A study on the factors influencing the consumption of virtual gifts on a live streaming platform based on virtual badges and user interaction

Multiplayer online games are currently the most popular type of game, with virtual gifts providing the main income support for online live-streaming gaming platforms. However, there is little understanding regarding what consistently drives gifting behavior in the live gaming environment. Thus, clarifying the factors influencing the provision of virtual gifts in the game live-streaming environment is critical. We develop a research model based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to investigate the role of virtual badges and social interaction as external motivators to incentivize users' gift-giving behaviors, with monetary value used for quantification and evaluation. Specifically, according to Social Interaction Theory we analyze the effects of social interaction in terms of the presence of others, social competition, and Danmaku emotions. The model was validated through an empirical study including 71,680 observations of real-time viewer data collected from the Douyu live streaming platform. The results empirically demonstrate that the pursuit of virtual badges and user interactions in a negative live environment positively affect users' motivation for gifting behavior. Specifically, the higher the virtual badge level is, the stronger the incentive effect, and the incentive effect of virtual badges exhibits a positive spillover from high-grade virtual badges to low-grade virtual badges. Surprisingly, we observe that the presence of others and social competition under negative Danmaku sentiment motivate users' gift-giving behavior, while the motivational effect of positive Danmaku sentiment is not significant. We demonstrate the robustness of the model through robustness tests. Our study expands the applicability of SDT in the online game live-streaming context, contributes to the literature on the economic development of live-streaming platforms, and provides recommendations for how game live-streaming platforms facilitate viewer gifting behavior.