“I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games

Purpose – Applications blending games with mobile content sharing have garnered much interest recently. In this paper, the authors aim to examine users' motivations for seeking and creating content in the context of Indagator, a mobile content sharing game. The authors also seek to investigate...

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Main Authors: Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian, Lee, Chei Sian, Low, Guanghao
Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/97510
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/10614
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author Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian
Lee, Chei Sian
Low, Guanghao
author2 Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
author_facet Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian
Lee, Chei Sian
Low, Guanghao
author_sort Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian
collection NTU
description Purpose – Applications blending games with mobile content sharing have garnered much interest recently. In this paper, the authors aim to examine users' motivations for seeking and creating content in the context of Indagator, a mobile content sharing game. The authors also seek to investigate the impact of games on these motivations. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a user study where 28 participants used Indagator for a week to create and share content (annotations). Participants were interviewed. All interview responses, and annotations sought (5,799) and generated (599) were manually examined and coded to ascertain motivations. Findings – Motivations for seeking content include awareness, task performance, exploratory play, killing time, and socialising. Those for creating include altruism, task performance, competitive play, killing time, reminder of experiences, self-presentation, and socialising. Additionally, games served as a motivator for mobile content sharing systems, forming a mutually beneficial ecology with content sharing. Originality/value – Prior work has not examined motivations for using mobile content sharing games, and has typically employed surveys rather than actual use of such applications. Understanding motivations has implications for developers. The benefits of incorporating games include increasing awareness for the application and addressing the “cold-start” problem inherent in many newly introduced applications.
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spelling ntu-10356/975102020-03-07T12:15:51Z “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian Lee, Chei Sian Low, Guanghao Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Purpose – Applications blending games with mobile content sharing have garnered much interest recently. In this paper, the authors aim to examine users' motivations for seeking and creating content in the context of Indagator, a mobile content sharing game. The authors also seek to investigate the impact of games on these motivations. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a user study where 28 participants used Indagator for a week to create and share content (annotations). Participants were interviewed. All interview responses, and annotations sought (5,799) and generated (599) were manually examined and coded to ascertain motivations. Findings – Motivations for seeking content include awareness, task performance, exploratory play, killing time, and socialising. Those for creating include altruism, task performance, competitive play, killing time, reminder of experiences, self-presentation, and socialising. Additionally, games served as a motivator for mobile content sharing systems, forming a mutually beneficial ecology with content sharing. Originality/value – Prior work has not examined motivations for using mobile content sharing games, and has typically employed surveys rather than actual use of such applications. Understanding motivations has implications for developers. The benefits of incorporating games include increasing awareness for the application and addressing the “cold-start” problem inherent in many newly introduced applications. 2013-06-25T04:29:59Z 2019-12-06T19:43:26Z 2013-06-25T04:29:59Z 2019-12-06T19:43:26Z 2012 2012 Journal Article Goh, D. H.-L., Lee, C. S., & Low, G. (2012). “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games. Online Information Review, 36(6), 784-806. 1468-4527 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/97510 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/10614 10.1108/14684521211287891 en Online information review © 2012 Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
spellingShingle Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian
Lee, Chei Sian
Low, Guanghao
“I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
title “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
title_full “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
title_fullStr “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
title_full_unstemmed “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
title_short “I played games as there was nothing else to do”: Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
title_sort i played games as there was nothing else to do understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/97510
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/10614
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