Why do people play on-line games? An extended TAM with social influences and flow experience

On-line games have been a highly profitable e-commerce application in recent years. The market value of on-line games is increasing markedly and number of players is rapidly growing. The reasons that people play on-line games is an important area of research. This study views on-line games as entertainment technology. However, while most past studies have focused on task-oriented technology, predictors of entertainment-oriented technology adoption have seldom been addressed. This study applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) that incorporates social influences and flow experience as belief-related constructs to predict users' acceptance of on-line games. The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 233 users about their perceptions of on-line games. Overall, the results reveal that social norms, attitude, and flow experience explain about 80% of game playing. The implications of this study are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.