Purpose

Video game streaming (VGS) is emerging as an extremely popular, highly interactive, inordinately subscribed and very dynamic form of digital media. Incorporated environmental elements, gratifications and user pre-existing attitudes in VGS, this paper presents the development of an extended model of uses and gratification theory (EUGT) for predicting users' behavior in novel technological context.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed model was empirically tested in VGS context due to its popularity, interactivity and relevance. Data collected from 308 VGS users and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the hypotheses. Multi-model comparison technique was used to assess the explanatory power of EUGT.

Findings

The findings confirmed three significant types elements in determining VGS viewers' engagement, including gratifications (e.g. involvement), environmental cues (e.g. medium appeal) and user predispositions (e.g. pre-existing attitudes). The results revealed that emerging technologies provide potential opportunities for new motives and gratifications, and highlighted the significant of pre-existing attitudes as a mediator in the gratification-uses link.

Originality/value

This study is one of its kind in tackling the criticism on UGT of considering media users too rational or active. The study achieved this objective by considering environmental impacts on user behavior which is largely ignored in recent UGT studies. Also, by incorporating users pre-existing attitudes into UGT framework, this study conceptualized and empirically verified the higher explanatory power of EUGT through a novel multi-modal approach in VGS. Compared to other rival models, EUGS provides a more robust explanation of users' behavior. The findings contribute to the literature of UGT, VGS and users' engagement.

中文翻译：

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用于扩展视频游戏流中的使用和满足理论的多模型方法

目的

视频游戏流媒体 (VGS) 正在成为一种极其流行、高度互动、订阅量极高且充满活力的数字媒体形式。本文结合 VGS 中的环境元素、满足感和用户预先存在的态度，提出了使用和满足理论的扩展模型（EUGT）的发展，用于预测新技术背景下的用户行为。

设计/方法论/途径

由于其流行性、交互性和相关性，所提出的模型在 VGS 背景下进行了实证测试。使用从 308 位 VGS 用户收集的数据和结构方程模型 (SEM) 来评估这些假设。采用多模型比较技术评估EUGT的解释力。

发现

研究结果证实了决定 VGS 观众参与度的三个重要类型要素，包括满足感（例如参与度）、环境线索（例如媒体吸引力）和用户倾向（例如预先存在的态度）。结果表明，新兴技术为新的动机和满足感提供了潜在的机会，并强调了预先存在的态度作为满足感-使用环节的中介因素的重要性。

原创性/价值

这项研究是针对 UGT 认为媒体用户过于理性或过于活跃的批评的同类研究之一。该研究通过考虑环境对用户行为的影响来实现这一目标，而最近的 UGT 研究在很大程度上忽略了这一点。此外，通过将用户预先存在的态度纳入 UGT 框架，本研究通过 VGS 中的一种新颖的多模态方法概念化并实证验证了 EUGT 的更高解释力。与其他竞争对手模型相比，EUGS 为用户行为提供了更可靠的解释。这些发现为 UGT、VGS 和用户参与度的文献做出了贡献。