Model Free Analysis Sample Clauses

Model Free Analysis. Evidence on how consumers behave in gamification systems comes from my model-free analyses. Specifically, Figure 9 depicts the effect of points pressure. I plot players’ playing rates versus the distance to the next reward threshold and include streaks greater than 4, because at those streak levels, the impact of nearness to goals can be seen more clearly. Players appear to show more interest in the game as they approach a goal. A downward trend line is spotted when I regress play rate on wins to next prize level (p < . 01). This observation suggests that points pressure has a positive influence on participation, a finding consistent with the findings from the loyalty program literature (▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, and Zheng 2006; ▇▇▇▇▇ 2004). To see how feedback from the gamification system influences player motivation and whether there is evidence for either Gambler’s fallacy or Hot-hand, I plot play decisions against loss streaks. As shown in Figure 10, a mild upward trend (p < .01) is spotted, implying that as players’ loss streaks increase, they become more interested in playing. Note that I only include loss streaks of up to 5 consecutive losses, because observations for loss streaks of greater lengths are limited. This evidence provides some support for Gambler’s fallacy rather than the Hot-hand. This implies that players are more likely to perceive this game as an inanimate random process. Next, I plot play decisions against player status level. Figure 11 shows playing rates across the four status levels. Status appears to positively affect motivation to play for players with ongoing streaks, especially the higher the status. By regressing play rate on status an upward trend is detected (p < .01). This model free evidence supports my speculation that in general players with higher status are more active. This model free analysis does not render support for my argument of potential detrimental impact of the top status, and I will use a statistical model for a deeper understanding of the data. The model free evidence provides a rough picture of relationships between factors of interest and player’s play intentions. However, this is not considering many observed and unobserved factors that potentially play crucial roles in the process. In the next section I will present the statistical model to tackle this issue.