免费增值商业模式下用户参与度分析——基于在线游戏的实证研究

The Impact of Freemium Business Model on Player’s Engagement: An Empirical Study in Online Game

在线游戏中"免费增值"商业模式受到学者们的广泛关注,但其对用户游戏参与度的影响及内在机制却鲜有探讨。本研究基于自我决定、独特性寻求和自我认同理论,采用实际个体游戏数据,深入探讨"免费增值"模式中免费与付费用户的行为异同以及群际互动对用户参与度的长期影响。研究表明,游戏挑战性和用户游戏表现显著提升了用户的游戏参与意愿,但随着付费用户比例增加,免费用户参与意愿上升,而付费用户参与游戏意愿下降。此外,付费用户表现优异也会提升其他付费用户参与意愿而降低免费用户参与意愿。本研究廓清了影响在线游戏参与意愿的心理机制,拓展了"免费增值"商业模式对在线游戏发展长期影响的理论洞察,并进一步提出了有针对性的修正策略。

In online games,"freemium" business model has attracted wide attention of scholars, but its impact on user participation in the game and its internal mechanism are seldom discussed. Based on the theories of self-determination, uniqueness seeking and self-identity, this study uses real individual game data to explore the similarities and differences between free and paid users in the "freemium" model and the long-term impact of group interaction on user participation. Research shows that game challenge and user’ s game performance significantly enhance user’ s willingness to participate in the game, but with the increase of the proportion of paying users, free users’ willingness to participate in the game increases, while paying users’ willingness to participate in the game decreases. In addition, the excellent performance of paying users will enhance the willingness of other paying users to participate and reduce the willingness of free users to participate. This study clarifies the psychological mechanism that affects the willingness to participate in online games, expands the theoretical insight into the long-term impact of the "freemium" business model on the development of online games, and further proposes targeted revision strategies.