watching others play: a uses and gratifications approach ... · through the uses and gratifications...
TRANSCRIPT
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Aalto University
School of Science
Degree Programme in Information Networks
Max Sjöblom
Watching others play: a uses and gratifications
approach to video game streaming motives
Master’s Thesis
Helsinki, September 8, 2015
Supervisor: Professor Perttu Hämäläinen
Thesis advisor(s): Juho Hamari, D.Sc.
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Aalto University, P.O. BOX 11000, 00076 AALTO
www.aalto.fi Abstract of master's thesis
Author Max Sjöblom Title of thesis Watching others play: a uses and gratifications approach to video game streaming motives Degree programme Degree Programme in Information Networks
Thesis supervisor Professor Perttu Hämäläinen Code of professorship T-111 Department Department of Media Thesis advisor(s) Juho Hamari, D.Sc. Date 08.09.2015 Number of pages 59 +
15 Language English
Abstract The activity of watching others play video games in real time through online streaming services has grown greatly during the past years. This study aims to answer the question why people choose to watch these video game streaming services. We explore this subject first through a qualitative interview study (n = 19), and then through a quantitative study based on an online survey (n = 1097). Both of these studies focus on the online service Twitch. Through the uses and gratifications theory we examine five distinct types of motivations: cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative and tension release. We investigate the relationship between these motivational factors and four types of usage related to watching video game streams. The four types of usages investigated are hours watched per week, number of streamers watched per week, number of streamers followed and subscription status. We find that tension release, social integrative and affective motivations effect usage significantly. We also find that social integrative motivations are the primary drivers for subscription behaviour based the motivational types investigated.
Keywords uses and gratifications theory, video game streaming, games, esports, media usage, media research, Twitch
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Aalto-universitetet, PB 11000, 00076 AALTO www.aalto.fi
Sammandrag av diplomarbetet
Författare Max Sjöblom Titel Watching others play: a uses and gratifications approach to video game streaming motives Utbildningsprogram Utbildningsprogrammet för informationsnätverk
Övervakare Professor Perttu Hämäläinen Kod för professuren T-111 Institution Institutionen för media Handledare Juho Hamari, TkD Datum 08.09.2015 Sidantal 59 + 15 Språk Engelska
Sammandrag En ny medieform som har vuxit kraftigt under de senaste åren är realtidssändning (eng. streaming) av videospel, ofta kallade spelstreamar. För att skapa en djupare förståelse för varför människor väljer att se på dessa spelstreamar, ämnar denna studie utforska de motivationstyper som styr tittande. Detta görs via två separata studier, fokuserade på Internet servicen Twitch. Den första är en kvalitativ studie fokuserad på intervjuer (n = 19), medan den andra är den kvalitativ undersökning där informationen samlades via ett frågeformulär (n = 1097). Vi undersöker användning i relation till fem huvudtyper av motivation: kognitiva, affektiva, personliga, sociala samt spänningsutlösande motivationstyper. Användning mäts med hjälp av fyra huvudindikatorer: tittningstimmar per vecka, antalet streamare (eng. streamer) tittade på per vecka, antalet följda (eng. followed) streamare per vecka samt prenumerationsstatus. Vi påvisar att användning signifikant kan förutspås via spänningsutlösande, affektiva samt sociala motivationstyper. Dess vidare visar vi att sociala motivationstyper är den mest dominerande motivationstypen av de motivationstyper vi har studerat för förutspående av prenumerationsstatus.
Nyckelord medieanvändning, esport, spel, uses and gratifications theory, streaming, medieforskning
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Acknowledgements.
I! am! deeply! grateful! for! the! immense! amount! of! help,! encouragement! and!
guidance! I! received! from!D.Sc.! Juho!Hamari!during! the! time!which! I! conducted!
this! study.! The! advice! given! to! me! was! of! utmost! importance! in! shaping! this!
study!into!what!it!is.!I!would!also!like!to!thank!Professor!Perttu!Hämäläinen!for!
the! input! I!got!at! the!end!of!writing!this!study.!The! input!helped!further!polish!
the! ideas! brought! forth! by! this! study.! The! 19! initial! interviewees! that!
participated!and!helped!me!further!the!understanding!of!the!subject!also!deserve!
my!gratitude.!I!than!Tracey!from!YouTube!and!Drew!from!Twitch!for!giving!me!
their!time!to!talk!about!the!subject,!and!giving!me!some!new!ideas!to!think!about!
regarding!the!topic!of!video!game!streaming.!
I!thank!Sofie!for!her!great!moral!support!and!practical!ideas!regarding!the!study.!
I! appreciate! all! the! help! I! got!! I! also! thank!my!mother! for! the! encouragement!
received!during!the!way.!
From!Reddit,!Tilo!Frank!deserves!a!big!applaud!for!helping!me!find!avenues!for!
the!survey.!A!special!thank!you!also!goes!out!to!the!mods!of!Reddit!that!helped!
me!propagate!the!survey.!Finally,!a!thank!you!to!all!the!people!that!took!part!in!
the!survey,!all!1097!of!you.!You!helped!elevate!the!study!to!greater!heights!than!I!
had!expected.!!
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Max!Sjöblom,!
Helsinki!8.9.2015! !
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Table.of.Contents.
Introduction*........................................................................................................................*1!Research*problem*......................................................................................................................*1!
Scope*of*the*study*.......................................................................................................................*1!
Methodology*.................................................................................................................................*2!
Structure*of*the*study*................................................................................................................*2!
Definitions*.....................................................................................................................................*3!
Preliminary*study*..............................................................................................................*5!Methodology*.................................................................................................................................*5!
Results*............................................................................................................................................*7!
Research*background*....................................................................................................*10!Research*in*motivation*factors*...........................................................................................*10!
Research*in*video*game*streaming*....................................................................................*12!
Participatory*Research*in*Online*Communities*............................................................*15!
Uses*and*Gratifications*Theory*...........................................................................................*16!
Technology*Acceptance*Model*............................................................................................*18!
Sense*of*Community*...............................................................................................................*19!
Fandom*.......................................................................................................................................*21!
Research*Model*and*Hypotheses*........................................................................................*21!
Methodology*.....................................................................................................................*26!Structure*of*the*questionnaire*............................................................................................*26!
Demographic!information!.................................................................................................................!26!
Usage!...........................................................................................................................................................!26!
Psychometric!factors!...........................................................................................................................!28!
Survey*propagation*.................................................................................................................*34!
Descriptive*statistics*for*survey*.........................................................................................*37!
Validity*and*reliability*...........................................................................................................*39!
Results*................................................................................................................................*42!
Discussion*.........................................................................................................................*45!Tension*release*motivations*...............................................................................................*45!
Affective*motivations*.............................................................................................................*46!
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Cognitive*motivations*............................................................................................................*48!
Personal*integrative*motivations*......................................................................................*49!
Social*integrative*motivations*............................................................................................*51!
Conclusion*.........................................................................................................................*54!Theoretical*implications*.......................................................................................................*54!
Practical*implications*for*video*game*streaming*.........................................................*55!
Limitations*.................................................................................................................................*57!
Further*research*directions*.................................................................................................*58!
Bibliography*.....................................................................................................................*60!
Appendix*A*........................................................................................................................*68!
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Introduction.
Video!games!have!had!a!certain!spectator!element!to!them!from!their!inception.!
In! the! early! days! of! arcade! games,! people! would! gather! around! the! person!
playing!the!game!to!see!how!they!were!doing!and!cheer!them!on.!When!games!
moved! from!the!arcades! to! living!rooms,!players!were!no! longer!subject! to! the!
stares! of! strangers! when! they! were! playing! their! favourite! games.! In! recent!
years,! technological! advances! in! infrastructure! have! led! to! the! emergence! of! a!
new! way! to! consume! games! among! a! large! number! of! people;! namely! video!
game!streaming.!
This! study! aims! to! uncover! why! so! many! are! choosing! to! watch! others! play!
games!over!the!Internet,!using!services!such!as!Twitch.!This!is!a!very!interesting!
topic!of!study,!as!not!much!research!has!been!done!within!the!field!of!video!game!
streaming.! Furthermore,! the! explosive! growth! of! the! video! game! streaming!
industry!is!yet!another!reason!to!build!a!further!understanding!of!the!topic.!
Research.problem.
It! is! clear! that! a! large! number! of! people! are! choosing! to! spend! a! significant!
amount!of! time!watching!others!play!video!games! (Twitch, 2015).!However,!we!
do!not!have!a!thorough!understanding!of!the!motives!driving!the!consumption.!
This!is!a!problem,!as!understanding!the!motives!behind!why!people!use!services!
such! as! Twitch! would! allow! us! to! build! these! services! with! these! motives! in!
mind.!Hence,!the!main!research!question!of!this!study!is:!
“What&are&the&main&motivational&factors&for&watching&video&game&streams?”&
We!focus!on!identifying!the!central!motivational! factors! in!order!to! further!our!
understanding!of!the!viewing!habits!of!spectators.!
Scope.of.the.study.
This! study! is! limited! to! the! online! video! game! streaming! service! Twitch.! This!
service!was!chosen!due!to!it!being!one!of!the!most!prominent!streaming!services!
in! the! Western! hemisphere.! Actual! data! is! not! available! for! comparison,! but!
Twitch!is!assumed!to!be!the! largest!streaming!service!by!many!sources,!having!
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between! 60! and! 100! million! unique! monthly! users,! depending! on! the! source!
(Twitch, 2015; Quantcast, 2015).!!By!limiting!this!study!to!a!specific!service,!we!are!
able! to! get! a! better! inZdepth! understanding! of! the! users! by! looking! at!metrics!
specific!to!this!very!service,!such!as!the!number!of!streams!the!user!follows!and!
the! number! of! streams! the! user! subscribes! to.! There! are! several! services! of! a!
similar! nature,! including! Hitbox,! Azubu! and! Ustream.! YouTube,! the! world’s!
largest!online!video!platform,!also! launched!the!possibility!to!stream!live!video!
(Salgar & James, 2013).! Recently,! YouTube! launched! YouTube! Gaming! as! a!
service!solely!concentrating!on!video!game!streaming!as!well!as!recorded!videos!
of!games!(Joyce, 2015).!
In!the!context!of!this!study,!we!limit!the!concept!of!watching!video!games!to!live!
Internet!broadcasts.!This!means! that! for! example! television!broadcasts!or!preZ
recorded!videos!available!on!YouTube!are!not!considered!part!of!the!core!for!this!
study.!We!do!this!as!a!way!to!define!the!activity!of!watching!video!game!streams!
and!confining!it!to!a!particular!service,!in!our!case!Twitch.!
Methodology.
In!this!study!we!primarily!focus!on!quantitative!research!done!through!an!online!
questionnaire.!To!serve!as!a!base! for!our!understanding!of! the!subject,! a! small!
number!of! informal! interviews!were!conducted!with!users!of! the!Twitch!video!
streaming! service.! These! interviews! enable! us! to! build! a! better! questionnaire!
that! then!serves!as!the!main!source!of!data! for!this!study.!The!questionnaire! is!
primarily! based! on! psychometric! theory! (Nunnally, 1978).! The! data! is! then!
analysed!with!the!SEMZPLS!algorithm!using!the!SmartPLS!3.0!software.!
Structure.of.the.study.
This!introductory!chapter!aims!to!provide!an!overview!of!the!subject!at!hand!and!
introduce! definitions! critical! for! understanding! the! research! topic.! The! rest! of!
the!study!is!split!into!two!main!parts.!The&preliminary&study!serves!as!a!separate!
entity! and! discusses! the! informal! interviews! conducted! at! the! start! of! the!
research!process.!Study&two!focuses!on!the!questionnaire!constructed!to!serve!as!
the!main!data! source! for! this! study.! Study! two! is! split! into! sections!as! follows.!
The!research&background&covers!previous!research!conducted!within!the!field!of!
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video!game!streaming,!and!also!motivational!factors!on!a!more!general!level.!Our!
hypotheses! are! also! introduced! in! this! chapter.! The! methodology! chapter!
discusses!the!methods!used!for!this!study!and!delves!into!more!detail!about!the!
individual!constructs!used!in!the!survey.!We!then!look!deeper!into!our!survey!in!
the!results!and!discussion!chapters.!Finally,!the!conclusions&chapter!takes!a!look!at!
how!the!results!can!help!us!with!further!research!within!the!field!of!video!game!
streaming.!
Definitions.
Esports!–!Commonly!also!noted!as!eSports!or!eZsports,!alternatively!written!out!
in!its!full!form!as!Electronic!Sports.!Wagner!(2006)!defines!esports!as!“an&area&of&
sport&activities&in&which&people&develop&and&train&mental&or&physical&abilities&in&the&
use& of& information& and& communication& technologies” (Wagner, 2006, p. 438).&
Wagner!builds!on!the!definition!of!sport!as!set!forth!by!Tiedemann!(2004).!
Follow!–!Spectators!can!follow!streamers!they!are!interested!in!and!then!receive!
notification! in! the! service! or! through! eZmail!when! these! streamers! begin! their!
broadcasts.!Following!can!be!seen!as!a!nonZfinancial!way!to!support!a!streamer!
that!the!spectator!enjoys.!
Stream!–!A!single!entity!of!a!streamer!broadcasting,! from!start!to!finish.!These!
are!often!available!for!later!viewing!in!Twitch’s!video!on!demand!archive.!
Streamer!Z!An!individual!user!that!broadcasts!content!via!the!Twitch!service.!A!
single! user! always! broadcasts! from! the! same! URL,! in! the! form! of!
http://twitch.tv/username.!
Subscribe! –! Streamers! who! have! attained! a! certain! number! of! viewers! and!
followers!are!eligible!to!be!Twitch!partners.!This!allows!spectators!to!“subscribe”!
to! the! streamer,! an! activity! that! costs! five! USD! per! month.! In! return! for! this!
financial! investment! the! spectator! can! receive! benefits! as! decided! by! the!
streamer! in! question.! Common! benefits! include! access! to! chat! emoticons!
available!solely!for!subscribers,!a!visual!indicator!in!the!chat!that!tells!others!you!
are!a!subscriber!and!the!possibility!to!take!part!in!special!events!aimed!solely!at!
subscribers.!
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Twitch! –! An! online! service! that! allows! users! to! live! broadcast!while! they! are!
playing!games.!
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Preliminary.study.
At! the! beginning! of! the! research! process! for! this! study,! a! series! of! informal!
interviews!were!conducted!as!a!way!to!further!our!understanding!of!the!topic!at!
hand.!This!chapter!covers!the!methodology!used!in!these!interviews,!along!with!
the!results!obtained!from!them.!
Methodology.
A! total! of! 19! informal! interviews! were! carried! out! in! order! to! build! an!
understanding! of! how! the! users! of! the! Twitch! service! were! using! it.! All! the!
interviews!were!carried!out!online,!via!three!different!mediums,!namely!Skype,!
Facebook!and!IRC.!These!three!were!chosen!as!it!was!easy!to!record!the!intent!of!
the!interviewees!in!exactly!the!form!they!stated!their!thoughts.!Participants!were!
asked!either!directly!or,!in!the!case!of!Facebook!users,!in!a!more!general!post!by!
the! researcher! where! he! asked! interested! persons! to! get! in! contact.! All!
interviewees!were!asked!the!same!two!basic!questions.!These!questions!varied!
slightly! in! how! they! were! written,! as! some! were! interviewed! in! Finnish! and!
others! in! English.! Furthermore,! the! exact! phrasing! of! the! question! was! not!
necessarily!identical!from!one!case!to!the!other,!but!the!aim!was!to!express!the!
intent!of! the!question!as! identically!as!possible! from!one! interview! to!another.!
FollowZup!questions!were!asked!when!appropriate,! such!as!when! the! intent!of!
the! interviewee! was! not! clear! to! the! interviewer.! However,! these! followZup!
questions!were!kept!to!a!minimum,!as!these!interviews!were!not!intended!to!be!
laddered! interviews.! The! two! primary! questions! asked! were,! in! English,! as!
follows.!
Question& 1:& “Could& you& list& reasons& (as&many& as& possible)& that& a& person&watches&
gaming& streams& on&Twitch& or& a& similar& service?&These& can&be& reasons& from&your&
personal&experience,&or&reasons&that&you&might&think&of&as&to&why&another&person&
would&watch&gaming&streams.”&
Question&2:&“Also,&after&that,&could&you&approximate&how&often&you&watch&gaming&
streams,&and&which&games&do&you&watch&the&most.”&
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The! interviewees! were! all! male,! between! 18! and! 37! years! of! age,! and! they!
watched! an! average! of! 6.7! hours! per!week,!with! the!median! being! 4! hours.! A!
wide!variety!of!game!genres!were!present!among!the!streams!the!interviewees!
mentioned!that!they!watched!frequently.!An!attempt!to!get!a!more!heterogenic!
group!was!made,! so!we! sought! interviewees! from! various! geographic! regions.!
The!geographical!distribution!is!presented!in!table!1.!
Country. Finland. Sweden. Belgium. United.States. Indonesia.
Number'of'interviewees' 14' 2' 1' 1' 1'
Table*1*Geographical*distribution*of*interviewees*
After!the!interviews!were!completed,!the!results!were!then!analysed!and!coded!
using! a! spreadsheet! program.! The! answers! were! coded! according! to! the!
researchers! best! understanding! of! the! common! themes! among! the! interviews.!
The!detailed!process!for!coding!the!interviews!worked!as!follows.!Starting!with!
one!interview!log,!coherent!factors!were!noted!down!and!given!a!general!name.!
For!example,!interviewee!number!two!stated!“people&want&to&get&better&at&games,&
and& interacting&with& the& streamer&or&hearing&her& thought&process&may&help&with&
that”,! which!was! then! coded! as! “learning! from! professionals”.! If! a! subsequent!
interview! contained! reasoning! insinuating! at! a! similar! reason! for! watching!
Twitch,! this! was! grouped! along! with! the! first! observation.! Continuing! on! the!
previous!example,!interviewee!number!11!stated!“to&get&better&by&understanding&
the&decision&making&and&strategy&of&established&players&and&commentators”.!This!
was!then!grouped!under!“learning!from!professionals”!along!with!the!statement!
from! interview! number! two.! All! 19! interviewees! were! processed! in! a! similar!
manner,!noting!down!all!interviewee!statements!regarding!reasons!for!watching!
