.g., a reward in the form of victory or score points) (Bandura, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 41%

“…Although we did not specifically investigate the nature of the relationship with the streamer, it does appear that wishful identification and parasocial relationships occur between viewers and streamers, as reported in Lim et al (2020). For example, one participant mentioned living vicariously through the streamer, and it has become clear from our studies as well that viewers tend to be loyal to particular streamers and their communities, which was also found by Wohn et al (2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Wohn et al (2018) have found that, in addition to making donations, viewers also provide emotional and instrumental support to the streamers. An important predictor of viewer loyalty, in terms of repeated viewing behavior and how much support is given to streamers, is whether or not viewers develop a parasocial relationship with the streamer (Hamilton et al, 2014;Hu et al, 2017;Lim et al, 2020). A parasocial relationship is a one-sided intimate connection with a media performer such as a streamer, based on repeated encounters (Dibble et al, 2016).…”

Section: Live Streaming and Twitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This relationship is one-sided as the streamer does not experience this connection with, nor gives the same amount of support to the viewer. The parasocial relationship, in turn, is stimulated by wishful identification, which means that viewers picture the streamer as a role model and want to imitate them (Hoffner and Buchanan, 2005), as well as by emotional engagement with the streamer and with other viewers watching the same broadcast (Hamilton et al, 2014;Lim et al, 2020).…”

Section: Live Streaming and Twitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life

2020

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Live streaming platforms such as Twitch that facilitate participatory online communities have become an integral part of game culture. Users of these platforms are predominantly teenagers and young adults, who increasingly spend time socializing online rather than offline. This shift to online behavior can be a double-edged sword when coping with difficult periods in life such as relationship issues, the death of a loved one, or job loss. On the one hand, platforms such as Twitch offer pleasure, distraction, and relatedness with others to help with coping, and the increased sense of anonymity and control could stimulate self-disclosure. However, the prevalence of trolling and memes may also discourage people from opening up, and relationships that are built online—especially those with microcelebrity streamers—could be perceived as more meaningful than they actually are. To create a deeper understanding of Twitch as a new media platform embedded in game culture, and how users perceive its potential as a coping mechanism, we have conducted a first exploration by means of a survey. The questions focused on general Twitch behavior, the difficult period in life, and the role of Twitch during this period. It was distributed online among people who considered themselves active Twitch users, and who had gone through a difficult period. Eighty-four participants completed the entire survey. The majority of participants indicated that Twitch helped them cope, and that it became a larger part of their lives during the difficult period compared to regular viewing. Recurring themes were the entertainment, distraction, and sense of community Twitch offers. Viewing behavior during difficult periods appears to remain largely the same in terms of the streamers that are watched, although time spent viewing increases, and there is a change toward more time spent actively watching rather than having the stream on in the background. With this work, we aim to create a deeper understanding of Twitch as a platform, and its importance for gamers that are going through difficult periods in life.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 41%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Live Streaming and Twitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Live Streaming and Twitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life

2020

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“…Affective demand mainly includes suspense, excitement, entertainment, and interest. Lim et al [37] thought that emotional engagement had indirect effects on repeating viewing live streaming. Wulf et al [23] found that the audience's behavior was affected by the excitement and suspense generated during watching.…”

Section: Audience Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Literature on User Behavior in Video Game Live Streaming

Wang

Liu

2020

IJERPH

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Video game live streaming is a kind of real-time video social media that integrates traditional broadcasting and online gaming. With the rapid popularity of video game live streaming in the past decade, researchers have started to investigate the relationship between the use of video game live streaming and various psychological variables. In order to fully understand the factors that affected user participation (streamers and audiences) in video game live streaming and provide a reference to the mental health issues of Internet addiction, this paper summarizes the relevant literature on user behavior in video game live streaming. First, we comprehensively searched literature in six social science databases and thus obtained 24 papers that meet our inclusion criteria. Second, the above literature was presented in table form for classification and we found that the effect factors of user behavior in video game live streaming mainly include user demands and platform impact. Based on Use and Satisfaction theory, this paper reviewed the following four aspects: streamer demand, audience demand, interaction behavior and platform impact, then a relevant theoretical framework was constructed. Finally, this paper looks forward to possible future research topics based on the research platform, research data and research content and so on, hoping to provide a foundation and new ideas for future research.

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Purchasing social attention by tipping: Materialism predicts online tipping in live‐streaming platform through self‐enhancement motive

Niu

Chen

et al. 2021

J of Consumer Behaviour

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Online tipping, or virtual gift-giving, on live-streaming platforms is an increasingly common consumer behavior in cyberspace. Perplexingly, when live-stream viewership itself is free, viewers voluntarily spend money to buy virtual gifts and send them to their preferred streamers. The present study aimed to examine the motivational mechanism underlying these voluntary tipping behaviors from the perspectives of materialism and self-enhancement. By a representative online survey (N = 1224), we found that participants' materialist beliefs were positively associated with both the likelihood and the amount of online tipping, and the self-enhancement motive could significantly mediate this association; furthermore, streamer endorsement could moderate the link between the self-enhancement motive and tipping amount. These findings suggest that materialist beliefs and downstream self-related motivations are among the main driving forces for online tipping. The present results extended previous research on materialism by testing its effects in a newly emerging online consumer behavior and providing direct evidence for the moderation role of the "symbolic-ness" of materialist behaviors. Practical implications for live-streaming platforms, educators and policymakers, such as introducing tipping amount caps, were also discussed.

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The role of wishful identification, emotional engagement, and parasocial relationships in repeated viewing of live-streaming games: A social cognitive theory perspective

Cited by 209 publications

References 61 publications

Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life

Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life

A Systematic Review of Literature on User Behavior in Video Game Live Streaming

Purchasing social attention by tipping: Materialism predicts online tipping in live‐streaming platform through self‐enhancement motive

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