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The purpose of this study is to examine consumer attitude toward gamification in the context of over-the-top (OTT) media service. The particular focus of this paper is on game mechanics from the mechanics-dynamics-aesthetics framework and its effects on consumer attitude toward both gamification and OTT media service provider brand.

A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial experiment to examine the three core elements of game mechanics – components, controls and courses on consumer attitude, which was operationalized in eight vignettes with a sample size of 296.

It was found that the three elements in game mechanics demonstrated a multiplicative effect. The different combinations of elements in game mechanics would result in eliciting different consumer attitudes toward gamification and brand. Despite one combination that attained a high positive consumer attitude toward gamification in OTT, that same combination was not effective in creating a high positive attitude toward the OTT provider brand. The findings demonstrate the need for OTT providers to be clear of their gamification objectives before selecting the combination of game mechanics.

This study adds to the body of knowledge on consumer attitude toward gamification, especially in the OTT market where there is still literature is limited.

OTT providers should determine their objectives for using gamification and design the game mechanics according to the optimal combination of elements – components, controls and courses.

According to the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine consumer attitude toward gamification and OTT provider based on game mechanics. It provides an understanding on the interaction of elements in game mechanics and shows that different element combinations can be used to meet different goals.

Advergames have attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners as a new way of increasing customer engagement and advertising effectiveness. Gamified ads provide an exciting and persuasive environment for customers rather than non-gamified advertisements. Despite the growing spending on advergames projects, the understanding of customer attitude regarding advergames has received less attention and there are not enough studies about advergames. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to design a novel TAM-based model of determinants of customer attitudes toward advergames to enhance customer engagement and purchase intention.

To obtain this end, the mixed method was applied. In the first step, the main determinants of customer attitude towards advergames were identified by a literature review as well as semi-structured interviews. In the second step, the proposed technology acceptance model (TAM)-based model was validated by survey method through players of advergames. A total of 15 interviews were conducted in the qualitative phase and 102 completed questionnaires were analyzed in the survey method.

The results of the qualitative approach indicate that the main determinants of attitude towards advertisements can be classified into three categories, which are added to TAM as external variables. The results of the survey approach reveal that advertising content and game-related factors have a significant positive effect on perceived ease of use (PEOU). The advertising content and player-related factors also significantly affect perceived usefulness (PU). PU and PEOU also positively and significantly affect customer attitude. The findings show that the new TAM-based model can be considered as a robust model for explaining customer attitude toward advergame acceptance.

The research findings can assist digital marketers to have a big picture of customer attitudes regarding advergames and implement these innovative digital-enabled advertising strategies successfully. The findings further suggest considering marketing/advertising aspects and game-related aspects as well as individual factors to design advergames.

Advergames have become one of the priorities for digital marketers to enhance brand awareness and customer engagement, yet there is no study identifying determinants of attitude by considering multi-aspects of advergames. The most important theoretical contribution of the current study is to design a new extended TAM-based model which integrates behavioral variables (PEOU and PU) with factors related to the advergames context.

The purpose of this paper is to consider issues related to gamification through the non-game aquarium context and explore how the intention of aquarium visitors to play a game that imparts knowledge about marine animals and promotes the conservation of these animals is influenced by visitors’ attitudes toward marine animals, motivations to visit the aquarium and perceptions of the game’s benefits.

This study surveyed individuals who have visited Taiwan’s National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium at least once in the past three years and who use smartphones. They were shown a description of a hypothetical game scenario that they were asked to imagine to be available while at the aquarium. The partial least squares method was used to analyze the data from 225 returns.

The study shows that gamification can satisfy a visitor’s desire to learn and enjoy the aquarium simultaneously. Gamification is limited by the visit motivation and the attitudes toward marine animals that visitors bring with them. The usefulness of gamification is limited when visitors desire relaxation during the visit.

This study considers the application of gamification in the context of aquariums and the tourism field and the non-technology-related antecedents to the use of gamification. Gamification is not silver bullet for every situation, and a good understanding of potential users is important for its success and targeting of players. The importance of intrinsic benefits over extrinsic benefits is confirmed. Thus, this study addresses several gaps in the gamification literature.

This study aims to examine the effect of consumers’ gaming motivations on customer–brand engagement and the potential of this engagement to develop self–brand connections and affective commitment toward luxury brands. Second, it explores if the setup game mechanics and self-congruity with the brand can strengthen the effectiveness of motivation to engage with gamification on customer–brand engagement and self-brand connection.

Data were collected through the survey method using a structured questionnaire. The sample comprised 249 millennial luxury consumers in India. Data analysis was conducted using AMOS 25 and PROCESS Macro for SPSS.

The findings support the mediating role of customer–brand engagement and self–brand connection in the relationship between motivation to engage with gamification and affective commitment. While setup game mechanics and self-congruity with brand positively moderate the effect of motivation to engage with gamification on affective commitment via self–brand connection, a similar effect is not found for the relationship via customer–brand engagement. This study presents important implications for both marketers and academicians.

This study applies the mechanics–dynamics–emotions framework and social exchange theory to explain gamified services as a cocreation process between consumers and luxury brands, fostering customer engagement, connection and commitment with the brands. It highlights the role of setup game mechanics and self-congruity in strengthening the effect of luxury consumers’ gaming motivations on engagement and connection with the brand.