Twitch.!The!results!from!this!process!are!presented!in!the!following!section.!It!is!
worth! noting! that! as! they! aim! of! these! interviews! was! to! build! a! broad!
understanding! of! the! subject,!we! kept! to! a! fairly! high! level! of! abstraction.!We!
wanted! to! identify! larger! themes! and! clear! motives! for! viewing! video! game!
streams,! rather! than!use! the! interviews! to!build!our! final! reasoning.!Hence!we!
understand! that! the! coding!process!did!not! follow!a! rigorous!methodology!but!
rather!a!more!loose!structure!of!association.!
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Results.
The!common!factors!obtained!through!the!coding!process,!as!well!as!examples!of!
statements! related! to! the! factor,! are! presented! below! in! table! 2.! The! count!
signifies! how! many! interviewees! mentioned! that! motivational! factor! in! their!
interview.! The! examples! are! presented! verbatim! when! possible,! but! as! a!
majority! of! interviewees! responded! in! Finnish,! the! examples! have! been!
translated!to!English!by!the!author.!During!the!translation!phase,!care!was!given!
to!portray!the!statements!as!close!to!their!original!form!as!possible.!Translated!
example!statements!are!noted!with!an!asterisk.!The!factors!are!presented!based!
on!frequency!of!occurrence!among!interviewees.!
Motivational.factor. Count. Example.statement.
Learning'from'professionals'
18' "to' get' better' by' understanding' the' decision' making' and'strategy'of'established'players'and'commentators"'
Purely'entertainment'(television)'
14' "purely' entertaining' reason' (compared' to' spectator' sports' /'watching'TV'in'general)"'*'
Interaction'with'community'
11' "in'the'stream'chat'you'can'talk'with'people'similar'to'yourself'live"'*'
As'watching'sports' 10' "you'follor'[sic]'gaming'as'a'competitive'sport"'*'
Learning'about'game'in'general'
9' "I'almost'always' learn'the'basics'of'a'game'through'streaming'before' I' start' playing' it'myself,' so' that' I' can' skip' learning' the'hardway'and'start'out'as'a'player'with'average'skill"'*'
Distraction' 9' "I'think'there'are'people'who'put'Twitch'on'in'the'background,'in' the' same' way' as' you' used' to' put' the' TV' on' just' as'background' noise,' with' the' aim' to' follow' more' closely' if'something'interesting'happens'in'the'stream"'*'
Finding'new'games' 9' "In'practice' the' stream'works'as'a'demo' for' the'demo.' If' you'like'what'you'see,'you'install'demo'and'try'it'out,'and'if'you'like'that'too,'you'buy'the'game."'*'
Witnessing'a'live'event' 5' "I' find' there' to' be' something'magical' about' the' fact' that' the'stream'is'live,'even'though'I'chat'very'little'myself."'*'
Interaction'with'streamer'
7' "to'interact'with'the'streamer'or'his/her'event"'
Can't'play'at'that'moment'
4' "you' can't' play' yourself,' but' it' is' suitable' to' have' on' in' the'background'(for'example'at'work)"'*'
Fandom' 3' "to'follow'the'successes'of'your'favorite'player"'*'
Stream'sniping,'ghosting'(personal'gain)'
2' "gaining' an' edge' through' stream' sniping'might' be' a' relevant'reason'for'some'to'follow'which'streams'are'live"'*'
Can't'afford'game'/'game'mode'
2' "with'MTGO'I'enjoy'watching'because'then'I'don't'have'to'pay'to'play'myself,'and'I'm'a'poor'student"'
Can't'geographically'access'event'
1' "bcause'the'venue'is'too'far'so'can'only'watch'via'twich"'
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Relaxing'to'not'(have'to)'play'yourself'
1' "playing'yourself' is' stressful'and'competitive,'watching'and/or'listening'is'relaxing"'
Follow'streamers'life'outside'the'game'
1' "to'follow'the'lives'of'their'favorite'streamer'outside'the'game"'*'
Nostalgia' 1' "people' are' way' more' likely' to' watch' games' they' have'previously'played,'esp.'in'their'childhood"'
For'the'music' 1' "some' streamers' have' excellent'music' choices,' use' as' a' radio'station"'
Table*2*Motivational*factors*extracted*from*interviews*(**denotes*translated*statement)*
As! we! can! see! here,! learning! is! an! important! motivational! factor,! both! on! a!
general! (learning& about& game& in& general)! and! a! more! detailed! (learning& from&
professionals)! level.!Personal!enjoyment! is!also!mentioned!often,! in! the! form!of!
purely&entertainment!and!as&watching&sports.!The!social!aspect!was!also!notable,!
as! both! interacting! with! the! streamer! and! the! stream! community! were!
mentioned! by! a! high! number! of! interviewees.! There! were! several! factors!
mentioned!by!only!a!small!number!of!interviewees,!but!these!were!also!included!
in!the!list!as!a!way!of!illustrating!the!range!of!motivational!reasons!mentioned!by!
interviewees.!
Using!the!uses!and!gratifications!theory!(UGT)!approach,!we!can!look!at!how!the!
motivational! reasons! mentioned! correspond! to! different! UGT! need! types,!
presented! in! detail! in! table! 3! on! page! 17! (West & Turner, 2010).! Most! of! the!
reasons! related! to! learning! are! covered! by! cognitive! motivations,! while! the!
entertainment! aspects! relate! closely! to! affective! motivations.! Distraction! and!
relaxation! are! also! mentioned! often,! and! those! correspond! to! tension! release!
motivation.!Social!integrative!motivations!encompasses!to!the!factors!relating!to!
interaction!with!the!streamer!and!community.!The!final!main!type!of!motivation!
that! is! not! directly! mentioned! is! personal! integrative! motivation,! often! most!
closely!related!to!the!need!for!respect,!reassuring!status!and!selfZesteem.!Some!of!
the! factors! given! by! interviewees! do! not! directly! fit! into! the! five! UGT! main!
motivational!types.!The!factors!that!fit!into!the!five!motivational!types!are!fairly!
broad!and!many!of!them!applicable!outside!the!context!of!video!game!streaming.!
Contrastingly,!the!factors!not!fitting!into!the!main!motivational!types!are!rather!
narrower,!such!as!not!having!geographical!access.!
9!!
The!results!obtained! from!these! interviews!were!used!as!a!base!when!building!
our!online!survey,!which!we!cover!in!more!detail!beginning!in!the!next!chapter.
10!!
Research.background.
This! chapter! will! cover! motivations! on! a! general! level! and! then! move! on! to!
discuss! motivation! as! it! relates! more! closely! to! the! context! of! video! game!
streaming.!We!will!discuss!the!technology!acceptance!model!(TAM),!a!theoretical!
framework! commonly! used! when! examining! motivations! related! to! new!
technology!use.!We!will! then!discuss!our!main! theory! framework,!namely!uses!
and!gratifications!theory.!
Research.in.motivation.factors.
There!has!been!a!vast!amount!of!research!done!in!the!field!of!motivation.!In!this!
study! we! are! taking! the! SelfZDetermination! Theory! (SDT)! approach,! as!
developed!by!Ryan! and!Deci! (1985).!While!we!will! not! strictly! follow!SDT,!we!
will! use! it! as! a! base! for! our! reasoning! on! motivation.! SDT! is! based! on! three!
concepts!based!around!human!motivation,!namely!competence,!relatedness! and!
autonomy.! Ryan! and! Deci! (2000b)! argue! that! these! three! factors! seem! to! be!
essential!for!human!motivation.!
Ryan!and!Deci!(2000a)!define!intrinsic!motivation!as!“the&doing&of&an&activity&for&
its& inherent& satisfactions& rather& than& for& some& separable& consequence”& and!
extrinsic!motivation!as!“a&construct&that&pertains&whenever&an&activity&is&done&in&
order& to& attain& some& separable& outcome”.! As! the! name! suggests,! extrinsic!
motivation! primarily! stems! from! external! sources,! such! as! our! surrounding!
society! and! social! interactions! we! take! part! in.! Ryan! and! Deci! further! divide!
extrinsic!motivation!into!four!subcategories!according!to!the!level!of!which!it!is!
autonomous.!These!factors!are,!from!a!lower!level!of!autonomy!to!a!higher!level!
of! autonomy:! external& regulation,! introjected& regulation,! regulation& through&
identification&and!integrated®ulation.!Motivation!guided!by!external®ulation!
is!most!often!caused!by!external!demands,!such!as!deadlines!or!having!to!meet!
certain! goals,! and! are! often! experienced! as! being! out! of! one’s! own! control.!
Introjected®ulation!stems!from!the!person!itself,!in!that!it!is!the!person!setting!
a! certain! external! regulatory! limit! on! herself.! ! Ryan! and! Deci! argue! that! ego!
involvement! is! a! type! of! introjected®ulation,!where! a! person’s!motivation! is!
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driven!by!the!need!to!uphold!a!certain!level!of!selfZconfidence!or!feeling!of!worth.!
The! next! step! towards! autonomous! behaviour! is! regulation! through!
identification.! In! this! case,! the!person! identifies!with! the!underlying! reason! for!
doing! something,! accepting! it! as! something! important! for! herself.! The! person!
sees! value! in! the! underlying! reason! and! wants! to! work! towards! it.! The! final!
subcategory! is! integrated& regulation,! which! is! fairly! close! to! being! considered!
intrinsic!motivation.!Ryan!and!Deci! state! that! integrated®ulation!means! that!
the!person!has!accepted!regulations!as!a!part!of!their!other!values. (Ryan & Deci,
2000)!
Ryan!and!Deci!(2000a)!argue!that!these!four!types!of!extrinsic!motivation!should!
not! be! seen! as! a! developmental! continuum,! but! rather! that! they! can! exist! as!
separate! entities.! The!motivation! for! one! task!may! start! as! external! regulation!
and!stay!that!way,!while!the!motivation!for!another!task!may!start!as!regulation!
through! identification! and!move! towards! integrated! regulation.! Ryan! and!Deci!
also!bring!up!the!SDT!concept!of!relatedness,!arguing!that!a!person!is!more!likely!
to! be!motivated!when! a! significant! other! values! the! task.! This! can! be! seen! in!
various! relationships,! such! as! those! between! spouses,! between! student! and!
teach,! and! between! employer! and! employee.! Perhaps! in! the! context! of! video!
game! streaming! this! can! also! be! extended! to! incorporate! the! relationship!
between!spectator!and!streamer.!
Ryan! and! Deci! (2000a)! discuss! the! impact! of! competence! on! extrinsic!
motivation.! If!a!person! is! to!experience!motivation!for!a! task!as!more!than! just!
through!external!regulation,!the!person!needs!to!feel!a!certain!level!of!confidence!
in!her!own!competence!to!perform!said!task.!Ryan!and!Deci!further!theorize!that!
by! supporting! this! need! for! competence! by! structuring! the! task! appropriately,!
one!can!better!facilitate!internalization.!
Related! to! this!general!concept!of!varying! types!of!motivations,!we!will! look!at!
previous! research! done! within! video! game! streaming! in! order! to! further! our!
understanding!of!these!motivation!types!in!the!video!game!streaming!context.!
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Research.in.video.game.streaming.
As! video! game! streaming! is! a! new! phenomenon,! not!much! research! has! been!
conducted! within! the! area.! However,! the! few! studies! that! have! been! done!
provide!great!insight!into!the!world!of!video!game!streaming,!and!help!us!build!a!
theoretical! understanding! for! our! own! research.! Research! has! been! done! on! a!
the! social! implications! of! video! game! streams! (Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne,
2014),!the!esports!aspect!of!video!game!streaming!(Cheung & Huang, 2011; Shaw,
2013),! the! connection! between! esports! streaming! and! broadcasting! (Scholz,
2011)! as!well! as! on! a!more! general! characterisation! level! (Kaytoue,! Silva,! Cerf,!
Meira,!&!Raïssi,!2012).!
The! social! implications! of! video! game! streams! have! been! studied! through! an!
ethnographic!study!and!interviews!of!both!streamers!and!viewers.!The!concept!
of! “hot”! and! “cool”! media,! a! term! coined! by! McLuhan,! is! shown! to! be! highly!
relevant! in! the! context!of! video!game!streaming! (Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne,
2014).! Hot! media! encompasses! high! fidelity! media! components! such! as! video,!
while!cool!media!has!a!lower!grade!of!fidelity!but!a!higher!grade!of!participation.!
Streaming! can!be! seen!as! a!distinctively!mixed!media,! using!both!hot! and! cool!
elements.!The!video!of!the!game!in!progress,!which!serves!as!the!base!for!every!
stream,!is!a!hot!element,!while!the!chat!functionality!is!a!cool!medium!that!allows!
participation!(Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014).!This!mix!of!media!allowed!for!
a! highly! interactive! experience,! with! the! hot!media! serving! as! a! facilitator! for!
interaction! via! the! cool! media! (Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014).! The!
importance! of! social! interaction,! wanting! to! learn! and! shared! history! and!
emotions! are! shown! to! all! be! crucial! elements! of! video! game! streaming!
(Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014).!!
The! spectators! of! the! esports! game! franchise! Starcraft! have! been! studied! in!
order! to! answer! who! the! spectators! are,! and! why! they! spectate! (Cheung! &!
Huang,! 2011).! In! relation! to! our! study,! the! Starcraft! game! franchise! is! highly!
relevant,!as!it!is!one!of!the!most!popular!games!on!the!Twitch!service.!It!is!worth!
noting! that!spectating!as!studied!by!Cheung!and!Huang!can!manifest! itself!also!
outside!of!video!game!streaming,!so!the!results!of!this!study!are!not!expected!to!
be! fully! comparable! with! those! of! the! earlier! study! (Cheung! &! Huang,! 2011).!
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However,! we! feel! that! the! field! is! so! closely! related! that! it! can! be! considered!
reliable!for!our!understanding!of!the!field!of!study!of!video!game!streaming.!Nine!
distinct! viewer! personas! are! identified,! each! with! their! own! traits! and!
motivations! for!watching!Starcraft,! among! them!“The&Pupil”,! “The&Inspired”!and!
“The& Entertained”.! The! study! shows! that! one! of! the! key! aspects! that! make!
Starcraft!spectating!enjoyable! is! the!concept!of! information&asymmetry&(Cheung!
&!Huang,! 2011).! In! this! context,! information! asymmetry! can!manifest! itself! in!
several! different! forms,!where! the! player,! the! spectator! or! both! are!missing! a!
crucial! piece! of! hidden! information.! Cheung! and! Huang! note! that! it! is! most!
commonly! information! asymmetry! that! leads! to! exciting! turns! and! drama! in!
games.!
The! characterization! of! the! video! game! streaming! community! is! another! topic!
that! has! been! previously! researched! through! an! automated! web! crawling!
technique!to!gather!data!(Kaytoue,!Silva,!Cerf,!Meira,!&!Raïssi,!2012).!A!majority!
of! the! streams! originated! from! the! United! stated,! accounting! for! 68%! of! all!
streams! (Kaytoue,! Silva,! Cerf,! Meira,! &! Raïssi,! 2012).! Europe! was! the! second!
most! common!origin!of! streams,!with!East!Asia!being! the! third.!An! interesting!
finding!was!that!the!number!of!spectators!fluctuated!in!a!very!even!pattern!each!
day!during! the!week,!most! likely!due! to! time! zone!differences!between! the!US!
and! Europe.! This! meant! there! was! a! peak! when! spectators! in! Europe! were!
actively!using!Twitch,!and!then!another!peak!when!the!same!took!place!in!the!US.!
The!the!number!of!spectators!rose!towards!the!end!of!the!week,!as!most!of!the!
large!events!on!Twitch,!such!as!international!tournaments,!take!place!during!the!
weekend! (Kaytoue,! Silva,! Cerf,! Meira,! &! Raïssi,! 2012).! Another! discovery! was!
related!to!games!attention,!that!is!to!say,!which!games!are!being!streamed!most!
frequently!on!Twitch.!There!were!certain!games! that!continuously!appeared! in!
the! top! 20! games,! while! other! appeared! only! to! vane! in! popularity.! This! was!
partially! explained! by! new! games! getting! released,! as! these! games! were!
extremely! popular! during! their! launch! but! during! each! week! after! this,! the!
popularity! sank! (Kaytoue,! Silva,! Cerf,! Meira,! &! Raïssi,! 2012).! A! contributing!
factor! is! that! many! spectators! are! potential! customers,! and! watch! streams! to!
build!a!better!understanding!of!whether!to!purchase!the!game!themselves!or!not!
(Kaytoue,!Silva,!Cerf,!Meira,!&!Raïssi,!2012).!
14!!
Stream!popularity! roughly! followed! the!Pareto!Principle,!with! 10%!of! streams!
accounting!for!88%!of!viewers!(Kaytoue,!Silva,!Cerf,!Meira,!&!Raïssi,!2012).!This!
ratio! was! further! skewed! when! considering! streamers! instead! of! individual!
streams,! as! then! 10%! of! individual! streamers! accounted! for! 95%! of! views!
(Kaytoue,!Silva,!Cerf,!Meira,!&!Raïssi,!2012).!This! is!highly!significant!as!we!can!
see!there!are!certain!individuals!who!can!be!considered!almost!celebrities!in!the!
Twitch!ecosystem,!gathering!a!huge!percentage!of!all!viewers.!
The!motivations! and! consumption! behaviours! of! esports! spectators! have! been!
studied! using! both! the! Sports! Fan! Motivational! Scale! (SFMS)! and! the!
Motivational! Scale! for! Sports! Consumption! (MSSC).! Among! the! SFMS! factors,!
entertainment!and!drama!were!the!most!important!factors!for!esports!spectators!
(Shaw, 2013).!On!the!MSSC,!player!skill!was!the!most!important!factor!impacting!
spectator!motivations.!This!would!suggest!that!spectators!enjoy!watching!games!
where!both!players!are!of!a!similar!high!skill!level,!leading!to!a!close!match!and!
the!drama!associated!with!it.!This!coincides!with!the!importance!of!information!
asymmetry!and!drama!as!mentioned!by!Cheung!and!Huang!(2011).!
