The Effect of Peer Conformity on Intention to Buy In-Game Virtual Goods in Adolescent Free Fire Online Game Players

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-118-0_177How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Peer Conformity; Intention To Buy In-Game Virtual Goods; Garena Free Fire; Online Gaming; Virtual Consumerism; Adolescent

Abstract

Along with the development of the internet, people’s entertainment has also changed to online games. One of the most played games in Indonesia is Garena Free Fire. This game is a Battle Royale type that combines online multiplayer video games and survival games. In addition, this game also sells virtual items in the form of functional and decorative items that can affect the fun and enjoyment of the game. The problem is, virtual goods in games is bought by children and teenagers who don’t have financial independence. One of the factors suspected of influencing purchase intention is their conformity to their peers. This study aims to determine the effect of peer conformity on the intention to buy in-game virtual goods among adolescent Garena Free Fire players. The participants were 126 teenagers with the following criteria: aged 11-22 years, being an active player in the Free Fire online game for at least three months (playing individually or in squads), and having purchased virtual goods at least once. Data were collected using peer conformity scale and intention to buy in-game virtual goods scale, then analyzed using Simple Linear Regression. The results showed that the research hypothesis was not proven (R = .047, R² = .002, F(1, 124) = .600, p>.05). The researcher conducted additional analysis to identify other factors that might explain the intention to purchase in-game virtual goods, such as demographics, motives, and group dynamics. It is recommended that future researchers examine the influence of age, economics, competitive motives (to win competitions, participate in "mabar" or play with friends, and collect the latest virtual items in games), and dynamics in player groups. It could be that peer conformity occurs within a player’s squad or community where players are members and not among other players in general.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yollawati Arifi
AU  - Aftina Nurul Husna
AU  - Laili Qomariyah
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/10/10
TI  - The Effect of Peer Conformity on Intention to Buy In-Game Virtual Goods in Adolescent Free Fire Online Game Players
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th Borobudur International Symposium on Humanities and Social Science 2022 (BIS-HSS 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1562
EP  - 1570
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-118-0_177
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-118-0_177
ID  - Arifi2023
ER  -