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Riley Greer
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The Relationship Between Personality and Microtransaction Spending Habits : Looking for Conditioning from Arousing Features of Gambling by Comparing Direct Real-World Currency and Abstracted Virtual Currency Consumption of ‘ Loot Boxes ’
For my thesis , I wanted to know if a person ’ s Big Five personality type would influence that person ’ s microtransaction purchase decision in video games . I chose this topic because I frequently play video games that contain many different types of microtransactions and have always wondered if perhaps I was drawn to these types of games because of my personality , similarly to how gamblers are attracted to gambling .
This study took place over two semesters at SMU Guildhall . It improved my research and writing skills , expanded my knowledge of statistics and reading data , and provided excellent insight into how a person ’ s personality can have an effect on what they purchase .
The findings from this study could be very useful in the video game industry , as it identifies ways that we as an industry could self-regulate to avoid government intervention . It also helps set the foundation for potentially beneficial future studies into microtransactions in the video game industry .
I could not have done this study without the help and advice from my advisor professor Elizabeth Stringer .
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