The! connection! between! esports! and! broadcasting,! in! the! context! of! the! game!
Starcraft!2,!has!also!been!studied.!An!integral!part!of!the!spectating!experience!is!
the!fact!that!it!is!taking!place!realZtime,!and!that!there!is!an!opportunity!for!social!
interaction! (Scholz, 2011).! Social! interaction! is! shown! to! be! of! upmost!
importance!to!many!spectators,!a!fact!also!seen!in!other!research!within!the!field!
(Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014; Scholz, 2011).!!
These! previous! research! endeavours! go! to! show! that! there! are! a! variety! of!
motivational! factors! at! work! when! examining! why! an! individual! chooses! to!
watch! video! game! streams.! The! importance! of! social! interaction! is! present! in!
several!of!the!studies,!which!our!exploratory!study!also!found!to!be!an!important!
factor!mentioned!by!many!people!(Hamilton,!Garretson,!&!Kerne,!2014;!Scholz,!
2011).!Due!to!the!importance!of!the!social!aspects,! later!in!this!chapter!we!will!
more!deeply!delve! into! the!notion!of! sense!of! community.!Learning,!one!of! the!
other!major! factors!mentioned!by!many!of!our! interviewees! in! the!preliminary!
study,! is! also! a! recurring! factor! in! these! previous! studies! within! video! game!
streaming! (Hamilton,! Garretson,! &! Kerne,! 2014;! Cheung! &! Huang,! 2011).! The!
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previous! research! regarding! esports! shows! entertainment! to! be! an! important!
factor,!if!we!simplify!the!situation!by!equating!esports!spectating!to!video!game!
spectating!(Shaw,!2013).!In!the!next!section!we!will!continue!our!exploration!of!
motivation!research!within!the!online!community!context.!This!will!help!us!build!
a!broader!understanding!of!important!motivation!factors!not!only!in!the!realm!of!
video!game!streaming,!but!from!a!broader!perspective.!
Participatory.Research.in.Online.Communities.
The! motivational! factors! driving! participation! in! the! online! photo! sharing!
community!Flickr!have!been! studied! through! two! types!of! intrinsic!motivation!
and!two!types!of!extrinsic!motivation!to!explain!behaviour!(Nov,!Naaman,!&!Ye,!
2010).! The! types! of! intrinsic! motivation! are! enjoyment! and! commitment! to!
community,!and!the!two!types!of!extrinsic!motivation!are!selfZdevelopment!and!
reputation.!Within! these! pairs,! the! first!motivation! type! is! directed! at! the! self,!
while!the!other!is!directed!at!others.!The!amount!of!artefact!sharing!was!found!to!
decrease! with! tenure,! but! community! involvement! to! increase.! This! was!
theorized!to!be!due!to!the!social!aspect!of!the!community!growing!with!time!and!
contributing! to! increased! participation!within! the! service! as! the! tenure! grows!
(Nov,! Naaman,! &! Ye,! 2010).! An! interesting! finding! was! that! selfZdevelopment!
motivation! and! artefact! sharing! had! a! negative! relation.! This! was! attributed!
partially! to! the! concept! of! quality! over! quantity,! where! the! users! are! very!
focused! on! the! quality! if! selfZdevelopment! is! a! driving! factor,! and! hence!
contribute!fewer!total!artefacts!to!the!service.!No!correlation!was!found!between!
enjoyment!and!sharing!of!photos!or!metadata,!which!is!partially!explained!by!the!
notion!of!two!separate!acts!of!creation!and!sharing!(Nov,!Naaman,!&!Ye,!2010).!A!
user!might!get!a!great!deal!of!enjoyment!from!creating!the!photograph,!but!the!
activity! of! sharing! may! be! secondary! and! only! create! a! small! amount! of!
enjoyment.!
For!the!social!music!service!LastFM,!it!was!shown!that!community!participation!
was!one!of!the!driving!forces!behind!subscription!behaviour!(OestreicherZSinger!
&!Zalmanson,!2013).!Contrary! to!popular!belief,! the!consumption!of!music!had!
less! of! an! effect! on! subscription! behaviour! compared! to! active! community!
involvement.! The! perceived! economical! value! was! shown! to! be! an! important!
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driving!factor!for!willingness!to!subscribe!for!other!social!media!sites!(Vock,!van!
Dolen,!&!de!Ruyter,!2013).!Users!felt!they!needed!to!get!actual!tangible!benefits!
for!paying!a!premium!subscription!fee!for!a!service.!
For!the!social!networking!site!Twitter,!it!was!found!that!users!were!motivated!by!
a!need!to!feel!connected!with!their!online!peers!in!a!form!of!camaraderie!(Chen,!
2011).! Tenure! within! the! community! was! found! to! be! more! responsible! for!
gratifying! needs! than! hours! spent! on!Twitter! during! an! individual! day.! This! is!
interesting! in! the! context! of! video! game! streaming,! as! spectating! can! be! quite!
intensive!at! times,!with! spectators!devoting!a! large!number!of!hours!per!week!
watching!the!service!(Twitch,!2015).!
Recognition!has!been!shown!to!be!an! important! factor! in! the!online!space.!For!
online! peer! learning,! recognition! was! shown! to! be! an! impactful! factor!
(Hernandez,! Montaner,! Sese,! &! Urquizu,! 2011).! Also! in! the! context! of! online!
video!streaming,!recognition!was!shown!to!be!an!impacting!factor!for!continued!
usage! of! the! YouTube! service! (Chiang! &! Hsiao,! 2014).! In! the! context! of! video!
game! streaming,! we! will! be! investigating! the! impact! of! recognition! between!
peers!on!the!overall!usage!of!the!service.!
For!Free/Open!Source!Software!(F/OSS),!it!was!found!that!contrary!to!academic!
theorizing,! intrinsic! motivation! factors! are! more! important! than! extrinsic!
motivation! factors! when! it! comes! to! contributing! to! F/OSS! (Lakhani & Wolf,
2005).! Furthermore,! reputation! within! the! community! was! shown! to! be! a!
significant!motivation!factors!for!contributors!to!F/OSS!(Lakhani & Wolf, 2005).!
Having! covered!motivations! related! to! specific! communities! and! their! context,!
next!we!will! talk!about!a!more!general! theory!of!media!usage,!namely!the!uses!
and! gratifications! theory.! We! do! this! in! order! to! build! a! broader! theoretical!
understanding!of!why!people!use!various!forms!of!media,!both!online!and!offline.!
This!will!enable!us!to!have!a!more!comprehensive!understanding!of!video!game!
streaming!as!a!phenomena!connected!to!media!usage.!!
Uses.and.Gratifications.Theory.
The!uses! and!gratification! theory! (UGT)! is! an! extension!of!previous!needs! and!
motivations! theory! (Maslow, 1970).! Contrary! to!many! previous!media! theories!
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such! as! mass! society! theory,! UGT! considers! media! to! have! limited! effect,! and!
users! to! be! an! active! audience.! UGT! states! that! the!motivation! behind! using! a!
certain! media! is! a! certain! gratification! that! is! sought! (Ruggiero, 2000; Katz,
Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974).! The! role! of! active! audience! means! that! the! user!
seeks! out! their! media! of! choice,! rather! than! the! media! seeking! out! the! user!
(Wang, Fink, & Cai, 2008).!Furthermore,!UGT!states!that!the!media!competes!for!
gratification! with! others! than! just! other! media! sources! (Katz, Blumler, &
Gurevitch, 1973).!Large!individual!differences!can!exist,!as!UGT!examines!users!as!
individuals! rather! than!a! larger!mass! (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974).!Needs!
within! UGT! are! often! classified! in! five! categories,! presented! below! in! table! 3!
(Katz, Gurevitch, & Haas, 1973; West & Turner, 2010).!
Need.type. Description. Media.examples.
Cognitive' Acquiring'information,'knowledge,'comprehension'
Television'(news),'video'("How'to'Install'Ceramic'Tile"),'movies'(documentaries'or'films'based'on'history'e.g.,'The'Other'Boleyn'Girl)'
Affective' Emotional,'pleasant,'or'aesthetic'experience'
Movies,'television'(sitcoms,'soap'operas)'
Personal'integrative' Enhancing'credibility,'confidence,'and'status'
Video'("Speaking'With'Conviction")'
Social'integrative' Enhancing'connections'with'family,'friends,'and'so'forth'
Internet'(eamail,'chat'rooms,'Listservs,'IM)'
Tension'release' Escape'and'diversion' Television,'movies,'video,'radio,'Internet'
Table*3*Need*categories*in*UGT*(West & Turner, 2010)*
UGT! considers! media! users! to! be! aware! of! their! own! usage,! as! to! be! able! to!
provide! researchers! an! accurate! idea! of! their! media! consumption! habits! and!
motivation (West & Turner, 2010).! UGT! has! been! used! in! research! within! the!
online! context! (Ko, Cho, & Roberts, 2005; LaRose & Eastin, 2004; Whiting &
Williams, 2013; Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2010),! including! online! games! (Wu,
Wang, & Tsai, 2010),! Facebook! (Joinson, 2008),! video! streaming! (Cha, 2014;
Chiang & Hsiao, 2014)! and!Twitter! (Chen, 2011; Johnson & Yang, 2009).! In! this!
study,!we!aim!to! look!at! the!motives! for!watching!video!game!streams!through!
the!lens!of!UGT.!
In!the!case!of!playing!video!games,!UGT!research!found!that!the!social!aspect!was!
an!important!motivational!factor!for!young!people!(Sherry,!Lucas,!Greenberg,!&!
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Lachlan,! 2006).! This! was! slightly! surprising! at! the! time,! as! video! gaming! had!
been! seen! as! having! an! isolating! effect! on! the! social! life! of! adolescents.! Even!
though!video!games!might!not!fit!completely!into!the!classic!view!of!media,!the!
researchers!concluded!that!the!UGT!approach!was!still!applicable!in!this!context!
(Sherry,!Lucas,!Greenberg,!&!Lachlan,!2006).!
As!video!game!streaming! is!highly!technology!dependant,!we!naturally!want! to!
take! the! technological! aspect! into! account! when! constructing! our! research!
model.! Our! primary! theory! framework! focuses! on! the! uses! and! gratifications!
theory,!but!we!also! feel! it! is! important! to!have!an!understanding!of!how!users!
adapt! to! new! forms! of! technology.! Hence! we! will! discuss! the! technology!
acceptance!model!in!the!next!section,!in!an!effort!to!further!this!understanding.!
Technology.Acceptance.Model.
Originally,! the! technology! acceptance!model! (TAM)!was! based! on! the! two! key!
concepts! of! perceived& usefulness! and! perceived& ease& of& use& (Davis, 1989).! Later,!
TAM! has! expanded! to! also! include! perceived! enjoyment! (Davis, Bagozzi, &
Warshaw, 1992).!These!three!factors!are!now!discussed!in!more!detail.!
Enjoyment! is! very! closely! tied! to! the! previously! discussed! notion! of! intrinsic!
motivation.! Davis! et! al.! studied! the! usage! of! computers! in! the!workplace,! and!
from! that! context! define! the! concept! of! perceived& enjoyment! as! “the! extent! to!
which!the!activity!of!using!the!computer!is!perceived!to!be!enjoyable!in!its!own!
right,!apart!from!any!performance!consequences!that!may!be!anticipated”!(Davis,
Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1992, p. 1113).!Several!studies!have!shown!enjoyment!to!be!
an! important! factor! driving! participation! in! such! contexts! as! open! source!
software!(Lakhani & Wolf, 2005)!and!online!photo!services!(Nov, Naaman, & Ye,
2010).! Van! der! Heijden! (2004)! has! shown! that! for! hedonistic! information!
systems,! perceived! enjoyment! and! perceived! ease! of! use! are! more! important!
determinants!of!intention!than!perceived!usefulness.!Video!game!streaming!can!
be! considered! a! hedonistic! activity,! and! thus! the! service! used! to! consume! it! a!
hedonistic!information!system.!
Usefulness!is!generally!used!to!describe!the!level!of!use!as!system!is!for!the!user.!
Davis!defines!perceived!usefulness!as!“the!degree!to!which!a!person!believes!that!
19!!
using! a! particular! system! would! enhance! his! or! her! job! performance” (Davis,
1989, p. 320).!In!the!context!of!video!game!streaming,!we!consider!usefulness!to!
encompass!any!type!of! information!extracted!from!the!viewing!experience!that!
has! a! level! of! extrinsic! motivation! attached! to! it.! For! example,! by! watching! a!
stream,! a! spectator! might! get! valuable! information! regarding! a! game,! which!
might!later!guide!their!purchase!decision!for!said!game.!When!studying!the!use!
of! the! Internet,! perceived! usefulness! was! found! as! an! important! factor! in!
Internet!usage!(Teo,!Lim,!&!Lai,!1999).!
Ease!of!use!refers!to!how!the!difficult!the!systems!seem!to!use!from!the!end!user!
perspective.!More!accurately,!Davis!defines!ease!of!use!as:!“the!degree!to!which!a!
person! believes! that! using! a! particular! system!would! be! free! of! effort”! (Davis,
1989, p. 320).!Ease!of!use!has!been!shown!to!positively!correlate!with!perceived!
enjoyment! (Igbaria, Parasuraman, & Baroudi, 1996).! In! the! context! of! this! study,!
we!are!examining!the!ease!of!use!of!the!Twitch!service!as!it!relates!to!watching!
video!game!streams.!We!are!not! extending! this! to! include!other! functionalities!
and! features! within! this! service,! such! as! account! management! and! payments!
within!the!service.!
Sense.of.Community.
Previous!research!within!video!game!streaming!shows!us!that!the!social!aspect!
of!watching!video!game!streams!is!of!importance!(Hamilton,!Garretson,!&!Kerne,!
2014).!Therefore!we!will!delve!deeper!into!the!notion!of!sense!of!community!in!
this!chapter,! in!order! to!build!a!better!understanding!of! the!social!aspects! that!
exist!within!an!active!online!community.!
McMillan!and!Chavis!define!sense&of&community&(SOC)!as!“a!feeling!that!members!
have! of! belonging,! a! feeling! that! members! matter! to! one! another! and! to! the!
group,! and! a! shared! faith! that! members'! needs! will! be! met! through! their!
commitment!to!be!together”!(McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9).!SOC!consists!of!four!
main! elements:!membership,! influence,! integration& and& fulfilment& of& needs! and!
shared& emotional& connection.! Membership! refers! to! the! sense! of! belonging,!
including! personal! investment,! emotional! safety,! common! symbol! systems! and!
boundaries! (McMillan & Chavis, 1986; Abfalter, Zaglia, & Mueller, 2012;
20!!
Rosenbaum, Ostrom, & Kuntze, 2005).! Influence! is! a! bidirectional! concept! that!
refers!to!the!amount!of!influence!the!community!has!on!the!individual,!and!also!
to! the! amount! of! influence! the! individual! has! on! the! community! (McMillan &
Chavis, 1986; Abfalter, Zaglia, & Mueller, 2012).! Integration! and! fulfilment! of!
needs! refers! to! the! notion! that! to!maintain! a! sense! of! togetherness,!members!
must! feel! they!receive!rewards!and!benefits! from!being!part!of! the!community!
(McMillan & Chavis, 1986).!These!needs!for!rewards!and!benefits!can!be!fulfilled!
through! status! of! membership,! success! of! the! community! and! perceived!
competence! of! other! members! (Obst, Zinkiewicz, & Smith, 2002).! Shared!
emotional! connection! refers! to! identification!with! a! shared! history!within! the!
group!(McMillan & Chavis, 1986).!This! includes!sharing!experiences!and!having!
positive!interactions!with!others!members!of!the!community!(Abfalter, Zaglia, &
Mueller, 2012).! SOC! has! been! shown! to! be! important! for! community! success!
within! offline! communities,! through! increased! participation! and! feeling! of!
belonging!(Felton & Shinn, 1992)!and!commitment!to!the!community!(Burroughs
& Eby, 1998).!
SOC! has! been! criticized! for! not! fitting! fully! into! the! virtual! space! and! virtual!
communities.!Virtual! communities! are!often! characterized!by! anonymity! and! a!
lack! of! faceZtoZface! communications! (Abfalter, Zaglia, & Mueller, 2012).! Virtual!
communities! can! also! have! considerable! benefits,! as! they! avoid! some! of! the!
problems! that! offline! communities! have,! such! as! the! need! of! synchronousness!
and!physical!proximity!(Abfalter, Zaglia, & Mueller, 2012).!!
In!the!context!of!this!study,!we!are!not!interested!in!measuring!an!overall!level!of!
sense!of!community.!Rather,!we!use!sense!of!community!as!a!base!for!building!an!
understanding!of!social!aspects!regarding!video!game!streaming.!Abfalter!et!al.!
(2012)!studied!a!German!online!community!aimed!at! the!elderly!demographic,!
and! found! that! due! to! the! large! size! and! anonymity! of! the! virtual! community,!
several! elements!of! the!original! SOC!where!not!quite! applicable.!Abfalter! et! al.!
(2012)!identified!that!of!the!four!main!pillars!of!SOC,!influence!was!the!one!that!
showed! the! highest! discrepancy! in! the! virtual! space.! Mysirlaki! and! Paraskeva!
(2010)!studied!SOC!and!players!of!the!game!World!of!Warcraft,!and!found!that!
21!!
the! ability! to! construct! a! community! within! the! game! was! motivation! for! the!
players!in!the!study.!
Fandom.
As! sense! of! community! can! be! seen! to! mostly! apply! to! the! relation! between!
different!viewers,!it!is!also!worth!taking!a!closer!look!at!the!relationship!between!
viewer!and!streamer.!In!many!cases!these!two!people!might!perceive!each!other!
as!equal,!but!there!is!a!potential!for!spectators!to!view!streamers!as!a!celebrity.!
In!this!section!we!will!take!a!short!look!at!research!relevant!to!this!notion.!
Commonly,! two!distinct! types!of! celebrity! appreciation!or!worship! are!defined!
