What Drives Consumption in Online Games? Homo Socio Interneticus Approach

The current development of online gaming technology can facilitate social interaction, forming a virtual society. This social interaction is continued with economic interaction, namely the consumption of online games. This research uses a multidisciplinary approach to understand consumption behavior in online games. The research takes place in Jakarta, Indonesia, and interviews three key opinion leaders in online game communities. This is qualitative research using grounded theory. The results show that microtransactions in online games are driven by the influence of structural and cultural dimensions in a virtual society, in this case, online games. In the context of virtual society, structural dimensions of pressure are found in the form of exploitation by developers and communities. However, online players resist and reconfirm these structural and cultural pressures, such as stopping consumption. So, there is duality in the social structure of virtual society. This adds new perspectives to existing research more concerned with monetization strategy.