Luo Feng, Chen Jiaqi, Xu Tiantong
Business School, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 15;14:1259319. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1259319. eCollection 2023.
In the virtual world, whether or not to spend money on in-game items distinguishes paying players from non-paying players. Due to the existence of conspicuous psychology, paying players will greatly increase their conspicuous utility after purchasing an item in addition to the utility of the item itself. In this case, whether providing different versions of items can bring greater revenue to the game company is a question worth investigating. In this study, two analytical models considering conspicuous intensity are developed to compare the optimal pricing strategy of the game company providing the single-version item or dual-version items. The single-version item can only be purchased, while a relatively low-quality version that can be obtained by grinding is provided in the dual-version strategy. Grinding means using time in games to get items instead of spending in games. The results suggest that it is more profitable for companies to offer dual-version items when conspicuous intensity is strong. Game companies can also adjust the time needed to acquire the grinding version item and the quality gap between the two versions to achieve greater revenue. The research contributes to providing a theoretical basis and decision support for game companies to decide whether to provide different versions of in-game items.
在虚拟世界中，是否在游戏内物品上花钱区分了付费玩家和非付费玩家。由于存在炫耀心理，付费玩家购买物品后，除了物品本身的效用外，其炫耀效用会大幅增加。在这种情况下，提供不同版本的物品是否能给游戏公司带来更高收益是一个值得研究的问题。在本研究中，开发了两个考虑炫耀强度的分析模型，以比较游戏公司提供单版本物品或双版本物品时的最优定价策略。单版本物品只能购买，而双版本策略中提供了一个可以通过刷取获得的质量相对较低的版本。刷取是指在游戏中花费时间来获取物品而不是在游戏中花钱。结果表明，当炫耀强度较强时，公司提供双版本物品更有利可图。游戏公司还可以调整获取刷取版本物品所需的时间以及两个版本之间的质量差距，以实现更高的收益。该研究有助于为游戏公司决定是否提供不同版本的游戏内物品提供理论依据和决策支持。