(McCutcheon,!Lange,!&!Houran,!2002).!The!first!type!is!mild!or!nonpathological!
forms! of! celebrity!worship,! including! fan! clubs.! This! type! of! celebrity!worship!
has!been!shown!to!be!prevalent!among! introverts!and! intuitives (Stever, 1995).!
The! second! is! extreme! or! pathological! forms! of! celebrity! worship,! including!
stalking! (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002).! In! this! study! we! are! mainly!
focusing!on! the!nonZpathological! forms!of! celebrity!worship,! as! exemplified!by!
interactions! between! spectators! and! streamers.! We! can! consider! certain!
streamers! to! have! a! celebrity! status! within! the! video! game! streaming!
community,! as! shown! by! the! skewed! distribution! of! viewers! among! streams!
(Kaytoue, Silva, Cerf, Meira, & Raïssi, 2012).!This!viewer!distribution!implies!that!
certain! streamers! have! a! strong! following! among! viewers,!while! others! gather!
only! a! handful! of! viewers,! creating! a! clear! distinction! between! two! types! of!
streamers:!the!celebrity!and!the!nonZcelebrity.!
Research.Model.and.Hypotheses.
Based!on!the!theories!presented!in!this!chapter,!along!with!results!obtained!from!
the!preliminary!study;!we!present!our!research!model!and!a!series!of!hypotheses!
in!this!section.!For!this!analysis!our!research!model!consists!of!five!constructs!as!
per!the!UGT!definition!of!need!types,!presented!earlier!in!table!3!(Katz, Gurevitch,
& Haas, 1973; West & Turner, 2010).! As! reference,! the! five! need! types! are!
cognitive,! affective,! personal! integrative,! social! integrative! and! tension! release.!
The! subZconstructs! that! the! main! constructs! comprise! of,! along! with! their!
specific!items,!are!presented!in!the!following!chapter!on!research!methodology.!
22!!
Figure!1!presents! the! research!model!based!on! these! five!main! constructs! and!
their!relation!to!the!dependant!variable!usage.!
As!we!will!be!using!the!partial!least!squares!structural!equation!modelling!(PLSZ
SEM)!approach! for!analysis,! the!visual! representation!of!our! research!model! is!
based! on! PLSZSEM.! PLSZSEM! is! componentZbased! and! gives! us! a! way! of!
calculating!an!estimate!that!maximises!the!variance!explained!of!the!dependant!
variable,!in!this!case!usage!(Hair,!Ringle,!&!Sarstedt,!2011;!Anderson!&!Gerbing,!
1988;!Chin,!1988).!While!our!research!model!is!fairly!simple!in!its!structure,!PLSZ
SEM!is!well!suited!for!analysing!complex!relationships!between!the!constructs!in!
the!model!(Hair,!Ringle,!&!Sarstedt,!2011).!PLSZSEM!uses!an!iterative!algorithm!
to! achieve! convergence!when!measuring! the! relation! of! the! latent! variables! in!
the! model! (Anderson! &! Gerbing,! 1988;! Hair,! Ringle,! &! Sarstedt,! 2011).! We!
discuss! the! merits! and! advantages! of! PLSZSEM! in! more! detail! later,! when!
covering!validity!in!the!chapter!on!research!methodology.!
!
Figure*1*UGT*research*model*
23!!
Here,! the! five! main! UGT! constructs! are! depicted! as! latent! variables.! Usage!
includes! four! activities! linked! to! actual! usage! of! the! service,! namely! hours!
watched,! streamers! followed,! streamers!watched! and! streamers! subscribed! to.!
Each! of! the! four! types! of! usage!will! be! individually! investigated! in! the! results!
section.!For! the! sake!of! clarity! the! four! types!of!usage!have!been!grouped! into!
one!in!the!visualisation!of!the!research!model,!as!the!relationships!between!the!
UGT!needs!and! four! types!of!usage!are! identical! to! the!more!general!notion!of!
usage.!
Based! on! this! research! model! and! theory! presented! earlier! in! this! study,! we!
present!five!hypotheses.!
H1:&Increased&levels&of&affective&motivation&will&predict&an&increased&level&of&usage.&
Based!on! the! importance!of!entertainment!seen! in!our! initial! study,!along!with!
supporting!evidence!in!previous!research!(Hamilton,!Garretson,!&!Kerne,!2014;!
Hanson!&!Haridakis,! 2008;!Papacharissi!&!Mendelson,!2010;!Cheung!&!Huang,!
2011),!we!consider!hours!watched!to!be!particularly!affected!by!an! increase! in!
affective!motivation.!As!the!entertainment!aspect!of!affective!motivation!is!surely!
provided!by!a!certain!subset!of! streamers!rather! than!all! streamers,!we!expect!
streamers!followed!and!streamers!watched!to!be!positively!affected!by!increased!
levels!of!affective!motivation.!We!expect!a!smaller!effect!on!subscription!than!the!
other! types!of!usage.! Subscription! compared! to! the!other! three! forms!of!usage!
does!likely!not!offer!enough!of!a!payoff!compared!to!the!cost!for!a!person!driven!
by!affective!motivations.!
H2:&Increased&levels&of&cognitive&motivation&will&predict&an&increased&level&of&usage.&
Many!of!our! interviewees!stated!the! importance!of! learning! for!watching!video!
game! streams,! which! is! also! supported! by! previous! research! in! other! online!
media!contexts!(Hamilton,!Garretson,!&!Kerne,!2014;!Whiting!&!Williams,!2013;!
Papacharissi! &! Mendelson,! 2010).! We! predict! that! cognitive! needs! such! as!
acquiring!information!will! lead!to!an!increased!usage!of!the!service.!Of!the!four!
types!of!usage,!we!hypothesise!that!especially!hours!watched!will!be!impacted!by!
an! increased! level! of! cognitive!motivation.! By!watching! for! a! larger! amount! of!
hours,! we! hypothesise! that! the! learning! experience! crucial! for! cognitive!
24!!
motivation!will!be!enhanced.!We!expect!the!other!three!types!of!usage!to!also!be!
positively!impacted!by!an!increase!in!cognitive!motivation.!
H3:& Increased& levels& of& personal& integrative&motivation&will& predict& an& increased&
level&of&usage.&
We!hypothesise!that!primarily!hours!watched!and!streamers!subscribed!to!will!
be!positively!affected!by!an!increased!level!of!personal!integrative!motivation.!In!
the! context! of! video! game! streaming,! we! predict! a! certain! level! of! social!
interaction!will!be!required!to!achieve!a!level!of!personal!integrative!fulfilment,!
especially! as!we!are! focusing!on! recognition! received! through! the!usage!of! the!
service.! ! Hence! social! aspects! such! as! streamers! followed! are! expected! to! be!
positively!affected!by!an!increase!in!personal!integrative!motivation.!We!expect!a!
small!positive!effect!on!subscription!as!we!see!it!impacting!received!recognition!
in!a!certain!level.!!
H4:&Increased&levels&of&social&integrative&motivation&will&predict&an&increased&level&
of&usage.&
The!social!aspect!of!spectating!was!mentioned!frequently!as!an!important!factor!
for!spectating!in!our!interviews,!and!supported!by!previous!research!(Hamilton,!
Garretson,!&!Kerne,!2014;!Whiting!&!Williams,!2013;!Chen,!2011;!Pai!&!Arnott,!
2013;!Sherry,!Lucas,!Greenberg,!&!Lachlan,!2006;!Scholz,!2011).!Our!hypothesis!
is! that! especially! hours! watched! and! streamers! followed! will! be! positively!
impacted!by! an! increase! in! social! integrative!motivation.! Subscription! furthers!
social! connections! and! a! sense! of! belonging! within! the! video! game! streaming!
community!on!many!levels.!As!such,!this!is!also!the!motivational!factor!where!we!
consider!subscription!to!be!the!most!impacted!by!an!increase!in!motivation!level,!
as!many!of!the!benefits!acquired!via!subscribing!are!tied!to!social!aspects!of!the!
service!(OestreicherZSinger!&!Zalmanson,!2013).!
H5:&Increased&levels&of&tension&release&motivation&will&predict&an&increased&level&of&
usage.&
The! notion! of! tension! release! and! escape! from! day! to! day! activities! as! an!
impactor!on!use!were!mentioned!by!our!interviewees,!and!also!a!topic!brought!
up! in! previous! motivation! research! within! online! communities! (Whiting! &!
25!!
Williams,! 2013;! Hanson! &! Haridakis,! 2008;! Papacharissi! &! Mendelson,! 2010;!
Courtois,!Mechant,!De!Marez,!&!Verleye,!2009;!Lin,!2002).!We!hypothesise! that!
especially!hours!watched!will! be!positively! impacted!by!an! increase! in! tension!
release!motivation,!but!also!that!streamers!watched!and!streamers!followed!will!
be! positively! impacted.!We! expect! a! large! effect! for! hours!watched,! as! tension!
release!motivation!is!so!closely!linked!to!spending!time!with!an!activity!in!order!
to!achieve!a!certain!level!of!escapism.!We!expect!a!small!effect!for!subscription,!
as!it!should!not!be!impacted!heavily!by!tension!release!motives.!
.
26!!
Methodology.
This! chapter! covers! the! research!methodologies! used! in! this! study,! along!with!
corresponding! literature! regarding! the! methodology.! We! discuss! the! main!
questionnaire,!how!it!was!constructed!and!how!the!survey!was!administered.!We!
then! go! into! more! detail! and! discuss! key! descriptive! statistics! and! validity!
calculations!for!the!study.!!
Structure.of.the.questionnaire.
This!section!delves!into!more!detail!regarding!the!structure!and!construction!of!
the!questionnaire!that!served!as!the!main!data!source!for!this!study.!The!aim!of!
this!section!is!to!describe!how!the!results!from!the!preliminary!study!were!used!
while! constructing! the!main! questionnaire! for! study! two.! The! questionnaire! is!
divided! into! three! sections.! The! first! section! covers! demographic! information!
such!as!age,!sex!and!geographic!location.!The!second!section!focuses!on!previous!
use! of! the! Twitch! service,! including! various! activities! performed! through! the!
service.!The!third!section!examines!psychological!factors!that!have!an!impact!on!
motivational! factors.! For! each! construct,! we! will! give! a! brief! overview! of! the!
subject!and!the!measurement!scale!used!for!that!construct.!
Demographic.information.
We!have!chosen!to!include!commonly!used!demographic!details!such!as!age,!sex,!
country,!education!and!income.!These!can!then!be!used!as!moderating!variables!
in!further!analysis!of!the!data.!Furthermore,!the!demographic!data!serves!as!an!
overview!of! the!reliability!of!our!collected!data.!Additionally,!we!have! included!
Internet! connection! speed,! as! it! is! a! very! relevant! factor! when! watching! high!
fidelity!media!such!as!live!video!streams.!
Usage.
In!this!section!of!the!questionnaire,!we!are!interested!in!how!respondents!have!
used!Twitch!previously.!We!ask!quantitative!questions!such!as!number!of!hours!
used! per!week,! as!well! as! qualitative! questions! using! a! 7Zpoint! Likert! scale.! A!
value! of! one! indicated! “strongly! disagree”! and! a! value! of! seven! indicated!
27!!
“strongly! agree”.! The! questions! associated! with! this! part! of! the! questionnaire!
serve!as!dependent!variables,!and!are!presented!below,!in!table!4.!
Table*4*Questions*regarding*usage*
We!examine!the!number!of!hours!spent!both!watching!and!playing!video!games!
per! week! as! dependant! variables.! We! also! consider! the! number! of! streams!
watched,! the! number! of! streams! followed! and! the! number! of! stream!
subscriptions! as! variables! tied! to! the! commitment! to! the! Twitch! service! and!
community.!We!look!at!the!types!of!game!genres!watched!in!an!effort!to!find!ties!
between! certain! genres! of! games! and! motivational! factors.! Furthermore,! we!
Question. Answer.type.
Have!you!registered!an!account!on!Twitch?! Yes/No!
How!many!hours!per!week!do!you!watch!Twitch?! Number!
How!many!hours!per!week!do!you!play!video!games?! Number!
How!many!different!streamers!do!you!watch!per!week?! Number!
How!many!different!streamers!do!you!follow!on!Twitch?! Number!
How!many!streamers!do!you!subscribe!to!on!Twitch?! Number!
How!many!months!have!you!used!Twitch?! Number!
Have!you!acted!as!a!streamer!on!Twitch?! Yes/No!
I!watch!Twitch!to!get!better!at!the!games!I!play!myself.! Likert!1Z7!
I! watch! Twitch! to! gain! a! personal! edge! over! the! person!streaming!(often!called!stream!sniping!or!ghosting).!
Likert!1Z7!
I!watch!Twitch!to!interact!with!the!streamer.! Likert!1Z7!
I!watch!Twitch!to!interact!with!the!community.! Likert!1Z7!
I! watch! Twitch! to! get! more! information! about! games! I! am!interested!in!purchasing.!
Likert!1Z7!
I!watch!Twitch!to!follow!esports!tournaments!and!events.! Likert!1Z7!
How! often! do! you! watch! the! following! game! genres! on!Twitch?![list!of!genres]!
Frequency! (never,! once! a! year,!once! a! month,! once! a! week,!daily)!
How!often!do!you!use!the!following!devices!to!watch!Twitch?![list!of!devices]!
Frequency! (never,! once! a! year,!once! a! month,! once! a! week,!daily)!
28!!
explore! the! idea! of! tenure! within! the! community! by! asking! how! long! the!
respondent! has! used! the! Twitch! service.! To! examine! the! prevalence! of!
streaming,! we! ask! if! the! respondent! has! acted! as! a! streamer! on! Twitch! at! a!
previous!time.!Spectators!are!able!to!watch!video!game!streams!through!a!large!
amount! of! various! devices,! such! as! desktop! computers,! game! consoles,! tablets!
and!mobile!phones.!As! the!way! in!which! the!service! is!accessed!might!have!an!
effect!on!the!individual’s!behaviour,!examining!the!device!used!is!of!interest.!
The! questions! related! to! different! types! of! activities!within! Twitch! attempt! to!
build! an! understanding! of! how! the! different! motivational! factors! relate! to!
different! types!of!service!usage.!Questions!related! to!game!genres!and! types!of!
streams!watched!serve!as!potential!mediating!factors!when!examining!different!
subsets! of! users! in! the! general! population.! These! questions! all! used! a! 7Zpoint!
Likert! scale,! with! one! indicating! “strongly! disagree”! and! seven! indicating!
“strongly!agree”.!
Psychometric.factors.
The! third! section! of! the! questionnaire,! we! look! at! psychometric! factors! that!
explain!behaviour!patterns!among!our!respondents.! In! this!section,!we!present!
the!psychometric!scales!used!for!our!15!constructs.!The!nine!scales!used!for!our!
research!model,!along!with!their!individual!items,!are!listed!in!figure!2.!All!items!
in! this! section! used! the! 7Zpoint! Likert! scale,! with! one! indicating! “strongly!
disagree”!and!seven!indicating!“strongly!agree”.!It!is!worth!noting!that!not!all!15!
constructs!used!in!the!survey!were!part!of!our!main!UGT!research!model.!While!
not!applicable! for! the!UGT!model,! this!was!done! in!an!effort! to!collect!relevant!
data!for!future!research.!Celebrity!worship!was!omitted!due!to!the!poor!fit!with!
the! UGT.! Ease! of! use! and! usefulness!were! omitted! due! to! our! focus! on!media!
usage! rather! than! technology! acceptance,! and! having! constructs! that! partially!
replaced! the! need! for! them.! Likewise,! attitude! and! subjective! norm! from! the!
realm!of!theory!of!planned!behaviour!(Ajzen,!1991)!were!gathered!due!to!their!
general! interest,! but! ultimately! omitted! from! the! research!model! due! to! their!
incompatibility!with!the!UGT!model.!The!notion!of!monetary!gain!did!not!fit!well!
with!our!five!main!types!of!motivation!on!a!theoretical!level,!and!was!therefore!
omitted!from!the!research!model.!
30!!
To!study!the!attitude!towards!the!video!game!streaming!service!Twitch,!we!use!
the!scale! for!attitude! towards!use! from!Venkatesh!et!al.! (2000).!For! this!study,!
the!scale!was!adapted!from!a!semantic!differential!scale!to!a!Likert!scale!to!better!
conform!to!the!structure!of!the!other!scales.!From!the!field!of!TAM,!we!use!the!
perceived!enjoyment!scale!from!Venkatesh!(2000)!and!the!perceived!ease!of!use!
scale!from!Venkatesh!&!Davis!(2000).!These!two!scales!were!used!as!is,!with!the!
exception!of!replacing!“the!system”!with!“Twitch”!as!applicable.!!
The!commonly!used!perceived!usefulness!scale!developed!by!Venkatesh!(2000)!
was!not!fully!applicable!in!our!context,!as!it!is!primarily!used!in!nonZhedonistic!
contexts.!We!consider!video!game!streaming!to!have!a!strong!hedonistic!aspect,!
and! thus!we! chose! to! develop! a! scale! based! on! the! perceived! usefulness! scale!
from! van! der! Heijden! (2003).! We! approach! usefulness! in! a! highly! general!
manner,!and!then!look!further!by!presenting!scales!covering!three!distinct!facets!
of! usefulness! in! the! video! game! streaming! context:! researching&game&products,!
monetary&gain! and! learning&game& strategies.! For! researching! game! products,! a!
usefulness!scale!from!van!der!Heijden!(2004)!was!used!as!a!base,!and!modified!
accordingly.! For! monetary! gain,! parts! of! the! UGT!monetary& gains! scale! from!
LaRose!&!Eastin! (2004)!along!with!a! custom!created! item!were!used.!To!build!
our! learning!game!strategies!scale,! items! from!the! information&seeking! scale!by!
Papacharissi!&!Rubin!(2000)!along!with!an!item!from!the!van!der!Heijden!(2004)!
usefulness!scale!were!used.!These!items!were!modified!to!fit!the!context!of!video!
game!streaming!and!learning!strategies.!
