From skill growth expectancy to online game commitment

Players' game commitment is relevant and important to game makers. Hence, we need to know how to strengthen players’ game commitment. The literature pointed out that two theories (flow theory and goal gradient theory) may be effective perspectives. However, we do not know how to trigger both theoretical pathways, indicating a gap. Hence, the aim of this study is to address this gap by proposing a new construct: expectancy for skill growth. We used a survey method to collect data from 1320 gamers. The structural equation modeling method was used to test the hypotheses. We found that the new construct enhances in-game flow, gaming goal proximity, and motivation to attain gaming goals, strengthening game commitment. The key interpretation is that the new construct can trigger both theoretical pathways, strengthening game commitment. •We propose a new construct: expectancy for skill growth, to assist game makers to strengthen gamers' commitment.•Expectancy for skill growth enhances in-game flow, goal proximity, motivation to attain gaming goals, and game commitment.•Goal gradient theoretical pathway explained more variance in commitment than the flow theoretical pathway.