「遷移到虛擬新世界」－－以人口遷移理論探討MMORPG玩家的轉換

＂Migrating to New Virtual World＂ Exploring MMORPG Switching through Demographic Migration Theory

線上遊戲業者不斷推出新款遊戲吸引玩家，因此如何令玩家轉換到新遊戲或留住玩家，對業者來說均是重要的議題，也對其經營績效有重大影響。人口地理學者提出「推－拉－繫住力理論（Push－Pull－Mooring Theory, PPM）」來解釋人口的遷徙，主要受到不滿意現居地的推力、新住地吸引的拉力、及個人的繫住因素交互作用的結果。本研究延伸該理論來解釋多人角色扮演線上遊戲（MMORPG）玩家在線上遊戲此一虛擬國度的轉換。經問卷調查蒐集654位玩家樣本資料，以結構方程模式（SEM）來檢測假說。研究顯示拉力與繫住力均對遊戲轉換有直接的效果，而推力則不顯著。

Massively Muliplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) has become a popular leisure-time activity. In this study, we adopted the Push-Pull-Mooring Theory, which analyzes human migration behavior according to the Demographic, to explain the intention of switching from an existing online game to a new one. An empirical survey was conducted to collect data from 654 gamers and then this data was analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results indicated that the Push-Pull-Mooring Theory can be extended to explain the switching intention of online game players. It appears that the ”Mooring effects” have a larger influence on the switching intention of the online game players than the ”Pull effects”. However, the ”Push effects” have no influence in switching intention. Finally, this article discusses the implications for future research and offers strategies for managers at online game providers.