To!further!explore!the!notion!of!relaxation!within!enjoyment,!a!modified!threeZ
item!version!of! the!UGT! relaxing&entertainment! scale! from!Smock!et! al.! (2011)!
was!used.! Further! scales! from! the! field!of!UGT! research!used! in! this! study!are!
escapism,!companionship!and!habitual&pass&time!by!Smock!et!al.!(2011).!To!study!
the!effect!of! the!novelty!of! the!service!along!with!how!people! important! to! the!
respondent! perceive! it,! a! combination! of! the! UGT! cool& new& trend! scale! from!
Smock!et!al.!(2011)!along!with!the!TAM!subjective&norm!scale!from!Venkatesh!&!
Davis! (2000)!was!used.!The!phrasing!of! the!majority!of! the!UGT!related! scales!
was!changed!to!reflect!the!phrasing!used!in!TAM!scales.!That!is,!statements!of!the!
form!“I!use!Twitch!because!it!relaxes!me”!were!changed!to!“Using!Twitch!relaxes!
31!!
me”.!This!was!done!to!avoid!complications!with!the!questions!regarding!usage!of!
the!Twitch!service,!and!also!in!an!effort!to!unify!the!questions!as!best!possible.!
To! examine! the! social! interaction! between! viewers! and! streamers,! no! current!
scales!are! fully!applicable.!We!feel! the!streamer!exists! inZbetween!the!role!as!a!
pure!celebrity!and!a!member!of!the!streaming!community.!Additionally,!there!is!
increased! flexibility!of! the!concept!of!celebrity,!as!viewers!may!have!streamers!
they!are!very!familiar!with,!which!may!be!their!friends,!and!streamers!which!are!
more! distant! and! considered! celebrities.! Hence,! the! celebrity! attitude! scale!
(Maltby, Day, McCutceon, Houran, & Ashe, 2006)! is! not! quite! applicable! in! our!
context,! as! it! takes! an! approach!where! the!person!being! treated! as! a! celebrity!
exists! at! a! further! social! distance! from! the! viewer.! A! custom! scale! was!
constructed! for! this! study,!using!certain! items! from!the!celebrity!attitude!scale!
from!Maltby!et!al.! (2006)!as!a!base.! Items!chosen!mainly!belong!to!the! intenseR
personal! factor.! Maltby! et! al.! (2006)! emphasize! the! importance! of! using! the!
celebrity! attitude! scale! as! a!whole!when! conducting! research!within! this! field,!
but!we!consider!this!unnecessary!within!our!context.!As!we!are!not!interested!in!
studying! celebrity! worship! among! video! game! stream! watchers! as! such,! but!
rather!seek!to!understand!the!relationship!between!streamers!and!viewers,!we!
feel!that!our!construction!of!the!scale!is!valid!in!this!context.!!
For! the! social! interactions! aspects! of!watching! video! game! streams,!we! utilize!
two! distinct! constructs:! recognition! and! shared! experience.! As! a! base! for!
recognition!we!use! the!recognition&by&peers! scale! from!Hernandez!et!al.! (2011)!
along!with!a!custom!item,!modified!to!fit!our!context.!For!shared!experience,!we!
use! the! Sense! of! Community! Index! 2! (SOCZ2)! shared& emotional& connection!
subscale!from!Chavis!et!al.!(2008).!
All! psychometric! items! along! with! their! appropriate! construct! and! relevant!
theory! framework! are! presented! below,! in! table! 5.! Also! included! are! primary!
sources!and!original!scale!names!for!reference.!
! !
32!!
Construct. Item. Theory.frameLwork.
Original.scale.name.
Source.
Enjoyment! I!find!using!Twitch!to!be!enjoyable.! TAM! Perceived!enjoyment!
Venkatesh!2000!
!! Using!Twitch!is!exciting.! TAM! ! !
!! I!have!fun!using!Twitch.! TAM! ! !
!! Using!Twitch!is!entertaining! TAM! ! !
Ease!of!use! My!interaction!with!Twitch!is!clear!and!understandable.!
TAM! Perceived!ease!of!use!
Venkatesh,!Davis!2000!
!! Interacting!with!Twitch!does!not!require!a!lot!of!my!mental!effort.!
TAM! ! !
!! I!find!Twitch!to!be!easy!to!use.! TAM! ! !
!! I!find!it!easy!to!get!Twitch!to!do!what!I!want!it!to!do.!
TAM! ! !
Usefulness! I!find!Twitch!to!be!an!overall!useful!site.! TAM! Perceived!usefulness!
van!der!Heijden!2003!
!! I!find!Twitch!to!be!a!helpful!site.! TAM! ! !
!! I!find!Twitch!to!be!a!convenient!site! TAM! ! !
!! I!find!Twitch!to!be!an!effective!site! TAM! ! !
Relaxation! Watching!Twitch!allows!me!to!unwind.! UGT! Relaxing!entertainment!
Smock!et!al.!2011!
!! Watching!Twitch!relaxes!me! UGT! ! !
!! Watching!Twitch!is!a!pleasant!rest! UGT! ! !
Escapism! Using!Twitch,!I!can!forget!about!school,!work,!or!other!things!
UGT! Escapism! Smock!et!al.!2011!
!! Using!Twitch,!I!can!get!away!from!the!rest!of!my!family!or!others!
UGT! ! !
!! Using!Twitch,!I!can!get!away!from!what!I'm!doing.!
UGT! ! !
Companionship!
Using!Twitch,!I!don't!have!to!be!alone.! UGT! Companionship! Smock!et!al.!2011!
!! I!use!Twitch!when!there's!no!one!else!to!talk!or!be!with!
UGT! ! !
!! Using!Twitch!makes!me!feel!less!lonely! UGT! ! !
Distraction! Using!Twitch!is!a!habit,!just!something!I!do.!
UGT! Habitual!pass!time!
Smock!et!al.!2011!
!! When!I!have!nothing!better!to!do,!I!use!Twitch.!
UGT! ! !
!! Using!Twitch!passes!the!time!away,!particularly!when!I'm!bored!
UGT! ! !
!! Using!Twitch!gives!me!something!to!do!to!occupy!my!time.!
UGT! ! !
Subjective!norm!
Everybody!else!is!using!Twitch.! TAM!/!UGT!
Subjective!norm!(TAM),!cool!new!trend!(UGT)!
Venkatesh,!Davis!2000;!Smock!et!al.!2011!
!! Using!Twitch!is!cool.! TAM!/!UGT!
! !
33!!
!! People!who!influence!my!behavior!think!that!I!should!use!Twitch.!
TAM!/!UGT!
! !
!! People!who!are!important!to!me!think!that!I!should!use!Twitch.!
TAM!/!UGT!
! !
Attitude! Using!Twitch!is!a!good!idea.! TAM! Attitude! Venkatesh!et!al.!2000!
!! I!like!the!idea!of!using!Twitch.! TAM! ! !
!! Using!Twitch!is!a!wise!idea.! TAM! ! !
!! Using!Twitch!is!pleasant.! TAM! ! !
Usefulness:!researching!games!
Using!Twitch,!I!can!better!decide!which!game!I!want!to!play!than!in!the!past!
TAM! Usefulness! van!der!Heijden!2004!
!! Using!Twitch,!I!am!better!informed!about!new!games!I!consider!playing!
TAM! ! !
!! Using!Twitch,!I!find!games!I!would!not!otherwise!have!found.!
TAM! ! !
!! Using!Twitch,!I!can!better!decide!whether!I!want!to!play!a!particular!game!or!not!
TAM! ! !
Usefulness:!learning!strategies!
Watching!Twitch,!I!am!better!informed!about!new!game!strategies!
UGT! Information!seeking!
Papacharissi,!Rubin!2000!
! Watching!Twitch!helps!me!get!information!on!learning!to!play!games.!
UGT! ! !
! Watching!Twitch!helps!me!look!for!information!on!game!tricks.!
UGT! ! !
! Watching!Twitch!helps!me!see!what!game!tactics!are!out!there.!
UGT! ! !
Usefulness:!monetary!gain!
Using!Twitch,!I!have!a!chance!to!get!products!cheaper!
UGT! Monetary!gains! LaRose,!Eastin!2004!
! Using!Twitch,!I!can!find!bargains!on!products!and!services!
UGT! ! !
! Using!Twitch,!I!can!save!money!on!products!
UGT! ! !
! Watching!Twitch!can!help!me!earn!money!
UGT! ! !
Streamer!as!celebrity!
Keeping!up!with!news!about!my!favorite!streamer!is!an!entertaining!pastime.!
CAS! IntenseZpersonal! Maltby!et!al.!2006!
!! I!enjoy!watching,!reading,!or!listening!to!my!favorite!streamer!because!it!means!a!good!time!
CAS! ! !
!! Learning!the!life!story!of!my!favorite!streamer!is!a!lot!of!fun!
CAS! ! !
!! I!enjoy!following!the!everyday!life!of!my!favorite!streamer!
CAS! ! !
Shared!experiences!
It!is!very!important!to!me!to!be!a!part!of!the!Twitch!community.!
SOC! Shared!emotional!connection!
Chavis!et!al!2008!
!! I!spend!time!with!other!Twitch!community!members!a!lot!and!enjoy!spending!time!with!them.!
SOC! ! !
34!!
!! I!expect!to!be!a!part!of!the!Twitch!community!for!a!long!time.!
SOC! ! !
!! Members!of!the!Twitch!community!have!shared!important!events!together.!
SOC! ! !
!! Members!of!the!Twitch!community!care!about!each!other.!
SOC! ! !
Recognition! I!like!when!other!Twitch!users!take!my!comments!into!account!
SOC! Recognition!by!peers!
Hernandez!et!al.!2011!
!! I!feel!good!when!my!comments!prove!to!other!Twitch!users!that!I!have!knowledge!about!the!game!being!played.!
SOC! ! !
!! I!try!that!my!comments!improve!my!reputation!among!other!Twitch!users.!
SOC! ! !
! I!like!when!streamers!on!Twitch!take!my!suggestions!into!consideration.!
SOC! ! !
Table*5*Psychometric*constructs*and*items*
Survey.propagation.
The! survey! was! administered! through! the! Webropol! service.! The! survey! was!
split! into!six!virtual!pages,!with!demographics!and!usage!constituting!one!page!
each.!The!psychometric!factors!were!split!to!four!pages,!with!items!from!within!
each! construct! spread! out! as! evenly! as! possible! among! the! four! pages.! Items!
within!these!pages!were!then!randomized!per!respondent!by!the!system.!There!
were!approximately!15!items!per!page!in!the!psychometric!section.!
Initially!a!small!sample!of!19!respondents!was!used!to!check!the!validity!of!our!
survey,!and!help!find!potential!problems.!The!interviewees!from!the!preliminary!
study!were!asked!to!answer!the!survey,!along!with!a!small!amount!of!others.!A!
few!minor!corrections!were!done!after!examining!the!results!from!this!initial!test!
run.!An!additional!answer!option!was!added!to!the!question!regarding!Internet!
speed,!two!additional!game!genres!were!added!and!a!new!question!regarding!the!
type!of!stream!content!watched!was!added.!Among!the!psychometric!questions,!
one! item! from! the! subjective! norm! construct! was! removed! as! it! was! in!
discrepancy! with! the! other! four! items,! and! deemed! unclear! by! some! of! the!
respondents.!
After!the!changes!had!been!made!to!the!online!survey,!the!data!was!reset!and!the!
survey! was! launched! on! February! 26th! 2015.! At! launch,! the! end! date! was!
specified!as!the!21th!of!March,!but!was!later!extended!to!the!23rd!of!March.!As!a!
participatory!incentive,!we!offered!the!chance!to!win!one!of!six!video!games!from!
35!!
the!online!store!Steam,!worth!50!USD!or!EUR.!This!raffle!was!conducted!among!
valid!responses!to!the!survey!after!the!survey!had!concluded.!Initially!the!survey!
was!shared!through!the!social!media!sites!Twitter!and!Facebook,!as!well!as!a!few!
forums! dedicated! to! games.! As! the! URL! shortening! service! bit.ly! was! used! to!
generate!a!userZfriendlier!version!of!the!Webropol!survey!URL,!we!also!received!
interesting!analytical!data! through! the!bit.ly! service.!A! total!of!910!clicks!were!
registered!through!the!bit.ly!service,!table!6!helps!illustrate!the!various!sources!
of!traffic.!
Site. Type. Clicks.
Twitter! Social!media!service! 389!
Facebook! Social!media!service! 158!
mtgsuomi.fi! Game!forum! 88!
hearthstone.fi! Game!forum! 15!
www.mtgsalvation.com! Game!forum! 2!
www.worldofminecraft.com! Game!forum! 1!
ervinia.nor.fi! Unknown! 1!
Reddit! Social!media!service! 2!
Unknown!/!direct!referral! Z! 254!
Total! Z! 910!
Table*6*bit.ly*engagement*overview*
As! we! can! see,! Twitter,! Facebook! and! direct! referrals! are! responsible! for! the!
majority!of! traffic.!The!seemingly!small!significance!of!Reddit! is!due! to! the! fact!
that! Reddit! does! not! generally! permit! the! posting! of! URL’s! generated! through!
URL! shortening! services,! and! filters! posts! with! such! URL’s.! Hence! we! were!
unable! to! use! the! bit.ly! URL! for! Reddit! and! had! to! post! using! the! original!
Webropol!URL.!
Twitter! was! one! of! the! more! successful! mediums! for! the! survey! in! the! early!
stages,!and!also!provides!analytical!data!that!is!of!interest!when!looking!at!what!
impacts! the! success! of! acquiring! respondents.!During! a! seven!day!period! after!
the!original!Tweet!asking!for!participants!to!the!study!was!posted,!it!received!a!
total!of!33592!impressions!with!an!engagement!rate!of!1,3%.!This!includes!user!
36!!
profile! views,! favourites! and! retweets! along!with! link! clicks.! From! the!original!
Tweet,! a! total! of! 210! link! clicks! were! registered.! As! we! did! not! have! a! large!
following!on!Twitter,!we!asked!a!number!of!prominent!game!personalities!and!
companies! to! help! spread! the! survey! by! retweeting! the! original! tweet.! Even!
though! very! few!of! the! accounts!we! contacted! responded,!we! found! this! to! be!
extremely! successful.! The! impression! count! for! the! original! tweet! was! over! a!
hundred! times!what! the! author! typically! received! for! other! tweets! during! this!
same!time!period.!
After!the!initial!propagation!of!the!survey!through!the!aforementioned!sites!and!
services,!we! pursued! the! social! news! and! discussion! site! Reddit! as! a! potential!
avenue!for!more!respondents.!Reddit!is!comprised!of!several!subsections!called!
subreddits,!each!devoted!to!a!specific!subject.!We!approached!the!moderators!of!
23! subreddits,! as! not! all! subreddits! allowed! the! posting! of! questionnaires! and!
surveys.!Out!of! the!23!subreddits!contacted,!16!gave!us!permission! to!post! the!
survey.!Approximately!half!of!the!posts!to!subreddits!were!done!during!the!first!
week!of!the!survey,!while!the!other!half!were!done!at!the!end!of!the!survey.!Many!
Reddit!users!offered!us!comments!and!critiques!in!the!comment!sections!of!each!
posts.!This,!along!with!the!“upvote”!number!of!each!post,!can!be!used!to!measure!
how!successful!the!post!was!at!getting!the!attention!of!subreddit!readers.!Table!7!
presents! these! numbers! for! the! subreddits! the! posts! were! made! to,! with!
comment!replies!made!by!the!author!removed.!
Subreddit.name. Comment.count. Upvote.sum.(upvotes.L.downvotes).
/esports! 6! 2!
/DotA2! 3! 0!
/leagueoflegends! 1! 1!
/magictcg! 4! 0!
/globaloffensive! 3! 0!
/samplesize! 0! 8!
/twitch! 15! 21!
/vgstreams! 0! 1!
/gamestream! 0! 1!
/CoDCompetitive! 16! 10!
/CallOfDuty! 2! 3!
/Smite! 12! 19!
37!!
/smashbros! 2! 0!
/halo! 0! 2!
/truetf2! 18! 40!
/tf2! 12! 15!
Table*7*Survey*post*engagement*per*subreddit*
Webropol! offers! no! direct! analytical! data! as! to! the! origin! of! respondents,! but!
based! on! our! observations! we! estimate! that! of! the! 1127! respondents,!
approximately! 70Z80%! came! from! Reddit! while! the! remaining! came! from!
sources!detailed!by!table!6.!We!base!our!estimate!on!the!number!of!respondents,!
as!observed!by!us!daily!during!the!time!that!the!survey!was!open.!As!efforts!to!
get!respondents!were!spaced!out!over!time,!it!also!gives!us!a!better!ability!to!tie!
together!points!in!time!with!traffic!sources.!!This!goes!to!show!the!participatory!
power!of!Reddit!in!research!within!this!field!of!research!as!well!as!similar!fields.!
Descriptive.statistics.for.survey.
After!the!survey!had!ended,!we!exported!the!data!from!Webropol,!using!a!check!
question!we!had! included!to!help! filter!out! invalid!responses.!Furthermore,!we!
removed! entries! with! corrupt! or! faulty! data! and! eventually! had! 1091! valid!
responses!to!the!survey.!As!this!was!only!a!3,2%!decrease!in!respondents!from!
the!raw!data,!we!were!satisfied!with! the!data!collected.!Of! the!valid!responses,!
the! average! age! was! 22,9! (median! =! 22,! SD! =! 5,9).! Female! respondents!
comprised!7,7%!of!our!data.!Of!our!respondents,!93,2%!reported!that!they!had!
registered!an!account!for!the!Twitch!service.!Respondents!had!used!the!Twitch!
service! for! an! average! of! 22,1!months! (median!21,! SD!=!14,6),! and!38,7%!had!
acted! as! a! streamer! at! some! point.! As! for! usage! of! the! service,! respondents!
watched!an!average!of!11,0!hours!per!week!(median!=!7,!SD!=!12,1)!and!watched!
an! average! of! 5,6! different! streamers! per! week! (median! =! 4,! SD! =! 5,0).!
Furthermore,!respondents!followed!an!average!of!26,4!streamers!(median!=!10,!
