Abstract
The authors investigate subjective well-being in the context of e-sports (competitive video games). They adopt the theoretical lenses of virtual edgework theory, a recent adaptation of edgework theory from physical to digital contexts. Sports have long been used as a tool to improve subjective well-being. The research question is whether e-sports lead to well-being, as their physical sport counterparts do, and through what psychological mechanisms. The authors answer through a conceptual model of moderated mediation tested on hundreds of e-sports players. They also address the role of privacy concerns, as e-sports pose several potential threats to players’ privacy that could hinder players’ achievement of well-being. Findings suggest that virtual edgework provides a useful theoretical perspective for understanding consumers’ behavior in digital environments. They also show that e-sports can lead to well-being by achieving feelings of self-enhancement under the positive moderation of perceived control over the digital environment and the negative moderation of privacy concerns.
The world is witnessing unprecedented development in information and communications technologies. The possibility of being constantly connected has dramatically changed the way people live their everyday lives, relate to their peers, access information, and even play sports. In particular, physical activity can contribute to enjoyment and happiness and, more broadly, life satisfaction and well-being. It can increase a sense of purpose and pride, and sports participation can increase self-esteem and confidence. In particular, action or adventure sports are usually investigated from the perspective of edgework theory (Lyng 1990), which posits that individuals push their physical and psychological limits through action sports to improve themselves and feel better about themselves, ultimately leaving the athletes better off.
However, recent years have witnessed the rise and evolution of different sports, entirely electronic or digital, called e-sports. E-sports represent “a competitive approach to playing computer games” (Seo 2016, p. 2) and typically entail organized competitions (Jenny et al. 2017). Following the remarkable rise of the e-sports phenomenon (680 million players and $1.62 billion expected revenues by 2024; Statista 2022a), researchers have called for the development of models to understand consumers in e-sports (Bányai et al. 2019; Funk, Pizzo, and Baker 2018; Seo 2016). Despite these calls, marketing research in this context still is in its infancy (Bertschy, Mühlbacher, and Desbordes 2020) and largely “atheoretical in nature” (Cunningham et al. 2018, p. 4).
As participation in e-sports is constantly rising, it appears compelling to develop regulatory frameworks for preserving participants’ physical and mental well-being (Kelly, Derrington, and Star 2022). In this vein, previous studies suggest that engagement in technology-based environments could positively affect individuals’ well-being (e.g., Halbrook, O’Donnell, and Msetfi 2019). However, extant research often addresses the pathological side of electronic gaming (Granic, Lobel, and Engels 2014), related to alienation, addiction (Farman 2010), and violence (Griffiths 1999).
Thus, it is largely unknown whether e-sports positively contribute to well-being and, in particular, whether they leave the gamers better off, allowing them to develop the feeling of having reached a better version of themselves, as physical action sports have recently been found to do (Raggiotto and Scarpi 2021). Our research questions are (1) whether e-sports lead players to subjective well-being, as offline sports usually do, (2) through what psychological mechanism this occurs, and (3) which theoretical perspective helps understand e-sports players.
In this vein, action sports are usually investigated from the perspective of edgework theory (Lyng 1990). Building on the suggested similarities between offline action sports and e-sports (Jenny et al. 2017), we contribute by providing virtual edgework theory (Shay 2017) as the theoretical framework for addressing e-sports players’ well-being. Specifically, we posit that e-sports players’ well-being can be envisioned through the lenses of literature investigating the drivers of individuals’ engagement in action sports. These streams of research illuminate that (offline) action sports and e-sports share a sense of searching for emotions, sensations, challenges, and competitive situations. This consideration underscores that e-sports’ increasing complexity and realism (Qian et al. 2022), made possible by technological advancement, can foster real-world psychosocial benefits and allow virtual worlds to meet self-enhancement needs and, ultimately, contribute to subjective well-being.
