Enhancing perceived enjoyment in social games through social and gaming factors

Purpose - Residing on social networking platforms, social games have unique characteristics distinguishing them from other digital games or online games. The purpose of this paper is to explore both social and gaming factors of social games and investigate their roles on enhancing perceived enjoyment. The authors also examine the relationships between perceived enjoyment, subject norm, perceived critical mass, intention to play, and actual behavior. Design/methodology/approach - This paper develops a research model including nine hypotheses. Using a survey questionnaire, empirical data were collected from 169 actual social game players. Structured equation modeling was used to test the proposed research models. Findings - Social identification, social interaction, and diversion significantly influence perceived enjoyment. Perceived enjoyment significantly influences the intention to play, which in turn significantly influences the actual behavior. Moreover, subject norm and perceived critical mass play different roles in determining the intention to play and the actual behavior. Practical implications - The results of this study provide social game practitioners with a set of rich insights into guidelines on designing specific social and gaming characteristics to improve users' perceived enjoyment and actual playing behavior. Originality/value - Through analyzing characteristics of social games, The authors emphasize the difference between social games and other online games or computer games and recognize the enhancing role of social and gaming factors on perceived enjoyment. Findings of this study contribute to the literature on social games.