• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.3
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• pp.1-40
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• 1965

To measure variations in some of the important agronomic characteristics of rice varieties under shifting of seedling dates, this study has been carried out at the Paddy Crop Division of Crop Experiment Station(then Agricultural Experiment Station) in Suwon for the period of three years 1958 to 1960. The varieties used in this study were Kwansan, Suwon ＃82, Mojo, Paltal and Chokwang, which have the different agronomic characteristics such as earliness and plant type. Seeds of each variety were sown at 14 different dates in 10-day interval starting on March 2. The seedlings were grown on seed bed for 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 days, respectively. The results of this study are as follows: A. Heading dates. 1. As the seeding date was delayed, the heading dates was almost proportionally delayed. The degree of delay was higher in early varieties and lower in late varieties and the longer the seedling stage, the more delayed the heading date. 2. Number of days to heading was proportionally lessened as seeding was delayed in all the varieties but the magnitude varied depending upon variety. In other words, the required period for heading in case of late planting was much shortened in late variety compared with early one. Within a variety, the number of days to heading was less shortened as the seedling stage was prolonged. Early variety reached earlier than late variety to the marginal date for the maximum shortening of days to heading and the longer the seeding stage, the limitted date came earlier. There was a certain limit in seeding date for shortening of days to heading as seeding was delayed, and days to heading were rather prolonged due to cold weather when seeded later than that date. 3. In linear regression equation, Y=a+bx obtained from the seeding dates and the number of days to heading, the coefficient b(shortening rate of days to heading) was closely correlated with the average number of days to heading. That is, the period from seeding to heading was more shortened in late variety than early one as seeding was delayed. 4. To the extent that the seedling stage is not so long and there is a linear relationship between delay of seeding and shortening of days to heading, it might be possible to predict heading date of a rice variety to be sown any date by using the linear regression obtained from variation of heading dates under the various seeding dates of the same variety. 5. It was found out that there was a close correlation between the numbers of days to heading in ordinary culture and the other ones. When a rice variety was planted during the period from the late part of March to the middle of June and the seedling ages were within 30 to 50 days, it could be possible to estimate heading date of the variety under late or early culture with the related data of ordinary culture. B. Maturing date. 6. Within (he marginal date for maturation of rice variety, maturing date was proportionally delayed as heading was delayed. Of course, the degree of delay depended upon varieties and seedling ages. The average air temperature (Y) during the ripening period of rice variety was getting lower as the heading date. (X) was delayed. Though there was a difference among varieties, in general, a linear regression equation(y=25.53-0.182X) could be obtained as far as heading date were within August 1 to September 13. 7. Depending upon earliness of a rice variety, the average air temperature during the ripening period were greatly different. Early variety underwent under 28$^{\circ}C$ in maximum while late variety matured under as low as 22$^{\circ}C$. 8. There was a highly significant correlation between the average air temperature (X) during the ripening period, and number of day (Y) for the maturation. And the relationship could be expressed as y=82.30-1.55X. When the average air temperature during the period was within the range of 18$^{\circ}C$ to 28$^{\circ}C$, the ripening period was shortened by 1.55 days with increase of 1$^{\circ}C$. Considering varieties, Kwansan was the highest in shortening the maturing period by 2.24 days and Suwon ＃82 was the lowest showing 0.78 days. It is certain that ripening of rice variety is accelerated at Suwon as the average air temperature increases within the range of 18$^{\circ}C$ to 28$^{\circ}C$. 9. Between number of days to heading (X) related to seeding dates and the accumulated average air temperature (Y) during the ripening period, a positive correlation was obtained. However, there was a little difference in the accumulated average air temperature during the ripening period even seeding dates were shifted to a certain extent. C. Culm- and ear-lengths. 10. In general all the varieties didn't show much variation in their culm-lengths in case of relatively early seeding but they trended to decrease the lengths as seeding was delayed. The magnitude of decreasing varied from young seedlings to old ones. Young seedlings which were seeded during May 21 to June 10 didn't decrease their culm-lengths, while seedlings old as 80 days decreased the length though under ordinary culture. 11. Variation in ear-length of rice varieties show the same trend as the culm-length subjected to the different seeding dates. When rice seedlings aged from 30 to 40 days, the ear-length remained constant but rice plants older than 40 days obviously decreased their ear-lengths. D. Number of panicles per hill. 12. The number of panicles per hill decreased up to a certain dates as seeding was delayed and then again increased the panicles due to the development of numerous tillers at the upper internodes. The seeding date to reach to the least number of panicles of rice variety depended upon the seedling ages. Thirty- to 40-day seedlings which were seeded during May 31 to June 10 developed the lowest number of panicles and 70- to 80-day seedlings sown for the period from April 11 to April 21 reached already to the minimum number of panicles. E. Number of rachillae. 13. To a certain seeding date, the number of rachillae didn't show any variation due to delay of seeding but it decreased remarkably when seeded later than the marginal date. 14. Variation in number of rachillae depended upon seedling ages. For example, 30- to 40-day old seedlings which, were originally seeded after May 31 started to decrease the rachillae. On the other hand, 80-day old seedlings which, were seeded on May 1 showed a tendency to decrease rachillae and the rice plant sown on May 31 could develop narrowly 3 or 4 panicles. F. Defective grain and 1.000-grain weights. 15. Under delay of the seeding dates, weight of the defective grains gradually increased till a certain date and then suddenly increased. These relationships could be expressed with two different linear regressions. 16. If it was assumed that the marginal date for ripening was the cross point of these two lines, the date seemed. closely related with seedling ages. The date was June 10- in 30- to 40-day old seedlings but that of 70- to 80-day old seedlings was May 1. Accordingly, the marginal date for ripening was getting earlier as the seedling stage was prolonged. 17. The 1.000-grain weight in ordinary culture was the heaviest and it decreased in both early and late cultures. G. Straw and rough rice weights. 18. Regardless of earliness of variety, rice plants under early culture which were seeded before March 22 or April 1 did not show much variation in straw weight due to seedling ages but in ordinary culture it gradually decreased and the degree was became greater in late culture. 19. Relationship between seeding dates (X) and grain weight related to varieties and seedling ages, could be expressed as a parabola analogous to a line (Y=77.28-7.44X$_1$-1.00lX$_2$). That is, grain yield didn't vary in early culture but it started to decrease when seeded later than a certain date, as seeding was delayed. The variation was much greater in cases of late planting and prolongation of seedling age. 20. Generally speaking, the relationship between grain yield (Y) and number of days to heading (X) was described with linear regression. However, the early varieties were the highest yielders within the range of 60 to 110, days to heading but the late variety greatly decreased its yield since it grows normally only under late culture. The grain yield, on the whole, didn't increase as number of days to heading exceeded more than 140 days.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.