SD!=!52,1)!and!subscribed!to!an!average!of!0,6!streamers!(median!=!0,!SD!=!2,5).!
These!descriptive!statistics!are!also!available!in!appendix!A.!
As! the! forms!of!usage!varied!greatly!between!respondents! in! size,!we!chose! to!
normalize!our!usage!variables!before!conducting!any!further!analysis.!The!data!
was! grouped! into! five! equal! groups.! The! four!main! usage! variables! are! hours!
38!!
watched,!number!of!different!streamers!watched,!number!of!streamers!followed!
and! number! of! streamers! subscribed! to.! As! subscriptions! were! quite! clearly!
binary,!we!grouped!those!into!two!groups!rather!than!five!groups!like!the!other!
usage!variables.!Notable!about!subscriptions!is!that!it!is!the!only!one!of!the!four!
types!of!usage!that!is!tied!to!a!monetary!transaction.!While!the!other!three!types!
of!usage!do!not!require!a!monetary!commitment,!being!a!subscriber!does!require!
a!minimum!payment!of!$5,!as! that! is! the!sum!required! to!subscribe! to!a!single!
streamer.!Thus,!subscribing!could!also!be!seen!as!measuring! the!willingness! to!
pay!for!the!service!on!a!more!abstract! level.!There!are,!however,!other!ways!to!
spend! money! through! the! Twitch! service,! so! the! situation! is! perhaps! not! as!
simple!as!only!looking!at!subscriptions!to!streamers.!
Obtaining!exactly!equally!sized!groups!was!not!feasible,!as!many!of!the!variables!
had!certain!answers!that!were!extremely!common.!We!decided!not!to!split!these!
answers!into!separate!groups!for!the!sake!of!clarity.!Table!8!shows!the!variables!
as!they!were!grouped,!along!with!corresponding!group!size.!
Group. Hours.watched. Streamers.watched. Streamers.followed.
1! 0Z2!(21,6%)! 0Z2!(19,8%)! 0Z2!(20,3%)!
2! 3Z5!(22,5%)! 3!(18,7%)! 3Z6!(20,0%)!
3! 6Z10!(25,0%)! 4Z5!(30,2%)! 7Z15!(21,9%)!
4! 10,5Z20!(17,1%)! 6Z9!(15,0%)! 16Z39!(19,0%)!
5! 21+!(13,7%)! 10+!(16,3%)! 40+!(18,9%)!
Table*8*Usage*factors*grouped,*notation:*range*(group*percentage*of*whole)*
As! mentioned,! the! final! sample! size! was! 1091! respondents.! For! SEM! with!
constructs! comprised! of! three! or! four! items,! Anderson! and! Gerbing! (1984)!
propose!a!lower!bound!of!150!responses.!Bentler!and!Chou!(1987)!recommend!a!
stricter!lower!bound!of!five!cases!per!observed!variable,!which!in!the!case!of!this!
study!would!mean!290!responses.!A! third! lower!bound!commonly!used! is! that!
the!number!of! responses! should! exceed! ten! times! the! largest!number!of! paths!
(Chin, The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling, 1988).!The!
third! limit! is!also!exceeded,!as! the! largest!number!of!paths! is! five,! leading! to!a!
lower! limit! of!50! responses.!Our! sample! size! greatly! exceeds! all! three!of! these!
limits,! therefore! we! find! no! problem! with! our! sample! size! in! regards! to! our!
research!model.!
39!!
Validity.and.reliability.
The!main!method!of!analysis!was!the!partial!least!squares!algorithm!(PLSZSEM),!
which!we!conducted!using!the!SmartPLS!3.0!software!(Ringle;Wende;&!Becker,!
2015;! Lowry! &! Gaskin,! 2014).! Traditionally,! coZvariance! based! structural!
equation! modelling! (CBZSEM)! has! a! longer! history! in! research! use,! over! the!
newer!PLSZSEM,!but!for!the!purpose!of!this!study,!PLSZSEM!was!a!better!fit!for!a!
number! of! reasons.! Mainly,! PLSZSEM! is! better! suited! for! studies! looking! at!
prediction! of! relationships,! while! CBZSEM! is! better! when! looking! to! confirm!
structural! relationships! (Hair,! Ringle,! &! Sarstedt,! 2011;! Chin,! Marcolin,! &!
Newsted,! 2003;! Anderson! &! Gerbing,! 1988).! CBZSEM! also! sets! fairly! strict!
restrictions!on!sample!size,!normalization!of!data!and!model! complexity,!while!
PLSZSEM! is! less! restrictive! about! the! distribution! of! the! data,! due! to! its!
nonparametric! nature! (Hair,! Ringle,! &! Sarstedt,! 2011).! Within! the! software,!
latent!variables!were!mapped!to!each!other!according!to!the!research!model!for!
UGT!presented!earlier.!To!confirm!convergent!validity!for!each!main!construct!as!
well! as! their! subZconstructs,! we! calculated! average! variance! extracted! (AVE),!
Cronbach’s! alpha! and! composite! reliability! (CR).! To! determine! discriminant!
validity,! we! calculated! the! FornellZLarcker! criterion! and! heterotraitZmonotrait!
ratio! (HTMT).! AVE! is! expected! to! be! greater! than! 0,5! to! indicate! convergent!
validity,! and! this! was! the! case! for! all! constructs! (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).! In!
similar!fashion,!Cronbach’s!alpha!should!exceed!0,8!to!indicate!reliability!(Straub,
Boudreau, & Gefen, 2004; Nunnally, 1978),! and! for! all! constructs! this! limit!was!
greatly!exceeded.!The!CR!threshold!level!for!reliability!is!0,7!(Fornell & Larcker,
1981),! and! this! is! surpassed! for! each! construct.! The! results! of! these! three!
validations!are!displayed!below!in!table!9.!
Construct. AVE. CR. Cronbach's.alpha.
AFFECTIVE* 0,749* 0,922* 0,887*
COG:!LEARNING!ABOUT!GAME!PRODUCTS! 0,773! 0,931! 0,901!
COG:!LEARNING!ABOUT!GAME!STRATEGIES! 0,761! 0,927! 0,895!
COGNITIVE* 0,550* 0,907* 0,882*
PERSONAL*INTEGRATIVE* 0,715* 0,909* 0,867*
SOC:!COMPANIONSHIP! 0,743! 0,896! 0,826!
SOC:!SHARED!EMOTIONAL!CONNECTION! 0,612! 0,887! 0,840!
40!!
SOCIAL*INTEGRATIVE* 0,537* 0,902* 0,875*
TENSION*RELEASE* 0,541* 0,921* 0,904*
TR:!DISTRACTION! 0,663! 0,887! 0,829!
TR:!ESCAPE! 0,723! 0,886! 0,808!
TR:!RELAXATION! 0,788! 0,917! 0,865!
Table*9*UGT*quality*measurements,*main*constructs*in*bold*
For! the! FornellZLarcker! criterion,! the! square! root! of! the! AVE!must! exceed! the!
correlation!between!the!construct!and!all!other!constructs.!This!was!obtained!for!
all!of!our!main!constructs,!as!can!be!seen!below!in!table!10.!HTMT!expects!values!
below! 0,85! (Kline, 2011)! or! 0,9! (Gold, Malhotra, & Segars, 2011)! to! indicate!
reliability,! and! both! of! these! criteria! were! met! for! our! main! constructs.! The!
results!of!the!HTMT!calculations!are!displayed!below,!in!table!11.!Both!tables!use!
the! same! shorthand! notation! for! constructs.! These! are! AFF! (affective),! COG!
(cognitive),!PI!(personal!integrative),!SI!(social!integrative),!TR!(tension!release).!
Sub! constructs! are! noted! as! “Main! Construct:! Sub! construct”,! for! example! “SI:!
COMP”!notates!the!companionship!construct!belonging!to!the!social! integrative!
main!construct.!
.. AFF. COG:'PROD'
COG:'STRAT'
COG. PI. SI:'COMP'
SI:'SEC' SI. TR. TR:'DIST'
TR:'ESC' TR:'RELAX'
AFF* 0,865* !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
COG:!PROD!
0,431! 0,879! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
COG:!STRAT!
0,486! 0,438! 0,872! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
COG* 0,539! 0,864*& 0,831*& 0,742* !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
PI* 0,474! 0,423! 0,310! 0,436! 0,846* !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
SI:!COMP!
0,496! 0,394! 0,283! 0,402! 0,546! 0,862! !! !! !! !! !! !!
SI:!SEC! 0,631! 0,452! 0,326! 0,463! 0,685! 0,614! 0,782! !! !! !! !! !!
SI* 0,643! 0,477! 0,345! 0,489! 0,696! 0,856*& 0,934*& 0,733* !! !! !! !!
TR* 0,722! 0,455! 0,406! 0,509! 0,455! 0,643! 0,557! 0,660! 0,735* !! !! !!
TR:!DIST!
0,641! 0,410! 0,364! 0,458! 0,389! 0,559! 0,479! 0,573! 0,902*& 0,814! !! !!
TR:!ESC!
0,487! 0,363! 0,289! 0,387! 0,406! 0,596! 0,458! 0,572! 0,817*& 0,603! 0,850! !!
TR:!RELAX!
0,731! 0,405! 0,393! 0,471! 0,395! 0,526! 0,510! 0,576! 0,875*& 0,680! 0,591! 0,887!
Table* 10* UGT* Fornell\Larcker* criteria* (main* constructs* bolded,* notable* values* marked* with*asterisk)*
As!can!be!seen!from!the!table,!the!FornellZLarcker!criteria!are!satisfied!for!all!of!
our!five!main!constructs.!For!some!constructs!this!is!not!immediately!clear,!as!for!
41!!
example!TR:!DIST!exceeds!TR.!However,!the!only!case!where!this!is!true!is!when!
looking!at!main!constructs!and!their!subZconstructs.!As!these!two!are!composed!
of!the!same!items,!this!is!not!a!validity!problem!but!rather!a!choice!to!display!the!
sub! constructs! separately.!The!expected! result! is! that! subZconstructs! and!main!
constructs!should!have!a!high!level!of!correlation,!and!that!is!shown!to!be!true.!
.. AFF. COG:'PROD'
COG:'STRAT'
COG. PI. SI:'COMP'
SI:'SEC' SI. TR. TR:'DIST'
TR:'ESC' TR:'RELAX'
AFF* !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
COG:!PROD!
0,484! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
COG:!STRAT!
0,546! 0,479! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
COG* 0,614! 0,950*& 0,950*& !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
PI* 0,541! 0,478! 0,352! 0,496! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
SI:!COMP!
0,582! 0,457! 0,330! 0,470! 0,640! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
SI:!SEC! 0,739! 0,523! 0,381! 0,540! 0,795! 0,730! !! !! !! !! !! !!
SI* 0,733! 0,538! 0,391! 0,555! 0,795! 0,997*& 1,092*& !! !! !! !! !!
TR* 0,799! 0,507! 0,449! 0,570! 0,516! 0,752! 0,643! 0,743! !! !! !! !!
TR:!DIST!
0,743! 0,476! 0,423! 0,537! 0,456! 0,682! 0,578! 0,671! 1,035*& !! !! !!
TR:!ESC!
0,573! 0,427! 0,338! 0,457! 0,488! 0,732! 0,559! 0,680! 0,966*& 0,729! !! !!
TR:!RELAX!
0,830! 0,462! 0,444! 0,541! 0,454! 0,624! 0,601! 0,661! 0,981*& 0,798! 0,703! !!
Table* 11* UGT* heterotrait\monotrait* ratio* (main* constructs* bolded,* notable* values* marked* with*asterisk)*
The!HTMT!table!shows!that!all!relevant!values!fall!both!beneath!the!0,9!and!the!
0,85!thresholds.!As!with!the!FornellZLarcker!criterion,!there!are!a!few!values!that!
seem! problematic! at! first.! Upon! further! scrutiny,! we! can! see! that! the! 0,9!
threshold! is! exceeded! only! in! cases! involving! a! main! construct! and! it’s! subZ
constructs,! or! between! two! subZconstructs.! These! values! are! noted! with! an!
asterisk!in!table!11.!The!reasoning!behind!this!is!identical!to!the!FornellZLarcker!
criterion!situation,!as!here!again!the!main!constructs!and!subZconstructs!include!
the!same!items.!
As!was! discussed! previously,! the! sample! size! of! 1091! responses! exceeded! the!
three! limits! set! forth! in! previous! literature! (Chin, The partial least squares
approach for structural equation modeling, 1988; Anderson & Gerbing, 1984; Bentler
& Chou, 1987).!Based!on!these!lower!limits!and!the!calculations!presented!here,!
we!find!no!objections!towards!the!validity!of!the!data!gathered!for!this!study.!
42!!
Results.
Our!path!model!accounted!for!25,8%!of!the!variance!for!hours!watched!as!well!as!
21,5%! for! streamers! followed! and! 17%! for! streamers! watched.! For!
subscriptions,!the!path!model!only!accounted!for!3,7%!of!the!variance.!Table!12!
displays!the!results!for!each!of!the!five!UGT!types!of!motivation!in!relation!to!the!
four! types!of! usage.!The! table! also!displays! the! statistical! significance! level! for!
each! of! the! results! in! the! form! of! the! pZvalue! and! both! lower! and! upper!
confidence!levels!combined!as!the!confidence!interval!(CI).!!
From!the!results,!shown!in!table!12,!we!can!see!how!our! initial!hypotheses!are!
supported.!To! test!our!hypotheses!we! started!by! investigating! results!over! the!
commonly!used!significance!threshold!of!0,05,!noted!with!an!asterisk!in!table!12.!
For!results!adhering!to!this!significance!threshold!we!could!directly!examine!the!
results! and!how! they! reflected!upon!our!hypotheses.! For! results! over! the!0,05!
significance!threshold!level,!we!considered!the!size!of!the!effect!in!relation!to!the!
statistical! significance.! For! these! cases! the! effect! was! in! general! quite! small,!
below! the! βZthreshold! of! |0.1|,! thus! furthering! our! view! of! these! results! as!
statistically!insignificant.!Examining!the!confidence!interval!also!backed!this!up.!
Had!we!discovered!a!result!with!a!significant!β,!perhaps!over! the! |0,1|!or!even!
|0,3|!threshold,!further!investigation!would!have!been!required.!In!the!following!
paragraphs! we! examine! the! results,! using! the! same! notation! for! statistical!
significance!as!in!table!12!(*!p!<!0,05,!**!p!<!0,01,!***!p!<!0,001).!Table!13!then!
presents!an!overview!of!each!of!these!hypotheses!and!their!support.!
For! affective! motivations,! three! of! our! four! hypotheses! are! supported,! with!
positive!relations!between!the!motivation!and!hours!watched!(H1a!β!=!0,144**),!
streamers! watched! (H1b! β! =! 0,134**)! and! streamers! followed! (H1c! β! =!
0,152***).!The!relation!to!subscription!was!above!the!threshold!level!of!0,05!for!
statistical!significance!and!thus!we!could!not!establish!a!relation!(H1d!β!=!0,045).!!
!
!!
!!
43!
!Hours&w
atched&Stream
ers&watched&
Streamers&follow
ed&Subscriber&
R2!0,258!
0,17!0,215!
0,037!!
β!P!
CI!β!
P!CI!
β!P!
CI!β!
P!CI!
Affective!0,144**!
0,001!0,058!–!0,224!
0,134**!0,002!
0,048!–!0,216!
0,152***!0,000!
0,068!–!0,235!
0,045!0,298!
;0,041!–!0,130!
Cognitive!0,089**!
0,007!0,023!–!0,155!
0,075*!0,037!
0,007!–!0,147!
0,007!0,851!
;0,062!–!0,074!
;0,028!0,453!
;0,099!–!0,042!
Personal!integrative!;0,177***!
0,000!;0,248!–!;0,107!
;0,105**!0,008!
;0,180!–!;0,030!
0,091*!0,021!
0,016!–!0,169!
0,033!0,407!
;0,044!–!0,112!
Social!integrative!0,132**!
0,004!0,047!–!0,220!
0,120*!0,020!
0,021!–!0,222!
0,213***!0,000!
0,126!–!0,302!
0,150**!0,002!
0,055!–!0,242!
Tension!release!0,319***!
0,000!0,240!–!0,400!
0,217***!0,000!
0,128!–!0,300!
0,080*!0,048!
;0.001!–!0,153!
;0,001!0,984!
;0,095!–!0,093!
Table&12&UGT&results.&*&p&<&0.05,&**&p&<&0.01,&***&p&<&0.001&
&Hypothesis&
Hours&w
atched&(a)&Stream
ers&watched&(b)&
Streamers&follow
ed&(c)&Subscriber&(d)&
H1:!Affective!Y!
Y!Y!
N!
H2:!Cognitive!Y!
Y!N!
N!
H3:!Personal!Integrative!O!
O!
Y!N!
H4:!Social!Integrative!Y!
Y!Y!
Y!
H5:!Tension!Release!Y!
Y!Y!
N!
Table&13&UGT&H
ypotheses&supported.&Y&=&Supported,&O&=&O
pposite&relation&found,&N&=&Statistically&significant&result¬&found&
44"
"
For" cognitive" motivations," we" find" positive" relations" between" it" and" hours"
watched" (H2a" β" =" 0,089**)" as" well" as" streamers" watched" (H3b" β" =" 0,075*),"
supporting"two"of"our"hypotheses."For"both"streamers"followed"(H2c"β""="0,007)"
and"subscription"(H2d"β" "=" H0,028)"our"results"do"not"exceed" the" threshold" for"
statistical"significance."This,"coupled"with"the" low"effect"value,"goes"to"show"no"
relevant"relation"present.""
Personal"integrative"motivations"are"of"particular"interest,"as"we"find"an"opposite"
relation"to"our"hypotheses"both"for"hours"watched"and"streamers"watched"(H3a"
β" =" H0,177***," H3b" β" =" H0,105**)." For" the" relation" between" personal" integrative"
motivations" and" streamers" followed," our" hypothesis" is" supported" (H3c" β" ="
0,091*)."The"relation"between"the"need"type"and"subscription"is"found"to"not"be"
statistically"significant"(H3d"β"="0,033).""