We also posit that, in e-sports settings, privacy issues further complicate the picture: the pervasiveness of privacy issues is reflected in recurring incidents such as hacker attacks and data leakages in popular e-sports (e.g., Fortnite; FIFA Global Series). Thus, privacy concerns are likely to decrease gamers’ well-being, affecting participants’ fun and serenity when using technology (Pizzi and Scarpi 2020).
The present research makes four contributions: First, few studies investigate e-sports from a marketing perspective, and even fewer address players’ well-being (see the literature review in Table 1). To fill the gap, this research focuses specifically on well-being. In particular, it does so from the novel theoretical lens of virtual edgework theory (Shay 2017). Second, the present research explores the effect of privacy concerns on well-being in e-sports. This focus answers recent calls for research on how privacy perceptions drive consumer behavior in digital environments (e.g., Bandara, Fernando, and Akter 2020; Scarpi, Pizzi, and Matta 2022) and provides evidence of how players’ privacy concerns shape the playing experience.
Literature Review Table on E-Sports.
Notes: N.A. = not applicable.
Third, when addressing the “healthy” side of gaming, the literature does so from the perspective of sponsors, game developers, spectators, or professional gamers (Pizzo et al. 2018; Sjöblom et al. 2017; Ströbel and Germelmann 2020). However, nonprofessional players constitute the bulk of this industry. For instance, it is estimated that the e-sports player base exceeds 680 million people (ESTNN 2019); of them, only 6,000 are pro gamers (Statista 2022b). Finally, few studies investigate e-sports empirically. Thus, we also contribute methodologically, by advancing and empirically testing a conceptual model of multiple moderated mediation to test virtual edgework theory and the relationship of e-sports to well-being.
Theoretical Background and Hypotheses
E-Sports
E-sports began in the late 1990s (e.g., Wagner 2006). However, they gained rapid momentum only recently (Yu, Brison, and Bennett 2022), driven by technological evolution and the emergence of new consumption habits (Cranmer et al. 2021). Following the surge in popularity, scholars have developed a rich, multidisciplinary debate on e-sports, spanning from the conceptual roots (for a review, see Cranmer et al. [2021]) to the sociological implications of e-sports, the antecedents of players’ gaming performance, and the dynamics of competing teams. However, marketing research on e-sports is still in its infancy (Reitman et al. 2020).
Table 1 provides a literature review showing that the marketing literature on e-sports appears intrinsically limited to a focus on spectatorship (e.g., Cuesta-Valiño, Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, and Loranca-Valle 2022; Lopez et al. 2021) or comparison with traditional sports (e.g., Pizzo et al. 2022). Active participation in e-sports and its outcomes in terms of expenditures, loyalty, and psychological benefits are mostly underexplored. Notably, several marketing scholars studied video gaming settings.
However, previous research shows that video games are not the same as e-sports. E-sports, also called electronic, virtual, or cyber sports or competitive gaming (Jenny et al. 2017), are “an organized and competitive approach to playing computer games” (Witkowski 2012, p. 350). More synthetically, they are “organized video game competitions” (Cranmer et al. 2021, p. 1) that involve competitive, technology-based immersive activities. E-sports are digital competitions (Funk, Pizzo, and Baker 2018), characterized by an intense sense of challenge, which makes them akin to action sports in the physical world (Jenny et al. 2017). Accordingly, e-sports are commonly considered “a specific subset of online gaming with a focus on the competition between human players … in a video/computer game with predefined rules” (Allenstein et al. 2020). In this vein, Funk, Pizzo, and Baker (2018) report that to be considered e-sports, video games must be structured by rules, adhere to them (i.e., be organized), and be competitive.
Thus, “while all esports are video games, not all video gaming should be classified as sport” (Funk, Pizzo, and Baker 2018, p. 9). Similarly, Jenny et al. (2017) noted that “eSports include playing and competition, are organized by rules, require skill” (p. 15). Thus, “Esports is the future of all sports” (Miah 2019) and constitutes a “new area in the gaming culture” (Bányai et al. 2019, p. 352).
