Virtual Goods Purchase, Game Satisfaction and Perceived Justice: An Empirical Study of Players of PVP Mobile Games

Abstract

Over recent years, the freemium business model has been a major revenue source for mobile games, namely to attract virtual consumption of players through differentiated game experience. This trend may pose challenges to the idea of “fair play,” an essential precondition for players to enjoy the game, player-versus-player (PVP) mobile game in particular. To keep track of players’ behavioral reactions to the freemium business model and their assessment of in-game experiences, we conducted a survey to disclose the relationship among the virtual goods purchase, game satisfaction, and perceived justice of PVP mobile game players (N=262). The results indicate that (1.) the game satisfaction mediates the effect of virtual goods purchase on perceived justice, and (2.) the utilitarian satisfaction demonstrates a greater significant indirect effect upon perceived justice than hedonic satisfaction. This study also discusses the implications of the above findings in terms of commerce, psychology, and culture.