Motivation-behavior relations: An empirical analysis for playing experience on social network games

This paper is aimed at analyzing the behaviors of Social Network Services (SNSs) game users in relation to community-targeting Social Network Games (SNGs), and the motivations that give rise to those behaviors. Previous research has focused on the study and utilization of game production technologies, rarely dealing with motivations of game users. Generally, this research has been limited to observations of user behavior in relation to achieving certain goals or themes of a game, such as upgrading a character´s level or obtaining rewards. Rather than analyzing SNS game user behavior simply from this problem-solving perspective, this paper considers a wider variety of human motivations. In order to accomplish this goal, this paper first analyzes the motivation theory of SNS users and Lazzaro´s `People Fun´ model. Next, experimental data collected from users playing 13 different SNGs is presented and classified by game events and functional actions. Finally, based on these results, the primary behaviors of SNG users will be generalized into 8 different types and distinct motivation-behavior patterns will be analyzed.