Gamification, the integration of game mechanics to influence behavior and engagement, is a much-touted method of improving participant action. Characteristics of online video games (e.g., World of Warcraft, Farmville, The Sims) have been shown to improve motivation, sustain learner engagement, and increase satisfaction. Gamification is used in websites, businesses, medicine, law enforcement, and increasingly in education. However, gamification is only beneficial to an activity if the relationship between the activity and the final goal are understood. This chapter looks at the gamification in education, in particular second language acquisition, and examines seven basic game mechanics: achievement, appointment, rewards, leaderboards, privacy, social engagement loops (or viral mechanics), and modifiers. The discussion describes implementation of game mechanics and potential pitfalls of gamification.

The chapter examined the consumer meanings of product placements embedded in social games in different cultural contexts.

The theoretical perspective guiding the study is phenomenology, and the essay assignment and in-depth interviews were used to collect data.

The chapter was based on two qualitative research projects. Findings revealed that consumers in both countries appreciated certain characteristics of product placement in the context of social game, such as subtleness (naturalness) and unobtrusiveness (users’ freedom of choice and proactive choice); consumers’ real-world consumption in both countries seems to be more or less influenced by the product placement in social games; and while the young American consumers didn’t construct specific meanings for Facebook, the Chinese white-collar consumers actively created meanings for the Chinese social-network site.

The chapter offered some thick descriptions and in-depth analyses of product placements in social games in different cultural contexts from consumers’ experiential perspectives to enrich our theoretical understanding of product placement in the new media environment as well as to add valuable insights to the research literature on new advertising formats in general.

No study to date has been conducted to explore the product placement in social games in different cultural contexts. The study fills the research gap by exploring US college-aged consumers’ and Chinese white-collar consumers’ interpretations of product placements in the context of social games.

Sponsorship has undeniably become one of the fastest growing global marketing practices. Business corporations seek sponsorship opportunities to actualize their overall organizational objectives, marketing goals, and promotional strategies, particularly to enhance brand equity. This study aimed to examine the influence of consumers’ involvement, emotions, and attitude toward Beijing Olympic Games on the branding effects of the event.

Participants (N=556) were university students in China who had watched at least some coverage of Beijing Olympic Games. Two duplicate versions of a questionnaire were formulated and respondents were randomly selected to evaluate perceived branding effects of Beijing Olympic Games to be sponsored by two brands – Li‐Ning and Nongfu Spring.

An analysis of the structural model, relating brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand association/awareness to respondent's involvement, emotional responses, and attitude toward the event, revealed that the proposed model fit the data well (CFI=0.96, TLI=0.98, RMSEA=0.048, WRMR=0.93). The findings revealed that branding effects were positively associated with consumer's attitude toward the sponsored event, which was partially determined by consumer's involvement and emotions.

This study examined the relationships among respondent's affective and cognitive involvement, negative and positive emotional responses, and attitude toward the Beijing Olympic Games on the perceived branding effects of event sponsorship.

The present study aims to synthesize and conceptualize, through a systematic literature review (SLR), the current state of gamification knowledge in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) sector, providing a roadmap for future research recommendations for service research and practice.

The research is based on a systematic literature review and adopts a systematic quantitative approach to summarize existing evidence on gamification usage in the T&H sector, focusing on relevant service literature on gamification. The authors analyze 36 papers published between 2011 and 2019.

The authors synthesize existing knowledge into five themes describing gamification's role in T&H (Edutainment, Sustainable behavior, Engagement factors, Service provider-generated content and User-generated reviews). Then, a cross-analysis of the five themes reveals the pivotal elements (affordances, behavioral and psychological outcomes, and benefits) generated by gamification mechanics in T&H, simultaneously highlighting potential implications and relevant insights for service literature. The review identifies critical issues affecting gamification research and provides a future research agenda, considering opportunities for T&H and service research.

The study provides the first SLR investigating gamification in T&H. The findings present potential implications and relevant insights for T&H contributing to the construction of a more holistic understanding of gamification adoption in service research.

Though not new to online gamers, griefing – an act of play intended to cause grief to game players – is fairly understudied in LIS scholarship. The purpose of this paper is to expand the inventory of griefing varieties, consider their deceptive elements and examine attitudes towards the phenomenon.

The authors collected and content analysed 80 (non‐elicited) posts from the Something Awful forum thread and compared them to the results of ten (elicited) e‐mail interviews.

As a complex phenomenon, griefing has multiple interpretations and opposing attitudes. The thread results show that griefers, as perpetrators, have predominantly positive or neutral attitudes towards the act. About 15 per cent of the examined griefers reportedly resort to deceptive techniques. More extravagant griefs that require verbal interactions in player‐versus‐player (PvP) online games involve deception and often fall into two categories: scamming or greed play (prioritising personal benefits). The authors found self‐reported instances of deception by scheming, luring, entrapment, pretence and verbal concealment in griefing acts. The interview respondents, as predominantly victims of griefs, do not think of griefing (or may not be aware of it) as an act of deception and primarily associate it with harassment (inciting emotional reactions) or power imposition (exerting superiority). Casual griefing – refusing to comply with the rules for mere entertainment – stands out as another griefing variety.

With the growth of popularity of video gaming, libraries are largely unaware of griefing and should be prepared to address it in video game use policies for online gaming units or tournaments. Online gaming affords a unique opportunity to examine deception in computer‐mediated human‐to‐human communication. The complexity of the phenomenon and associated opposing views are offered here to be weighted by the LIS scholars and professionals.