Edgework and Virtual Edgework
Research studying the impact of e-sports participation leverages previous studies on physical sports and, more specifically, action sports. Consumer behavior and well-being in those sports are usually addressed from the perspective of edgework theory (Lyng 2014). Edgework theory explains people's voluntary engagement in sensational activities in terms of a need to explore one's physical and psychological limits, push those limits (Brymer and Houge Mackenzie 2016), and ultimately feel better about oneself (Lyng and Matthews 2007; Raggiotto and Scarpi 2021). In particular, the main construct in edgework theory, and the driver of all edgework behaviors by individuals, is sensation-seeking (Brymer and Houge Mackenzie 2016; Cohen, Baluch, and Duffy 2018; Lyng 1990).
With recent technological advancements in virtual reality and digital technologies, virtual gaming worlds can provide the same sensation intensity as action sports in the physical world (Chen, Wilhelm, and Joeckel 2019; Zhai et al. 2020). Furthermore, e-sports players seek to test the limits of their abilities in the game world just as action sports players do in the physical world (Hart 2017; Shay 2017). E-sports might be even more desirable for sensation-seekers because they offer increasingly intense and immersive challenges (Ortiz de Gortari and Griffiths 2017), sometimes even more than the physical world offers (Chicchi Giglioli et al. 2021). On this point, Jansz and Tanis (2007) find that e-sports players scored highest on motives related to sensation-seeking and challenge. Thus, the literature has established a link between edgework theory and competitive video games (Macey and Hamari 2018; Seo 2016), and the theory has been translated into digital contexts, where it takes the name of “virtual edgework” (Shay 2017).
According to edgework and virtual edgework theories, sensations are not sought per se: sensation-seeking is linked to self-enhancement (Lyng 2014). Self-enhancement can be defined as “coming closer to an ideal self” by “reaching personal limits … and pushing them forward” (Raggiotto and Scarpi 2021, p. 231). It reflects a psychologically rewarding process of negotiating and extending one's limits. Typically, it is achieved by successfully confronting increasing challenges. Self-enhancement often makes individuals perceive themselves as legitimate members of a small elite. It is related to concepts such as the ideal self, self-fulfillment, independence, and self-realization (for a review, see Raggiotto and Scarpi [2020, 2021] and Raggiotto, Scarpi, and Mason [2019]). Specifically, individuals engaging in edgework channel sensation-seeking to reduce the gap between their current self and a better self they would ideally like to be (Sedikides and Gregg 2008).
Lyng (2014) theorized that the process of edgework leads individuals to perform incremental efforts that help them reach and extend their limits. Raggiotto and Scarpi (2021) document this phenomenon for action sports athletes. Recent research suggests that it might apply also to e-sports (e.g., Keller, Bieleke, and Wolff 2021; Shay 2017). In this vein, recent studies find that self-enhancement is a key driver of participation in competitive video games (Sepehr and Head 2018), and e-sports players might seek sensations to emphasize “their pursuit of self-improvement” (Seo 2016, p. 5). Accordingly, we posit:
Edgework, Virtual Edgework, and Well-Being
The literature usually identifies subjective well-being and psychological well-being, although it is debated whether they represent two different constructs or just two different perspectives of the same construct (Chen et al. 2013). Regardless of the stance taken, scholars agree that subjective well-being and psychological well-being are interrelated (Gallagher, Lopez, and Preacher 2009). Furthermore, there is agreement that both relate to personal growth, life satisfaction, and life meaningfulness (McGregor and Little 1998). However, most recent studies agree that subjective well-being and psychological well-being are separate constructs (Anglim et al. 2020). In particular, the former focuses on more hedonic aspects (Scarpi 2021), such as pursuing happiness and satisfying life, and involves a global evaluation of well-being (Chen et al. 2013). In contrast, psychological well-being focuses on the fulfillment of potential, self-acceptance, and thriving in the face of challenges (Anglim et al. 2020; Ryff 1989). It seems, therefore, less related to the topic of the present research, which focuses on subjective well-being.