For" social" integrative" motivations," our" hypotheses" for" hours" watched" (H4a" ="
0,132**)," streamers" watched" (H4b" β" =" 0,120*)," streamers" followed" (H4c" β" ="
0,213***)"and"subscriptions" (H4d"β"="0,150**)"are"all" supported."Notably" this" is"
the"only"need"type"that"shows"a"statistically"significant"effect"on"subscription."
Finally,"for"tension"release,"our"hypotheses"for"hours"watched"(H5a"β"="0,319***),"
streamers"watched"(H5b"β"="0,217***)"and"streamers"followed"(H5c"β"="0,080*)"
are" supported." Once" again" we" find" the" relation" between" the" need" type" and"
subscription"(H5d"β"="H0,001)"to"not"be"of"statistical"significance.""
45"
"
Discussion(
At"the"very"core"of"UGT"is"the"idea"that"we"want"to"examine"what"people"do"with"
media"rather"than"what"media"does"to"people"(Swanson, 1979; Chen, 2011)."As"the"
primary"goal"of" this" study"was" to" investigate" the"main"motivational" factors" for"
watching" video" gaming" streams," it" would" be" wise" to" examine" how" well" the"
results"predict"fulfilled"needs"on"a"general"level.""
As" our" results" show" us," primarily" positive" effects" exist" between" types" of"
motivations"and"types"of"usage."Along"with"the"13"positive"effects,"two"negative"
effects"are"shown"to"exist.""In"the"rest"of"this"section"we"will"discuss"the"various"
relations"between"types"of"motivation"and"types"of"usage"in"closer"detail."We"will"
cover"each"of"the"five"main"UGT"types"of"motivation"separately,"in"relation"to"the"
four" types" of" usages" investigated." As" the" four" types" of" usage" we" examine" are"
nuances" of" a" more" general" indicator" of" usage," they" translate" poorly" to" many"
previous" types" of" research" conducted" if" examined" per" se." Thus" we" will" treat"
hours"watched"as"the"primary"indicator"of"use,"as"it"is"a"very"clear"link"between"
the"service"itself"and"how"the"viewers"use"it."Furthermore,"it"is"similar"to"usage"
indicators" utilized" in" previous" research." However," we" will" still" discuss" the"
implications"of"our"results"regarding"the"three"other"types"of"usage."
Tension(release(motivations(
The" largest" effect"was" found"between" tension" release"and"hours"watched."This"
supports" our" initial" hypothesis" and" is" in" line"with" previous" research" on" social"
media" (Whiting & Williams, 2013)," YouTube" (Hanson & Haridakis, 2008),"
Facebook" (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2010)," online" services" (Lin, 2002)" and"
Internet"use"(Courtois, Mechant, De Marez, & Verleye, 2009)."This"relation"is"quite"
natural,"as"a"person"seeking"escape"and"tension"release"would"tend"to" increase"
the"pure"hourly"usage"of"the"service"if"it"serves"to"fulfil"the"need."The"distraction"
provided" by" viewing" experience" in" itself" might" be" the" goal," rather" than" the"
viewing" experience" facilitating" some" other" need," indicating" the" significance" of"
hours"spent"watching"gaming"streams."Tension"release"seems"to"be"an"important"
motivator"also"when"it"comes"to"other"types"of"usage,"as"it"has"a"positive"impact"
46"
"
on" not" just" hours" watched," but" also" on" streamers" watched" and" streamers"
followed." This" demonstrates" that" users" seeking" to" fulfil" a" need" for" escape" and"
diversion"watch" a" larger" amount" of" streams" than" those" not"motivated" by" this"
need"type,"as"perhaps"the"quantity"is"more"important"than"quality."A"person"for"
whom"these"needs"are"important"might"want"to"have"a"stream"easily"accessible,"
rather"than"just"watching"when"a"particular"interesting"streamer"is"broadcasting.""
Even"though"the"effect"on"streamers"followed"is"below"the"0,1"threshold,"it"is"still"
significant"enough"to"warrant"closer"attention."We"feel"that"this"again"may"be"a"
sign"of"convenience,"as" following"a"number"of"streamer"means" the"user" is" then"
notified"when"they"start"streaming,"
The" fact" that" there" is" no" significant" relationship" between" tension" release" and"
subscription" is" perhaps" not" surprising," as" the" act" of" subscription" does" not"
necessarily" directly" affect" the" tension" release" needs." Very" few" of" the" tangible"
benefits" acquired" from" subscribing" to" a" streamer" help" the" user" in" question"
achieve" escape" or" diversion." Due" to" this" lack" of" concrete" incentives," it" seems"
quite"natural" that" there" is"no" significant" relation"here."As"mentioned"earlier" in"
this" study," the" most" common" tangible" benefits" obtained" from" subscribing" are"
access"to"streamer"specific"chat"emoticons"and"a"visual"indicator"next"to"the"user"
name" in" the" chat." Additionally," some" streamers" offer" access" to" subscriberHonly"
content,"such"as"the"opportunity"to"play"with"the"streamer."In"the"context"of"the"
online"music" service" Last.fm," activity" in" the" community"was" a"more" important"
indicator" of" subscription" than" consumption" of" music" (Oestreicher-Singer &
Zalmanson, 2013)."Even"though"there"are"significant"differences"in"subscribing"to"
a" service" and" subscribing" to" an" individual" streamer," there" are" still" similarities"
that" offer" an" explanation" to" this" phenomenon." If" community" activity" is" an"
important"predictor,"it"stands"to"reason"that"the"needs"governed"by"the"tension"
release"category"would"not"directly"affect"subscription."
Affective(motivations(
Moving"on"to"affective"motivations,"we"find"three"significant"effects."Firstly,"there"
is"a"positive"effect"between"affective"motivations"and"hours"watched."This" is" in"
accordance"with" out" hypothesis" and" also" supported" by" previous" research" into"
streaming" (Shaw, 2013; Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014)," esports" (Cheung &
47"
"
Huang, 2011),"social"media"(Whiting & Williams, 2013; Papacharissi & Mendelson,
2010)" and" video" sharing" websites (Hanson & Haridakis, 2008; Cha, 2014)." The"
moderate"size"of"the"effect"suggests"a"person"might"find"the"enjoyment"they"are"
looking"for"after"a"certain"amount"of"usage"of"the"service,"after"which"additional"
hours"become"superfluous."In"the"case"of"YouTube,"the"entertainment"aspect"was"
important" (Hanson & Haridakis, 2008)" for"comedy"news"watching,"and" it"can"be"
argued"that"video"game"streaming"falls"in"a"similar"area."Based"on"this"we"might"
have"expected"an"even"greater"effect"to"exist"between"affective"motivations"and"
hours" watched." The" positive" effect" on" streamers" watched" was" equally" of"
moderate" size." This" could" indicate" that" watching" a" small" number" of" different"
streamers," rather" than" seeking" out" a" larger" number" of" streamers" achieves" the"
enjoyment"sought"through"the"service."Furthermore,"this"could"also"indicate"that"
the" person" in" question" has" trouble" finding" a" larger" number" of" streamers" that"
produce"content"that"they"think"are"enjoyable."There"was"also"a"positive"effect"on"
streamers" followed." As" streamers" followed" and" streamers" watched" are" quite"
closely" related," it" is" not" surprising" to" see" effects" close" to" each" other" in" size." A"
person" for"whom"affective"motivations"are" important"might"very"well" seek"out"
the"same"particular"streamers"time"after"time,"both"watching"them"and"choosing"
to"follow"them."
As"was"the"case"with"tension"release,"no"significant"relation"was"found"between"
affective"motivation"and" subscription."As"we"discussed"previously," the" tangible"
benefits"offered"by"subscription"serve"as"a"limiter"to"the"types"of"needs"that"can"
be" met" through" subscription." Here" we" could" expect" to" find" some" factors" that"
would" contribute" to" the" need" for" enjoyment" and" entertainment." We" might"
consider" the" potential" extra" content" in" the" form" of" participatory" events" for"
subscribers" to" contribute" something" positive" to" the" overall" entertainment" of" a"
user."That"is"to"say,"by"subscribing"the"user"would"then"get"more"opportunities"
that"could"lead"to"increased"levels"of"entertainment."However,"our"results"show"
only"a"small"effect"that"is"not"statistically"significant,"so"we"have"to"conclude"that"
this"hypothetical"effect"is"not"observable"in"our"sample."
48"
"
Cognitive(motivations(
Cognitive"motivations"show"a"small"positive"effect"on"hours"watched."The"size"of"
the"effect"is"slightly"below"the"0,1"threshold,"but"shows"a"good"level"of"statistical"
significance." The" positive" effect" supports" our" original" hypotheses" of" cognitive"
motivations," and" is" further" supported" by" previous" research"within" the" field" of"
video" game" streaming" (Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014)" and" social" media"
(Whiting & Williams, 2013; Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2010)."We"can"see" that" in"
the"quest"for"knowledge"and"information,"a"user"is"driven"to"increased"use"of"the"
service," even" if" the" increased" usage" is" not" large."One" reason"might" be" that" the"
value"obtained"subsides"after"a"short"while."Perhaps"viewers"driven"by"cognitive"
motivation" seek" fulfilment" for" the" need" of" information" through" other" sources"
rather" than" streams." As" we" asked" respondents" about" their" attitudes" towards"
learning"about"game"strategies"and"game"products,"these"are"needs"that"can"be"
met"through"other"channels."Perhaps"the"live"aspect"of"video"game"streaming"is"
detrimental"to"the"learning"experience"compared"to"video"recordings"of"similar"
content" available" through" services" such" as"YouTube."On" recorded"videos"users"
have" the"option" to"pause" and"go"back" and"watch"a" segment" again" if" there"was"
anything" they" did" not" fully" understand," something" not" available" in" live"
broadcasts." On" the" other" hand," the" live" experience" and" social" interaction"
available"between"viewer"and"streamer"allows"for"a"level"of"personalisation"that"
is"not"available"for"preHrecorded"material."Viewers"can"ask"streamers"direct"and"
specific"questions"regarding"games"and"get"answers"that"then"help"them"further"
their"understanding."Learning"about"games"has"been"shown"to"be"a"major"reason"
for"initially"starting"to"watch"streams"(Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014)."Based"
on"this"previous"research"and"the"interviews"conducted"at"the"start"of"this"study,"
we"expected" learning" to"have"one"of" the" larger" effects" among"all" relations," but"
this" is" not" indicated" by" our" results." So" even" though" our" hypothesis" was"
supported," we" question" the" disparity" between" the" results" and" the" expected"
results.""
An" effect" of" similar" size" is" observed" for" streamers" watched." Users" for" whom"
cognitive" motivations" are" important" might" watch" only" a" select" amount" of"
streamers"that"offer"the"information"and"teaching"that"they"are"seeking."The"fact"
49"
"
that"many"streamers"simply"play"the"game"without"elaborating"on"their"decision"
making" may" lead" to" information" seekers" turning" their" gaze" elsewhere." This"
naturally" has" an" impact" on" the" number" of" streamers" watched" by" a" person"
pursuing"knowledge"and"learning."Interestingly,"we"observe"no"significant"effect"
for"cognitive"motivations"on"streamers"followed."Notable"is"that"this"was"the"only"
motivation"type"that"did"not"show"a"significant"effect"on"streamers"followed."This"
seems" to" indicate" that" viewers" looking" to" learn" might" not" follow" any" more"
streamers" than"other"users."We"might" expect" a" positive" effect" here," due" to" the"
reason"of"not"all"streamers"being"equally"enlightening."It"would"stand"to"reason"
that"viewers"who"respond"to"cognitive"motivations"would"follow"the"streamers"
that"they"feel"teach"them"something,"as"this"in"turn"would"help"them"meet"their"
needs."
Much"as"with"the"previous"motivations,"we"do"not"find"an"effect"on"subscribing"
here" either." The" reasoning" might" be" similar" to" what" we" presented" for" the"
previous" motivation" types." The" act" of" subscribing" does" commonly" not" offer"
tangible"cognitive"benefits."Certain"streamers"might"have"days"when"the"chat"is"
only"open"to"subscribers,"and"the"streamers"then"interact"more"actively"with"the"
chat."One"might"argue"that"this"might"facilitate"a"teacher"and"student"relationship"
that"would"be"beneficial"for"a"viewer"driven"by"cognitive"motivations,"and"hence"
they" would" be" inclined" to" subscribe." Especially" for" cognitive" motivations" the"
notion" of" perceived" value" might" be" of" importance." Economic" value" has" been"
shown" to"have"a" significant" impact"on"willingness" to"pay" for"social"networking"
sites" (Vock, van Dolen, & de Ruyter, 2013)." If" a" person" looks" to" streamers" to"
supply" them" with" information" that" might" save" them" money," paying" for" the"
service" itself" might" seem" like" a" bad" idea." Perhaps" the" extra" value" gained" by"
subscribing"does"not" exceed" the"value"obtained," thus" creating"a"negative"value"
proposition"for"the"person"driven"by"cognitive"needs."
Personal(integrative(motivations(
Looking"at"personal"integrative"motivations,"we"find"our"first"negative"relations,"
and"thus"the"first"disproved"hypotheses."Personal"integrative"shows"a"moderate"
negative"effect"on"hours"watched,"which"is"opposite"to"what"we"expected."As"the"
scale" instrument" used" to" measure" personal" integrative" was" solely" focused" on"
50"
"
recognition,"we"will"try"to"explain"our"findings"based"on"the"need"for"recognition"
in"the"personal" integrative"context."This"result" is"partially" in" line"with"previous"
research"within"the"context"of"online"learning,"specifically"between"the"user"and"
their" peers" (Hernandez, Montaner, Sese, & Urquizu, 2011)." Even" though" video"
game"streaming"is"mostly"a"hedonistic"activity,"we"feel"that"drawing"parallels"to"
online" learning" is" feasible"when"examining"cognitive"motivations."The"negative"
relation"between"personal"integrative"and"hours"watched"seems"to"indicate"that"
the"level"of"recognition"obtained"from"using"the"service"does"not"fulfil"underlying"
needs." Hence" individuals" for"whom" these" needs" are" important" use" the" service"
less" than" others." Likely" these" needs" are" fulfilled" through" other" channels." This"
may"be"explained"by"the"fact"that"the"social"dimension"of"a"channel"changes"with"
its" size" (Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014)." A" stream"with" a" larger" amount"of"
viewers"also"means"more"people"participating"in"the"chat."For"popular"streamers"
the" chat" may" descend" into" chaos," thus" eliminating" any" chance" for" civilized"
discourse."As"much"of"obtaining"respect"from"other"viewers"and"streamers"relies"
on"being"able" to"use" the"chat" to"display"a" certain" level"of"understanding"of" the"
game"or"subject"at"hand,"this"is"a"clear"problem."The"scale"used"in"this"study"did"
not" particularly" distinguish" between" the" recognition" obtained" from" streamers"
and"other"viewers."One"might"argue"that"for"certain"individuals"these"two"types"
of" recognition" are"markedly" different," as" has" been" shown" to" be" the" case"when"
looking" at" differences" in" motivational" impact" between" peers" and" instructors"
(Hernandez, Montaner, Sese, & Urquizu, 2011)."Using"separate"scales" for" the" two"
might" unearth" hidden" differences." Interestingly," building" reputation" has" been"
shown"to"positively"affect"continued"use"for"video"sharing"sites"such"as"YouTube"
(Chiang & Hsiao, 2014)."Perhaps"the"recommendation"features"available"through"
YouTube"facilitate"a"stronger"sense"of"reputation"gaining"than" is"present" in" the"
video"game"streaming"context."
As" with" hours" watched," we" also" find" a" moderate" negative" relation" between"
personal" integrative" motivations" and" streamers" watched." Much" as" with" hours"
watched," it" seems" watching" a" larger" number" of" different" streamers" does" not"
contribute"positively"to"the"level"of"recognition"perceived."The"negative"relation"
might"also"be"a"sign"that"the"person"enjoys"a"very"particular"set"of"streamers,"one"
that" is" quite" small" and" not" easily" supplemented" by" new" streamers." A" person"
51"
"
seeking" recognition"might" have" found" a" select" few" streamers" that" offer" a" high"
level" of" interaction" as" well" as" communities" that" offer" support" and"
encouragement"to"other"community"members."As"was"shown"by"Hamilton"et"al."
(2014)," larger" audiences" pose" a" problem" for" preserving" a" level" of" personal"
communication."
Surprisingly," we" find" a" small" positive" effect" between" personal" integrative"
motivations" and" streamers" followed." The" effect" is" slightly" below" the" 0,1"
threshold" level" but" statistically" significant." This" is" interesting," as" for" the" other"
types" of"motivations"we" saw" effects" of" similar" size" for" streamers"watched" and"
streamers"followed,"but"here"we"find"an"opposite"relation"between"the"two."One"
explanation" for" this" might" be" that" while" people" for" whom" recognition" is"
important" might" watch" only" a" small" number" of" streamers," they" still" follow" a"
larger"amount."This"might"have"to"do"with"the"fact"that"as"they"watch"for"fewer"
hours" per" week" than" some" other" users," they" might" want" to" have" a" larger"
selection"of"appropriate"streamers"to"watch."Following"a"slightly" larger"amount"
of"different"streamers,"suiting"their"needs,"then"allows"these"users"to"pick"out"the"
ones" they"wish" to"watch"when" they" spent" the" limited" time" that" they"do"on" the"
service."
We"do"not" find" a" significant" relation"between"personal" integrative"motivations"
and"subscription."This" is" somewhat"unexpected," as" compared" to"other" types"of"
motivations;"subscription"offers"some"benefits"more"closely"relation"to"personal"
integrative"needs."We"argue"that"by"belonging"to"the"subscribers"for"a"particular"
stream," the"person" in" question" then"belongs" to" a"more" exclusive" social" club"of"
sorts."It"would"stand"to"reason"that"by"belonging"to"this"clique,"the"person"would"
receive" positive" reinforcement" from" the" other" subscribers." Perhaps" the" lack" of"
effect" here" goes" to" show" that" this" is" not" the" case," and" that" the" subscriber"
community" for" a" given" stream" is" not" as" important," at" least" when" it" comes" to"
receiving"recognition."
