KOREASCHOLAR

In an online environment, hedonic value such as flow is manifested when consumers continuously engage in playing online games even if it incurs extra cost: financial, physical, and psychological. Consumers also have a loyalty to their games, and they enjoy playing them. They often purchase repeatedly games they are involved in. The framework of existing online game models does not fully explain flow and telepresence to loyalty and the purchase intention of game decision-making behavior. For this reason, we examined the relationships among telepresence to flow, flow to loyalty, and loyalty to purchase intentions. Study 1, which is a behavioral analysis by SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), examines how “flow and telepresence” influence loyalty and purchase intention in an online game behavior. The introduction of hedonic perspectives as flow and telepresence produced an important extension of the online game model. The conceivable factors which may explain this type of consumer behavior are the hedonic or experiential aspect of consumer behavior. We have three hypotheses. All hypotheses are supported at 0.1% significance level. Study 1 focused on the relationships of the constructs of the online game. We also measured the state of flow while game users are playing online games by EEG (Electroencephalogram). In a neural analysis, we found that the state of flow and neural correlates exist. By this, the flow variable reflects the real mental “state of flow.” Study2, which is a neural analysis, examines flow construct in the FPS game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by using Electroencephalogram (EEG). How much flow do the subjects experience while playing this online game? The purpose of this research is to select the epochs of EEG data when the subjects reported flow, correlate those with flow variables, and compare the EEG activity. The final goal is to select the flow variables which showed the highest correlation to AEP (Auditory Evoked Potential) Suppression value. We analyzed 8 AEPs to correlate flow. We found out that Alpha_RF is casually decided with the mean of flow which has six variables. Mean of Flow correlated to Alpha_RF -.419 significantly (5%). As subjects feel Flow, Alpha_RF is suppressed. This study focuses on the subjective flow experience and AEP suppression. We found out that the state of flow and neural correlates exist. By our analysis, the flow variable reflects the real mental “state of flow.” Therefore, when game companies develop their games, they should take into account how much flow people feel while they are playing the games. In addition, the state of flow should be used not only in developing and designing games but also in sports, entertainment, etc.

• Saeran Doh(Miyagi University)