Extensive evidence suggests that self-enhancement can produce beneficial effects (e.g., Marshall and Brown 2008; Taylor and Brown 1988). Self-enhancement can help individuals cope with adversity (e.g., Yan and Bonanno 2015) and promotes a positive mindset, which denotes “action orientation, a sense of mastery, and stress resistance” (Dufner et al. 2019, p. 50). Accordingly, individuals feeling self-enhancement are likely to experience better mental health and higher well-being. Furthermore, key components of self-enhancement are a sense of achievement and empowerment (Schwartz 1992). Both enhance individual well-being by boosting how closely individuals perceive they can connect with and enact their true self (Kaplan and Maehr 1999; Kifer et al. 2013).
So far, edgework theory has been mostly, if not solely, applied to physical contexts and rarely addresses well-being specifically. Whether virtual edgework translates into higher well-being is still unknown. Electronic and virtual environments offer a prime avenue for the first investigation in this regard since they provide actual experiences comparable to their physical counterparts (Felnhofer et al. 2015; Pizzi et al. 2019). In this vein, previous research seems to support the link between individual engagement in virtual gaming environments and well-being (e.g., Halbrook, O’Donnell, and Msetfi 2019). Specifically, evidence from neuroscience supports the link between virtual edgework and players’ well-being: intense experiences and emotions, such as those experienced in competitive video gaming (Kätsyri et al. 2013), activate the neuropsychological reward mechanisms that release dopamine in individuals (Abraham, Neve, and Lattal 2013). From these considerations, we advance:
The Role of Perceived Control and Privacy Perception
Perceived control refers to the perception of how able and skillful one is when doing an activity (Marikyan et al. 2022). Work on video games adapts this concept to capture users’ perception of how skillful a player is at a game (Park et al. 2014). Perceived control is relevant in technology-mediated environments (e.g., Abraham et al. 2019; Marikyan et al. 2022) and in edgework theory (Lyng 2014) because, by pushing their limits, individuals engaging in edgework intrinsically test their ability to stay in control of the challenges (Brymer and Houge Mackenzie 2016). Consistently, scholars of edgework highlight that sensation-seeking individuals engage in a great deal of physical, mental, and technical training as a way to build skills and control (Lyng 2014; Raggiotto, Scarpi, and Mason 2019). Control provides individuals with the mindset to succeed at difficult activities (Lyng 2014), boosting feelings of self-enhancement when ordeals are overcome (Lyng and Matthews 2007).
Scholars suggest that perceived control might also play a crucial role in e-sports players’ experience (Shay 2017), such as by influencing situational dynamics (e.g., unlocking new parts of the game world, changing the attitude of characters controlled by artificial intelligence) according to the player's specific skills. Notably, a key feature of e-sports gaming platforms is that they offer players many opportunities to exert control over the virtual gaming environment (for instance, constantly adding new customization possibilities for players’ gaming avatars; e.g., Böffel et al. 2022). In this vein, scholars find that perceptions of control are a determinant of enjoying (Klimmt, Hartmann, and Frey 2007) and playing (Klimmt and Hartmann 2006) e-sports, just as they are for physical sports (Brymer and Schweitzer 2017). Accordingly, we posit that, just as perceived control seems to enhance self-enhancement in players of offline games, it should do so for e-sports players. Thus:
Finally, almost any kind of digital interaction implies that consumers provide personal information, potentially raising privacy concerns (Pizzi and Scarpi 2020; Rodríguez-Priego, Porcu, and Kitchen 2022). Privacy is a key issue wherever digital technologies are involved (Scarpi, Pizzi, and Matta 2022), and e-sports are no exception. Data are central for the entire industry, being the primary component that sustains the creation of experiences for passive and active participants (Pizzo et al. 2022). For instance, gaming platforms, backed by automated technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), can collect real-time data about gamers’ and teams’ performance. These data are essential to feed statistics and metrics about matches and build narratives for e-sports viewers. Further, e-sports platforms need to manage many other data, such as data on payments and transactions of players and viewers (e.g., to purchase subscriptions, add-ins, and customizations). Access to these data poses unique challenges and threats to privacy and cybersecurity (e.g., data usage, storage, and sharing with third parties, such as partnering sponsors; Lopez et al. 2021; Thomas and Kadish 2021). Sometimes these data are acquired with the awareness of the customer, and other times—more worryingly—without it (Scarpi, Pizzi, and Matta 2022).