Social(integrative(motivations(
We"find"that"social" integrative"motivations"effect"hours"watched"on"a"moderate"
level." This" supports" our" initial" hypothesis" and" stands" to" reason" as" using" the"
52"
"
service" for"more" hours" per"week" clearly" gives" a" person"more" opportunities" to"
interact"with"the"rest"of"the"Twitch"community."The"result" is"further"supported"
by"previous"research"in"video"game"streaming"and"esports"(Hamilton, Garretson,
& Kerne, 2014; Scholz, 2011)," social" media" (Whiting & Williams, 2013; Pai &
Arnott, 2013; Chen, 2011; Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2010)" and" playing" video"
games"(Sherry, Lucas, Greenberg, & Lachlan, 2006)."These"added"opportunities"for"
interaction" can" then" translate" into" positive" experiences" fulfilling" the" needs"
covered" by" social" integrative" motivations." We" might" expect" the" quality" of"
interaction" to" be" of" importance" for" a" person" for" whom" social" integrative"
motivations" are" significant," but" also" notice" that" the" pure" number" of" streamers"
watched"is"of"importance."The"effect"is"still"not"very"large,"signifying"that"a"large"
number"of"streamers"watched"is"not"necessarily"valuable"in"itself."However,"this"
signifies" that" it" is" not" only" a" limited" number" of" streamers" and" adhering"
communities"that"offer"the"opportunity"to"interact"socially"in"a"meaningful"way."
The" effect" on" streamers" followed" is" slightly" larger" than" the" previous" two,"
indicating" that" people," for" whom" social" integrative" motives" are" important,"
appreciate" the" ability" to" follow" streamers." Having" a" larger" group" of" potential"
streamers"to"choose" from"when"watching"gives"more" flexibility" in"choosing"the"
ones" interesting" for" the"person."The" added" flexibility"might" then" translate" to" a"
higher"level"of"social"involvement"as"the"person"can"choose"the"streams"offering"
the"largest"social"aspect"from"an"already"curated"list."""
This" is" the" sole" motivational" type" where" we" find" a" significant" effect" on"
subscription," and" a"moderate" one" at" that."What" this"might" indicate" is" that" the"
feeling" a" person" gains" from" supporting" a" streamer" is" an" important" factor" in"
fulfilling"social"integrative"needs."By"supporting"a"streamer"and"following"him"or"
her,"the"person"can"build"a"deeper"involvement"with"the"community"and"perhaps"
feel"like"a"larger"part"of"shared"experiences."As"their"subscription"activity"shows"
up"as"an"automated"message" in" the"chat,"we"have"observed" that"other"viewers"
often" offer" positive" encouragement" to" new" and" renewing" subscribers." The"
impact"of"social"factors"on"choosing"to"subscribe"to"a"service"has"been"shown"to"
be"relevant"for"other"online"services"(Oestreicher-Singer & Zalmanson, 2013),"thus"
strengthening" our" view" of" social" integrative" motives" are" highly" relevant" to"
53"
"
subscription." Compared" to"more" traditional" services"where" the" subscription" is"
simply" to" the" service" itself" and" not" the" content" producers," there" is" clearly" a"
possibility"for"an"increased"social"aspect."In"the"context"of"video"game"streaming,"
when"a"user"subscribes"to"a"streamer,"he"or"she"can"feel"good"about"supporting"
that" particular" streamer" and" perhaps" enabling" them" to" continue" producing"
content."
"
54"
"
Conclusion(
In"this"chapter,"we"will"cover"the"main"implications"of"this"study."We"will"start"by"
discussing"the"theoretical" implications"and"then"move"on"to"cover"the"potential"
industry"implications"when"it"comes"to"designing"video"game"streaming"services."
We"will" then" shortly" talk" about" the" limitations" of" this" study," before" discussing"
potential"of"further"avenues"of"scientific"research."
Theoretical(implications(
In" this" study" we" built" upon" the" UGT" framework" and" showed" how" five" main"
motivational" factors" from" within" UGT" relate" to" the" activity" of" watching" video"
game"streams."We"investigated"four"indicators"of"use:"hours"watched,"streamers"
watched," streamers" followed" and" subscription." Among" our" data" set" containing"
1091"respondents"we"found"support"for"a"majority"of"our"hypotheses"connecting"
motivational" factors" and" these" four" indicators" of" use." We" showed" important"
effects"on"usage"from"cognitive,"affective,"tension"release"and"social"motivations."
Our" results" are" support" previous" research" in" video" game" streaming" (Hamilton,
Garretson, & Kerne, 2014; Shaw, 2013)," esports" (Cheung & Huang, 2011; Scholz,
2011),"social"media"(Whiting & Williams, 2013; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000),"video"
sharing" (Hanson & Haridakis, 2008; Cha, 2014)."Our"results"show"that" the"act"of"
watching"others"play"video"games"has"many"common"motivational"factors"with"
other" online" media" activities" with" a" social" element." This" study" continues" the"
trend"of"UGT"research"within"contemporary"forms"of"media,"contributing"to"the"
general"acceptance"of"UGT"as"a"framework"within"online"media.""
This"study"found"that"subscription"behaviour"was"difficult"to"predict"through"the"
UGT" based" five" need" types." We" found" a" considerably" lower" level" of" variance"
explained" when" compared" to" the" other" types" of" usage" we" investigated." We"
believe" this"goes" to" show" that" the" relation"users"have" to" spending"money"on"a"
service,"which" is"primarily" free" to"use," is"complicated."Even"though"we" found"a"
proportionally" large"amount"of" subscribers"within"our"data"when"compared" to"
other" services" (Oestreicher-Singer & Zalmanson, 2013)," the" low" level"of"variance"
explained"should"still"serve"as"an"indicator"of"this"complex"relation."
55"
"
On" a"more"novel" level,"we" found" support" for"Reddit" as" a" very" effective"way" to"
recruit" survey" respondents." During" our" active" posting" periods" we" received"
hundreds" of" survey" responses" in" a" very" short" time." We" consider" Reddit" an"
excellent" platform" when" conducting" studies" based" on" online" services" with" an"
active" community" surrounding" said" service." Along" with" Reddit," Twitter" also"
showed" its"potential" as" a" good"medium" for" spreading" an" idea"over" the"natural"
limits"of"your"personal" social"media"sphere,"as"was"shown" in" this" study"by" the"
number" of" impressions" our" survey" link" received." This" was" mainly" achieved"
through"the"help"of"other"Twitter"users"with"a" larger"following."Naturally"there"
are"also"other"ways"to"approach"the"problem"of"recruiting"survey"respondents,"
such" as" directly" using" the" service" itself." However," that" requires" an" active"
partnership"relation"with"the"service" in"question" in"order"to"access"their"users,"
something"that"was"not"possible"within"the"confines"of"this"study."
We"feel"the"results"obtained"from"this"study"should"also"be"applicable"outside"the"
realm"of"video"game"streaming."Many"of"the"motivational"factors"are"likely"to"be"
found"within"other"forms"of" live"media"featuring"a" level"of" interaction."The"fact"
that"the"activity"being"performed"is"playing"a"game"should"not"serve"as"a"limiting"
factor" when" reflecting" on" areas" of" application." We" can" see" an" increased"
importance"of"interactive"elements"in"more"traditional"media,"such"as"television"
news." As" shown" by" our" results" regarding" social" interaction," facilitating"
communication"between"hot"and"cool"media"is"essential,"as"previously"shown"in"
the"video"game"streaming"context"(Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014)."
Practical(implications(for(video(game(streaming(
A" majority" of" the" effects" we" investigated" were" positive," indicating" their"
importance" for" service" usage." We" would" like" to" discuss" some" areas" of"
improvement," based" on" the" effects" observed" within" this" study." The" main"
motivational" factor" that" showed" negative" effects" was" personal" integrative." By"
developing"a"video"game"streaming"service"such"that"it"helps"facilitate"the"need"
for" recognition" and" respect" from" peers," one" could" potentially" change" this"
negative"effect"into"a"positive"one."If"the"end"goal"is"to"increase"pure"usage"of"the"
service,"this"could"have"a"major"impact"on"the"number"of"hours"a"person,"whom"
rates" personal" integrative"motives" highly," uses" the" service." How" to" practically"
56"
"
accomplish"this"is"difficult,"as"we"see"a"problematic"balance"between"the"size"of"
community"and"the"sense"of"being"able"to"communicate"(Hamilton, Garretson, &
Kerne, 2014)." A" larger" stream" community" may" seem" like" a" more" worthwhile"
source" of" respect" than" a" smaller" one," but" at" the" same" time" the" logistics" of"
hundreds" of" people" taking" part" in" the" chat" can" turn" the" experience" into"
something"unpleasant."The"underlying"anonymity"that"is"present"can"also"cause"
negative" behaviour" to" manifest," a" phenomenon" that" certainly" does" not" help"
receiving"recognition.""
As"we"see"from"the"effect"of"tension"release"on"usage,"building"these"services"to"
facilitate"escapism"and"diversion"is"incredibly"important."We"can"see"that"not"just"
Twitch" but" many" other" video" game" streaming" services" already" have"
sophisticated" systems" in" place" to" help" the" user" browse" for" content." Perhaps" a"
transition" towards" recommendation" based" on" previous" usage" could" serve" as" a"
logical"next"step"in"this"progression"of"helping"users"find"new"content."This"might"
also"help"users"find"new"streamers"to"follow,"and"potentially"then"subscribe"to,"
helping"drive"revenue."
Based" on" our" research," social" integrative" motivations" are" the" driving" force"
behind"subscriptions."As"the"variance"explained"was"fairly"low,"the"results"should"
naturally" be" taken"with" a" certain" level" of" uncertainty."However," building" upon"
the"assumption"and" logic" that"social"motives"are" important," services" looking" to"
increase" the" number" of" subscribers" should" pay" very" close" attention" to"
developing"the"service"with"this"in"mind."Perhaps"an"increase"in"perceived"social"
benefits" could" drive" even" more" viewers" from" mere" followers" to" dedicated"
subscribers."Looking" into"popular"streams,"we" find"many"viewers" that"not"only"
subscribe" as" a" one" time" action," but" renew" the" subscription" for" long"periods" of"
time,"thus"building"a"certain"level"of"loyalty"and"dedication"towards"the"streamer."
Perhaps"rewarding"these"users"for"their"loyalty"could"be"a"considered"as"a"way"of"
further" enhancing" the" experience" for" high" activity" users." Currently" all"
subscribers" are" on" the" same" level," no" matter" how" long" they" have" subscribed."
Certain" streamers" may" naturally" treat" long" time" subscribers" with" more"
reverence,"but"this"is"not"something"directly"supported"by"the"service"itself."This"
57"
"
could"have"positive"benefits"for"the"service"itself,"as"well"as"the"streamer"and"the"
person"subscribing."
Limitations(
As" was" stated" in" the" introductory" section" of" this" study," we" focused" solely" on"
users"of"one"video"game"streaming"service,"Twitch."This"is"naturally"a"limitation"
for" this" study," as" we"might" find" slightly" different" motivations" among" users" of"
other" video" game" streaming" services." The" nature" of" watching" video" game"
streams" should" be" fairly" similar" between" services," but" the" specifics" of" each"
service"may" facilitate"different" types"of" behaviour." For" example," other" services"
may" not" have" the" subscription" or" following" features" found" on" Twitch," thus"
meaning" our" findings" related" to" those" functionalities" are" not" applicable." There"
might" exist" differences"based"not" only" on" the" features" of" the" service" itself," but"
also"on"demographical"differences"found"between"the"two"services."However,"we"
feel" that" as" Twitch" covers" such" a" large" portion" of" the" video" game" streaming"
market," the"differences"between"users" found"within" that"particular"service"and"
other"video"game"streaming"services"should"not"be"a"major"concern."
Another" limiting" factor" stems" from" the" nature" of" open" surveys." Survey"
participants" are" often" selfHselective," as" users" who" are" not" very" active" on" the"
service"tend"to"not"participate"in"surveys"of"this"kind"to"the"same"extent"as"active"
users."This"might"lead"into"a"bias"towards"certain"user"types,"in"our"case"mostly"
highly" active" users." This" can" be" seen" from" the" fact" that" 22,9%" of" our" survey"
population"subscribed"to"one"streamer"or"more."This"is"magnitudes"higher"than"
for" example" the" percentage" of" Last.fm"users" paying" for" the" service,"which"was"
shown"to"be"around"0,9%"(Oestreicher-Singer & Zalmanson, 2013)."Naturally"these"
are"two"very"different"services,"but"it"goes"to"show"the"slight"bias"towards"active"
users."While"this"may"be"an"existing"bias"in"the"study,"it"is"not"necessarily"a"bad"
one,"as"active"users"are" likely" to"be"more" interesting" for"video"game"streaming"
service"developers."There"might"be"fewer"active"users"than"nonHactive"users,"but"
these"users"might"be"more"prone"to"spend"money"on"the"service,"as"was"seen"by"
the"proportion"of"subscribers"versus"nonHsubscribers."
58"
"
The"psychometric"scales"chosen"were"based"on"the"interviews"presented"in"the"
preliminary"study"as"well"as"previous"research"and"our"expert"knowledge"of"the"
video"game"streaming"environment."However,"as"our"path"model"accounted"for"
25,8%"of"variance"explained,"we"acknowledge"that"there"might"be"motivational"
factors"that"were"not"included"in"our"study."Doing"a"more"thorough"study"might"
lead"to"a"higher"percentage"of"variance"explained,"but"in"previous"UGT"studies"of"
a" similar"nature" this" is" a" fairly" common" level" of" variance" explained" to" achieve."
Another" factor" worth" considering" is" that" while" many" other" studies" measure"
intent" towards" continued" usage," we" measured" actual" usage" in" hours." This"
approach"may"lead"to"a" lower"level"of"variance"explained,"but"perhaps"a"higher"
level"of"reliability."
Further(research(directions(
This" study"did"not" explore"demographical" differences"within" the"population"of"
video" game" stream" viewers." This" could" be" a" fruitful" direction" for" further"
research," as" we" could" expect" to" find" differences" between" key" demographic"
indicators."For"example"gender"has"shown"to"impact"the"valuation"of"usefulness"
among" technology"users" (Venkatesh & Morris, 2000)." In" this"study,"we"collected"
data" on" gender," occupation," country" of" residence" and" income," all" important"
demographic" factors" usable" in" future" research." We" noticed" a" very" male"
dominated"gender"distribution,"in"line"with"web"traffic"data"available"(Quantcast,
2015)."
Another" interesting"research"direction"might"be" to"study"how"various" forms"of"
usage"of"the"service"impacts"motivational"factors."We"theorize"that"consumers"of"
different"types"of"game"genres"experience"different"motivational"factors."As"some"
games"are"highly"competitive"while"others"are"so"called"sandbox"games"with"no"
inherent"objective,"the"motives"for"watching"are"likely"to"vary"considerably."This"
study" identified" several"activities" that"users" can"partake" in" through" the"Twitch"
service," besides" just" watching" games" being" played." These" are" also" important"
forms"of"usage,"and"as"such"could"be"studied"to"build"a"better"understanding"of"
differences"among"users"who"take"part" in" the"various"activities."Users"who"use"
chat" functionalities"a" lot"might"have"a"different"behavioural"pattern" than"users"
who"avoid"chatting"altogether."
59"
"
This" study" did" not" touch" upon" the" subject" of" donations" within" video" game"
streaming." This" is" an" activity" different" from" purely" subscribing," and" one" that"
seems"to"be"increasingly"popular."Most"of"the"popular"streamers"on"Twitch"offer"
some" avenue" for" donating," and" often" display" the" top" donors" live" during" the"
stream." There" have" been" several" examples" of" individuals" donating" very" large"
sums"of"money" to" a" single" streamer," totalling" in" the" hundreds" of" thousands" of"
dollars" (Conners, 2014)." Many" users" also" regularly" donate" smaller" sums" to"
streamers." Why" people" donate" to" game" streamers" would" be" an" interesting"
avenue" of" research," and" one" tied" quite" closely" to" motivational" factors" for"
consuming"the"service"in"a"more"general"manner."The"motivations"for"donating"
might" be" related" to" subscribing," as" there" are" a" certain" levels" of" similarity"
between" the" two" activities" in" the" context" of" video" game" streaming." Finding"
similarities" and" differences" between" behavioural" drivers" for" donation" and"
subscription" would" be" good" in" order" to" also" build" a" further" understanding" of"
underlying"reasons"for"subscribing"that"were"not"covered"in"this"study."
Another"very" current" topic" is" esports."The"general" esports"business"has"grown"
strongly,"and"examining"the"relation"between"esports"and"video"game"streaming"
could"be"very"fruitful."As"mentioned"in"this"paper,"there"have"been"some"forays"
into" this" field" of" research" (Cheung" &" Huang," 2011)," but" a"more" inHdepth" look"
comparing"the"motivations"of"esports"spectating"and"video"game"watching"might"
prove"helpful"in"understanding"the"differences"and"common"aspects"of"the"two."
" "
60"
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68"
"
Appendix(A(
Factor( ( Value(
Age$(years)$ Average$ 22,94
$ Median$ 22,00
$ SD$ 5,867
Sex$(%)$ Male$ 92,3$
$ Female$ 7,7$
Tenure$(months)$ Average$ 22,11
$ Median$ 21,00
$ SD$ 14,603
Registered$account$(%)$ Yes$ 93,2
$ No$ 6,8
Has$streamed$(%)$ Yes$ 38,7
$ No$ 61,3
Hours$watched$per$week$(h/week)$ Average$ 11,014
$ Median$ 7,000
$ SD$ 12,0502
Streamers$watched$per$week$(n/week)$ Average$ 5,57
$ Median$ 4,00
$ SD$ 4,965
Streamers$followed$(n)$ Average$ 26,41
$ Median$ 10,00
$ SD$ 52,077
Is$subscriber$(%)$ Yes$ 22,90
$ No$ 77,1$
Appendix(A(Descriptive(statistics(of(survey(
"