The player traits and gratifications of casual and hardcore players in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Ingress, and Pokémon GO

John Dunham, Konstantinos Papangelis, Nicolas LaLone and Yihong Wang

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2025, vol. 44, issue 4, 805-828

Abstract: Location-based games (LBG) impose virtual spaces on top of physical locations. Studies have explored LBG from various perspectives. In this paper, we leverage several of the most popular LBG (circa 2019) to identify the players of such games: their traits, gratifications, and links therein. To achieve our objective, we deployed surveys to 2390 active LBG players utilising Tondello et al.'s Player Traits Model and Scale of Game Playing Preferences and Hamari's scale of LBG gratifications. Our findings (1) illustrate an association between player satisfaction and social aspects of the studied games, (2) illustrate how the core loops of the studied games impact the expressed gratifications and the affine traits of players, and most centrally, (3) indicate a vital distinction between hardcore and casual players based on both traits and gratifications. Overall, our findings elucidate the players of LBG, their traits, and the gratifications they derive from playing LBGs.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2024.2345293

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