Recent literature on privacy issues in digital technologies shows that privacy concerns can reduce consumers’ enjoyment, fun, hedonism, and playfulness (see Maseeh et al. [2021] for a metanalysis and Aboulnasr, Tran, and Park [2022] for a review). From these considerations, we advance similarly that privacy concerns will have a depressing effect on players’ perceived well-being. Thus:
Theoretical Model
The research hypotheses translate the psychological literature on sensation-seeking, perceived control, self-enhancement, and privacy concerns to the domain of e-sports to better understand players’ well-being. Essentially, we hypothesize that sensation-seeking leads e-sports players to develop stronger feelings of self-enhancement, particularly when they perceive that they can control situational risks and challenges. Finally, self-enhancement leads to higher well-being when players perceive that their personal data will be managed safely and respectfully.
In summary, we present a multiple moderated mediation model in Figure 1, where (1) self-enhancement mediates the relationship between sensation-seeking and well-being, (2) perceived control moderates the relationship between sensation-seeking and self-enhancement, and (3) privacy concerns moderate the relationship between self-enhancement and well-being.
Theoretical Framework.
Method
Participants and Measures
The present research addresses nonprofessional e-sports players. In recent times, digital sports have become professionalized, and for some individuals, playing is a career (Griffiths 2017). However, only a minority of players are professionals. Nonprofessional gamers constitute the bulk of e-sports players (Abbas, Jasim, and Nsaif 2019; Rea 2019). Whereas spectators participate passively, nonprofessional players actively participate in e-sports competitions. However, nonprofessional players differ from professional players (Ma, Wu, and Wu 2013) because they do not make a living from e-sports activities and sponsorships.
Professional e-sports players can earn lots of money, and they “play for competition, rather than for fun and/or relaxation, and define gaming as their job” (Bányai et al. 2019, p. 352). Instead, nonprofessional gamers play for recreation or relaxation, not for a living: in contrast to pro gamers, nonprofessional e-sports players are not paid stars who make a living from e-sports activities and sponsorships. Thus, professional e-sports players are driven by profit rather than the desire for well-being and self-enhancement.
We recruited 280 European nonprofessional e-sports players from a panel held by a market research company that ensured they reflected the representativeness of the target population. Respondents received an invitation to complete an online questionnaire that asked them to think about their latest e-sports experience. The questionnaire asked respondents about their sensation-seeking (Shoham, Rose, and Kahle 2000), their feelings of self-enhancement related to the e-sports experience (Shoham, Rose, and Kahle 2000), and how much they perceived themselves as in control of the game while playing (Cavazza, Lugrin, and Buehner 2007; Lyons et al. 2014). Then, respondents were asked about their privacy concerns (Pizzi and Scarpi 2020) and their subjective well-being (Diener et al. 2009). All survey items were measured using seven-point Likert scales. Finally, respondents were asked about their age, gender, and length of time playing e-sports. The items are reported in the Appendix.
