Motivational factors on purchase intention of in-game hero skins in MOBA games

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games are increasing in popularity. These MOBA games are known to provide players with in-game purchasable add-ons. However, to date the impact of such in-game purchases, particularly hero skins, on player's motivation is unexplored. We use self-determination theory to develop a survey for measuring players' motivation when purchasing in-game hero skins of Defense of the Ancient 2 and League of Legends. 133 participants were surveyed on multiple factors related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, including, competence, autonomy, relatedness, money, rewards, praise, reputation and purchase intention. Results show that competence, praise, and rewards can independently predict the purchase intention and when combining competence, praise and rewards, only competence and praise can influence purchase intention. Thus, our study highlights that player’s competence and need for praise especially influences their intent to purchase in-game hero skins. While further validation is warranted, the survey presented in this thesis can assist to contribute to measuring the motivation on in-game hero skins purchases.