1、1900 单词， 11500 英文字符 ， 3500 汉字 出处： Weiss T, Schiele S. Virtual worlds in competitive contexts: Analyzing eSports consumer needsJ. Electronic Markets, 2013, 23(4):307-316. Virtual worlds in competitive contexts: Analyzing eSports consumer needs Thomas Weiss & Sabrina Schiele Abstract More recently, 3D
2、 graphical environments on the Internet, that is virtual worlds, have moved to the center of scientific interest. Since virtual worlds are suggested to mold social computing, research has predominately focused on collaborative virtual worlds. Yet, virtual worlds increasingly move to competitive envi
3、ronments leaving operating businesses with the question as to what to offer in order to fulfill customers needs. To close this knowledge gap, we examine competitive virtual worlds in terms of eSports services intrinsically tyi ng cooperation and competition; we illuminate competitive and hedonic nee
4、d gratifications of continuous eSports use. We apply Uses and Gratifications theory reporting on ten in-depth expert interviews as well as survey data collected from 360 eSports players. We reveal that both competitive (competition and challenge) and hedonic need gratifications (escapism) drive cont
5、inuous eSports use. Keywords： Virtual worlds; eSports; Uses and gratifications Introduction Virtual worlds are persistent and non-persistent “graphical immersive environments that support a host of activities ranging from social interaction (.) to action-oriented gaming (.) They are multi-modal plat
6、forms that feature rich graphics, 3D rendering, high-fidelity audio and video, motion and interactivity” (Schultze 2010, 434). Especially in leisure settings, such virtual worlds reveal social interaction and learning functionalities (Petrakou 2010); they are said to foster social computing (Messinger et al. 2009). The literature on virtual worlds mainly stems from engineering and psychology. It predominately highlights the technological prerequisites and challenges of virtual worlds