Cronbach's alphas for the scales ranged between .82 and .95 (see Appendix). A factor analysis using maximum likelihood and varimax rotation with AMOS 18 showed that items load onto six factors, explaining over 70% of the variance (Hair and Lukas 2014), with χ2/df = 1.68, root mean square error of approximation = .05, and confirmatory fit index = .90, ensuring measurement adequacy (Byrne 2013).
Procedure
Using the PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes 2018, Model 21), we ran a multiple moderated mediation analysis to test the theoretical model illustrated in Figure 1. From the CFA results, we used the mean composite scores on the items for each construct in the moderated mediation model (Hayes 2018). Perceived control was entered as a moderator of the relationship between sensation-seeking and self-enhancement. Self-enhancement was entered as a mediator of the relationship between sensation-seeking and well-being. Privacy concerns were entered as a moderator of the relationship between self-enhancement and well-being. Well-being was the dependent variable (Figure 1).
The analysis assessed (1) the effects of sensation-seeking on well-being (both directly and indirectly, through self-enhancement), (2) the effect of sensation-seeking on self-enhancement (as moderated by perceived control), and (3) the effect of self-enhancement on well-being (as moderated by privacy concerns). The statistical significance of the direct and indirect effects was evaluated through 10,000 bootstrap samples to create bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with heteroskedasticity-consistent standard errors (Hayes 2018).
Results
Moderated Mediation Analysis
The index of moderated mediation was significant (effect = −.04, 95% CI = [−.12, −.01]) as the 95% CI did not include zero (Hayes 2018). The data show that sensation-seeking led to higher feelings of self-enhancement (effect = .73, p = .01), providing support for H1. Furthermore, as advanced in H3, perceived control significantly moderated the effect of sensation-seeking on self-enhancement (effect = .11, p = .04). This finding suggests that when e-sports players develop skills in gaming and perceive that they are in control of the game world, they feel better about themselves. Indeed, there were clear differences in self-enhancement between individuals with higher and lower levels of control (effects at the values of the moderator: low = .17, 95% CI = [.05, .28]; high = .28, 95% CI = [.13, .42]).
Self-enhancement positively affected well-being (effect = .27, p = .01), as advanced in H2. Furthermore, as advanced in H4, privacy concerns significantly moderated the effect of self-enhancement on well-being (effect = .33, p = .01). This finding suggests that when e-sports players feel better about themselves while playing and, at the same time, perceive that their privacy is protected, they are more likely to achieve subjective well-being. Indeed, there were clear differences in well-being between individuals with higher and lower levels of privacy perceptions, the impact nearly doubling for low versus high privacy perceptions (effects at the values of the moderator: low = .27, 95% CI = [.11, .44]; high = .61, 95% CI = [.42, .79]).
In addition, well-being was not directly impacted by sensation-seeking (effect = .10, p = .10), suggesting that self-enhancement fully mediates the relationship between sensation seeking and well-being. Consistently with the preceding patterns, we found that players who reached feelings of self-enhancement under conditions of high perceived control and privacy expressed the highest well-being. The results of the model estimation are summarized in Table 2 and shown in Figure 2.
The Model with Estimates.
Full Model: Moderated Mediation Analysis.
Summary of the Results
We found support for H1 through H4 and showed that e-sports players’ need for sensations and self-enhancement, coupled with their perceptions of control and privacy, help drive players’ subjective well-being. Nonetheless, sensation-seeking had no direct impact on well-being. Rather, it was affected by self-enhancement: Higher self-enhancement—which stems from quenching the thirst for sensation through playing—was enhanced by higher perceived control over the task undertaken. In turn, feelings of self-enhancement led to well-being under the condition that players’ privacy concerns were addressed.
Discussion
This research targets e-sports, addressing the impact of interacting with this type of technology on players’ subjective well-being. Our contribution combines the perspectives of marketing, psychology, privacy, sports, and the literature on well-being, addressing an insufficiently studied population group: e-sports players. Our contribution and hypotheses, based on the theoretical foundations of virtual edgework theory, provide insights for scholars and practitioners and focus on the consequences of consumer–technology interactions in terms of consumer well-being.
