Who are the target customers in Chinese online game market?: segmentation with a two-step approach

Abstract

To survive successfully in today's competitive online game markets, Chinese online game companies need to determine who the target customers are and what motivates them. However, previous research didn't focus on identification of critical variables for market segmentation in online game market. Additionally, the traditional clustering methodologies have not provided a unique clustering nor determined the precise number of clusters. The purpose of our research is to identify the critical variables and to develop a new methodology for market segmentation of online game market. Our research tested the model with 438 Chinese online game users. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on e-Business Engineering (ICEBE'05) 0-7695-2430-3/05 $20.00 © 2005 IEEE The precision of information.Information is the contents from online game to achieve the stated goals. Gamers who received more precise information about how to play the games tended to achieve online game goals and experience flow easier [25,35]. Therefore, the higher precision of information provides users positive influence to flow. The involvement of virtual community.Virtual community is defined as computer-mediated spaces with potential for integration of member-generated content and communication [36]. Online game users should solve problems together interacting with other users in virtual communities [25]. The higher level of involving in virtual community provides users positive influence to flow. A Two-Level SOMProceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on e-Business Engineering (ICEBE'05) 0-7695-2430-3/05 $20.00 © 2005 IEEE