A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Content structure is king: An empirical study on gratifications, game genres and content type on Twitch
Authors: Sjoblom M, Torhonen M, Hamari J, Macey J
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Publication year: 2017
Journal: Computers in Human Behavior
Journal name in source: COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Journal acronym: COMPUT HUM BEHAV
Volume: 73
First page : 161
Last page: 171
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 0747-5632
eISSN: 1873-7692
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.036
Abstract
While video games have been widely investigated from the perspective of play, an emerging online media phenomenon is the spectating of video game play, captivating millions of users daily. This study investigates the relationship of video game genres, content type and viewer gratification in the context of live gaming. To study this phenomenon, we employ an online questionnaire study (N = 1097) to investigate six categories of gratifications: affective, information seeking, learning to play, personal integrative, social integrative & tension release motivations and their relationship with game genres and stream types. The results of this study demonstrate that "the medium is the message", highlight the importance of archetypal structure (i.e. the type of streamed content) over content topic (i.e. the genre of games being streamed), and help to build a better understanding of user generated content and the democratization of media. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
While video games have been widely investigated from the perspective of play, an emerging online media phenomenon is the spectating of video game play, captivating millions of users daily. This study investigates the relationship of video game genres, content type and viewer gratification in the context of live gaming. To study this phenomenon, we employ an online questionnaire study (N = 1097) to investigate six categories of gratifications: affective, information seeking, learning to play, personal integrative, social integrative & tension release motivations and their relationship with game genres and stream types. The results of this study demonstrate that "the medium is the message", highlight the importance of archetypal structure (i.e. the type of streamed content) over content topic (i.e. the genre of games being streamed), and help to build a better understanding of user generated content and the democratization of media. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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