TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding massively multiplayer online role-playing game addiction
T2 - A hedonic management perspective
AU - Lee, Zach W. Y.
AU - Cheung, Christy M. K.
AU - Chan, Tommy K. H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this article was partially supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Project no.: 71828202).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Information Systems Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) addiction presents a serious issue worldwide and has attracted increasing attention from academic and other public communities. This article addresses this critical issue and fills research gaps by proposing and testing a research model of MMORPG addiction. Building on the conceptual foundation of the hedonic management model of addiction and the technology affordance perspective, we develop a research model explaining how MMORPG affordances (ie, achievement, social and immersion affordances) are associated with the duality of hedonic effects (ie, perceived positive mood enhancement and perceived negative mood reduction) and the extent of MMORPG addiction. Using structural equation modelling, we empirically test our research model with 406 MMORPG players. The results show that both perceived positive mood enhancement and perceived negative mood reduction positively correlate with the extent of MMORPG addiction. Furthermore, achievement and immersion affordances are positively associated with the duality of hedonic effects, whereas social affordance is not. Our study contributes to the growing body of technology addiction literature by revealing the relationships between the two hedonic effects and the extent of MMORPG addiction, and by offering a contextualised explanation of the role of MMORPG affordances in these relationships. We offer an alternative perspective on the far-reaching, unintended relationships between technological affordances and addictive technology use. Our study provides game developers and policymakers with insights into preventing MMORPG addiction to create an entertaining, healthy virtual playground.
AB - Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) addiction presents a serious issue worldwide and has attracted increasing attention from academic and other public communities. This article addresses this critical issue and fills research gaps by proposing and testing a research model of MMORPG addiction. Building on the conceptual foundation of the hedonic management model of addiction and the technology affordance perspective, we develop a research model explaining how MMORPG affordances (ie, achievement, social and immersion affordances) are associated with the duality of hedonic effects (ie, perceived positive mood enhancement and perceived negative mood reduction) and the extent of MMORPG addiction. Using structural equation modelling, we empirically test our research model with 406 MMORPG players. The results show that both perceived positive mood enhancement and perceived negative mood reduction positively correlate with the extent of MMORPG addiction. Furthermore, achievement and immersion affordances are positively associated with the duality of hedonic effects, whereas social affordance is not. Our study contributes to the growing body of technology addiction literature by revealing the relationships between the two hedonic effects and the extent of MMORPG addiction, and by offering a contextualised explanation of the role of MMORPG affordances in these relationships. We offer an alternative perspective on the far-reaching, unintended relationships between technological affordances and addictive technology use. Our study provides game developers and policymakers with insights into preventing MMORPG addiction to create an entertaining, healthy virtual playground.
KW - duality of hedonic effects
KW - hedonic management model of addiction
KW - massively multiplayer online role-playing game
KW - MMORPG
KW - technology addiction
KW - technology affordance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086110452&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/isj.12292
DO - 10.1111/isj.12292
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85086110452
SN - 1350-1917
VL - 31
SP - 33
EP - 61
JO - Information Systems Journal
JF - Information Systems Journal
IS - 1
ER -