Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering (한국정보통신학회논문지)

The Korea Institute of Information and Commucation Engineering (한국정보통신학회)
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Group Behavior Pattern Analysis with respect to Playing Loyalty among Blade & Sole Game Users

충성도에 따른 블레이드 앤 소울 게임의 사용자 그룹 행동 패턴 분석

  • Chung, Ji-in (Department of Computer Games, Yong-in SongDam College) ;
  • Song, Doo Heon (Department of Computer Games, Yong-in SongDam College)
  • Received : 2018.06.23
  • Accepted : 2018.07.30
  • Published : 2018.10.31
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Abstract

There have been researches on game continuance intention based on consumer behaviour theory of management science. Such macro access of computer game analysis might be insufficient to draw valuable results due to complex subsystem structure of recent computer games. In this paper, we choose 'Blade and Soul' game that was first published in 2012 and has been within top 20 MMORPG in Korea but known as a 'long time users' only game'among game players recently. Three user groups - long loyalty, concentrated, casual - are classified based on their play history and play time per day of Blade and Soul. The first survey with 222 subjects revealed that the real strength of the game was not the combat - Dungeon, Arena, Battleground competition - but very cohesive game community Blade and Soul has. Thus, we conduct another survey on the game community issues among 148 long time users (over 3 years playing history) and analyze their traits and behaviour patterns.

게임 고객의 충성도 혹은 재구매 의도를 경영학의 고객 충성도 이론을 적용해 보는 거시적 분석이 있었지만 게임 시스템이 복잡해지면서 흥행에 성공한 특정 게임의 장기 충성 사용자의 행동 패턴을 분석함으로써 실증적으로 그 게임에 대한 애착과 성공의 원인을 알아보는 것도 의미가 있다. 본 논문에서는 2012년 출시되어 초창기에 흥행에 큰 성공을 거두고 지금도 점유율 10위권에 자리하고 있는 판타지 퓨전 무협 MMORPG 블레이드 앤 소울의 3년 이상 장기충성 사용자들의 행동 패턴이 1년 미만의 캐주얼 집단, 플레이 경력 1~3년 사이의 집단과 어떻게 다른 지 222명의 피험자에 대해 설문을 통해 살펴보았다. 그 결과 그 게임의 강점으로 알려진 던전 활동, 비무, 전장의 전투 방식과 내용보다는 그 게임 커뮤니티에의 끈끈한 애착이 더 중요했다. 심지어 전투 밸런스의 만족도는 5점 척도에서 모든 그룹이 1점대를 기록하기도 하고 초심자와 장기사용자가 1~3년 사용자보다 전투 레벨이 높은 U-커브를 나타내기도 했다. 이에 다시 148명의 장기 사용자의 설문 분석을 통해 커뮤니티 내 인간관계 형성 요인과 패턴을 조사하였다.

Keywords

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