If you build it they might stay: retention mechanisms in World of Warcraft

We analyze mechanisms of player retention and commitment in massively multiplayer online games. Our ground assumptions on player retention are based on a marketing model of customer retention and commitment. To measure the influence of gameplay, in-game sociality, and real-life status on player commitment, we use the following metrics: weekly play time, stop rate and number of years respondents have been playing the game. The cross-cultural sample is composed of 2865 World of Warcraft players from North-America, Europe, Taiwan, and Hong-Kong who completed an online questionnaire. We differentiate players in terms of demographic categories including age, region, gender and marital status.

Citation

Debeauvais, T.; Nardi, B.; Schiano, D. J.; Ducheneaut, N.; Yee, N. If you build it they might stay: retention mechanisms in World of Warcraft. 6th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG 2011); 2011 June 28 - July 1; Bordeaux, France.