To Mod or Not to Mod—An Empirical Study on Game Modding as Customer Value Co-Creation

Katarzyna Bilińska-Reformat, Anna Dewalska-Opitek and Magdalena Hofman-Kohlmeyer
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Katarzyna Bilińska-Reformat: Department of Marketing Management and Tourism, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland
Anna Dewalska-Opitek: Department of Organisational Relationship Management, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland
Magdalena Hofman-Kohlmeyer: Department of Organisational Relationship Management, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: A spiking interest in customer’s value co-creation may be observed lately, especially in the gaming industry. The general purpose of this study is to identify the customers’ inclination to perform game modding as a manner of value co-creation which benefits both companies and other game users. The current knowledge regarding the factors determining this behaviour is, relatively speaking, weak. The authors conducted qualitative research in the forms of in-depth interviews and focus groups with Polish game players (including mod users and mod creators). This study provides evidence for the peculiar motives of the customers performing different levels of engagement: mod users are driven by game enjoyment, focusing on the motives and social affiliation of multiplayer groups, while mod creators are mainly motivated by the enjoyment of creation, pride, creativity, and epistemic curiosity; engagement and social affiliation are received by mod creators with unique talents. The paper provides tentative evidence for specific customers’ motivations to co-create, which benefits both companies (game developers) and other game users. The players are perceived as an inseparable part of the gaming industry, who deliver extra value to the market through game modding activities. The paper provides useful, executable guidance on how to encourage and support players to engage in value co-creation in virtual words. The study may enrich our understanding of customers’ inclinations on both theoretical and empirical levels, showing some of the motivations both to use and create mods. In comparison to previous research, mod creators and mod users were researched separately in this study, and thus a distinction of their different sets of motives was enabled. Both practitioners and researchers may find what is uncovered in the paper engrossing.

Keywords: value co-creation; game modding; customer engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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