Why do people play social network games? Dong-Hee Shin ⇑ , Youn-Joo Shin ⇑ Department of Interaction Science (WCU Program), Sungkyunkwan University, B307 International Hall, 53 Myeongnyun-dong 3-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-745, South Korea article info Article history: Available online 8 December 2010 Keywords: Social network games Perceived playfulness Perceived security User modeling abstract Recently, Social Network Games (SNGs) over social network services have become popular and have spawned a whole new subculture. This study examines the perceived factors which contribute to an SNG user’s behaviors. It proposes an SNG acceptance model based on integrating cognitive as well as affective attitudes as primary influencing factors. Results from a survey of SNG players validate that the proposed theoretical model explains and predicts user acceptance of SNG very well. The model shows fine measurement properties and establishes the perceived playfulness and security of SNGs as distinct constructs. The findings also reveal that flow plays a moderation role that affects various paths in the model. Based on the results of this study, both the appropriate practical implications for SNG marketing strategies and the theoretical implications are provided. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Online Social Network Services (SNS) have experienced expo- nential growth in membership in recent years (Barker, 2009). Along with the popular SNS trend, social games – essentially games created to be playable within existing major social net- working websites – seem poised to start a revolution in the game industry akin to the one initiated by downloadable casual games. A Social Network Game (SNG) is a type of browser game that is distributed primarily through social networks, and typi- cally features multiplayer and asynchronous gameplay mechan- ics (Järvinen, 2009). SNGs are amongst the most popular games played around the world, and include several products with tens of millions of players. ‘Top Eleven Football Manager’, ‘FarmVille’ and ‘Dawn of the Dragons’ are examples of popular social network games. These games using social connections have multiplied like wildfire on social networking sites. They represent a viable business opportunity for game developers, and approximately $98 million has been invested in social game companies last year. Mobile game developers, casual game developers, and web programmers are forging ahead with social games (Kleinman, 2009). In 2009, EA purchased Playfish, a developer of SNGs, in a deal worth $300 million, and another $100 million was provided upon completion of certain mile- stones (Grossman, 2009). While SNGs offer a new range of opportunities for user enter- tainment and experience, privacy and security have emerged as critical issues in the SNG environment (Chen, 2010). A security is- sue arises when a hacker gains unauthorized access to a site’s pro- tected coding or written language. Privacy issues involving unwarranted access of private information do not necessarily in- volve security breaches. Anyone can gain access to confidential information simply by watching a user type a password. Both types of breaches are often intertwined on social networks, especially since anyone who breaches a site’s security network has easy ac- cess to the private information of any users. Take Zynga games over Facebook for example that users have live feeds from friends participating in the games, which seem harmless enough. How- ever, the company offered players extra chips in an online poker game if they installed a toolbar that was impossible to remove. Such revenue-generating tactics are unfortunately not all that uncommon in the SNG environment, and Zynga is not the only of- fender. Users can earn some money based on their activity within the game, but in-game earnings are not enough to maintain inter- est. To accumulate significant amounts of currency, players can either purchase some with their credit card or sign up for an ac- count with a third-party service. Often users are asked to fill out surveys in which players can win currency. At the end of the survey, they are asked to provide their phone number so that they can receive a PIN via text to get the results. Once they have entered that PIN into the site, they are subscribed to a horoscope service – something they would not know unless they diligently read all the fine print. The victims could immediately try to cancel the subscription, but they could still end up being charged. Unwanted charges are not the only thing players are susceptible to; SNGs make players a target for viruses and hackers as well. Zynga’s community forums have a couple of threads in which moderators warn users against accept- 0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.11.010 ⇑ Corresponding authors. Tel.: +82 02 740 1864; fax: +82 02 740 1856. E-mail addresses: dshin@skku.edu (D.-H. Shin), cecilshin@hanmail.net (Y.-J. Shin). Computers in Human Behavior 27 (2011) 852–861 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh