Playing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is no longer just a personal hobby, and the genre has evolved into a forum that encourages continual interaction among its users. To determine the motivation behind the user’s participation of MMORPG, we suggest social comparison and self-expansion theories. Specifically, this study proposes a research model that comprehensively identifies the effects of psychological motives (social comparison motive and belongingness) and immersive gaming behaviors (social presence and flow experience) on behavioral factors (continuous play intention and loyalty). We analyzed 274 valid survey questionnaire responses. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature that identifies the motives of users to play MMORPGs by applying social comparison and self-expansion theories to understand the factors that influence people to play MMORPGs. Furthermore, the study’s results have practical implications for game developers, suggesting that they should develop content strategically to attract users.

中文翻译：

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“我感觉我和你在一起；所以，我玩得很开心”：社会比较和归属感对网络游戏持续游戏意愿和忠诚度的影响

玩大型多人在线角色扮演游戏 (MMORPG) 不再只是个人爱好，该游戏类型已发展成为鼓励用户之间持续互动的论坛。为了确定用户参与 MMORPG 背后的动机，我们建议采用社会比较和自我扩展理论。具体来说，本研究提出了一个研究模型，全面识别心理动机（社会比较动机和归属感）和沉浸式游戏行为（社会存在感和心流体验）对行为因素（持续游戏意图和忠诚度）的影响。我们分析了 274 份有效的调查问卷答复。我们的研究结果有助于越来越多的文献通过应用社会比较和自我扩展理论来了解影响人们玩 MMORPG 的因素，从而确定用户玩 MMORPG 的动机。此外，该研究的结果对游戏开发者具有实际意义，表明他们应该战略性地开发内容以吸引用户。