We are Alone but not Alone – Exploring Motivations for Paying Others to Playing Video Games Together

Abstract

The paid co-playing practice is a form of transaction in which gamers pay co-players to play video games with them, which indicates that gamers as customers demand playing video games with others. The majority of the previous study reveals that social factor is one of the motivations for playing video games, while few research goes deeper to focus on the motivation for playing video games with others especially in the payment transaction. This study adopts digital ethnography with data collecting from online forums to investigate the motivations for using the paid co-playing service to play video games with others. Three motivations were identified as advancing in- gaming experience, decreasing emotional cost, and gaining emotional satisfaction. This study provides the foundation to understand the pattern of co-playing in the paid co- playing practices and enriches related research on motivations of social gaming behavior.