Title: What makes people experience flow? Social characteristics of online games

Authors: Yong-Young Kim, Sangjo Oh, Heejin Lee

Addresses: College of Business Administration, Seoul National University, Gwanak-Gu, 151-742 Seoul, Korea. ' Department of Internet Commerce, Dongyang Technical College, Kuro-Gu, 151-714 Seoul, Korea. ' Department of Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia

Abstract: Online games are games in which users play simultaneously with each other in a virtual environment. The success of online games relies on the repetitive visits of players, and thus on the very personal experiences of players. Drawing on the theory of flow, this paper empirically explores how the characteristics of online games affect the individual flow experience. Three antecedents to flow (skills, challenges and focused attention) have positive influence on the flow experience. Interactivity, whether it is human or machine, is found to influence the antecedents of the flow experience, and system performance is shown to have no or marginally significant effects. The results show that social characteristics of online games are more crucial to online game success than technological ones.

Keywords: online games; flow theory; human interactivity; machine interactivity; system performance; social characteristics; social interation; sociability; online gaming; internet; success factors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMC.2005.007724

International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 2005 Vol.1 No.1, pp.76 - 92

Published online: 04 Sep 2005 *

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