The extant marketing literature features few insights into e-sports, especially about active players rather than spectators, let alone about subjective well-being. This research provides the first investigation of e-sports players’ subjective well-being to the best of the authors’ knowledge. By adopting the theoretical lenses of virtual edgework theory and leveraging a panel of hundreds of e-sports players in this research, we developed and tested a unique theoretical conceptualization that uncovered some of e-sports players’ psychological drivers. Furthermore, this research is the first to address e-sports players’ privacy concerns in influencing their well-being.
Findings of the present study validate previous research suggesting that e-sports consumption and sports consumption present similarities (e.g., Funk, Pizzo, and Baker 2018; Pizzo et al. 2018) that are rooted in the conceptual similarities between traditional sports and e-sports (e.g., the competitive element and the organizational structure; Hallmann and Giel 2018). Furthermore, the contributions of the present research partially align with the results of extant research by suggesting that, under certain conditions, engagement in virtual environments can exert beneficial effects on individual well-being. The study goes one step further by (1) extending such insights to a specific gaming domain (e-sports) and (2) providing insights into the psychological mechanisms through which e-sports participation can exert positive psychological effects on participants.
Furthermore, the present study is among the first to explain how privacy concerns may impact the subjective well-being of active e-sports players. Investigating players’ privacy perceptions appears a particularly valuable addition in the attempt to develop a broader understanding of the behavior of e-sports participants: as gaming experiences become more and more immersive, interactive, and customized, they also become more and more demanding in terms of personal data of players, exposing them to several potential risks concerning their privacy (e.g., due to accidental data leakages). Our findings help marketers effectively design and promote e-sport-themed products and events, caring for players’ well-being. For academics, our results may inspire novel research questions about e-sports activities and, more generally, about subjective well-being in computer-mediated environments (Marikyan, Papagiannidis, and Alamanos 2020; Papagiannidis and Marikyan 2020).
Theoretical Implications
From a theoretical perspective, this research addresses a gap in the literature about subjective well-being. On the whole, we know little about the relationship of virtual edgework with well-being. To fill this gap, we applied edgework theory to the domain of e-sports, leveraging the notion of virtual edgework to assess the degree to which computer-mediated competitive activities stimulate feelings of well-being.
This research sheds light on the moderating roles of perceived control in channeling sensation-seeking into feelings of self-enhancement, and we show that self-enhancement plays an important role in driving well-being. Specifically, we show that sensation-seeking can exist and reach high levels in virtual gaming worlds, just as it can in physical contexts. Then, we demonstrate that sensation-seeking translates into feelings of self-enhancement, and even more so if individuals feel in control. In turn, self-enhancement from playing e-sports develops into well-being, so that e-sports experiences may be a source of positive psychological sensations for participants, leaving players better off, especially when their privacy concerns are low.
Finally, we highlight the importance of privacy concerns in the process of transforming self-enhancement into well-being. A significant finding of moderation represents an advancement in the current debate on e-sports. It shows that the strength of positive outcomes, such as improving the view of the self and feeling better, depends on the extent to which players perceive that their privacy is safely managed while playing. Thus, we supplement previous studies that focus on e-sports and gaming behavior but do not account for players’ perceptions of the privacy-related risks connected to gaming platforms and services.
All in all, marketing studies of edgework are recent in the physical context and represent a frontier in virtual contexts. Thus, we are among the first to use and test the theoretical assumption of virtual edgework theory. Furthermore, we develop a complex set of mediation and moderation relationships, pushing forward current knowledge. In addition, we are the first to address well-being in connection with virtual edgework and empirically test it on e-sports players. Previous studies suggest that video games can foster real-world psychosocial benefits (Granic, Lobel, and Engels 2014). We add and demonstrate that e-sports concretely offer players the opportunity to seek sensations and feel better about themselves, ultimately leading them to construe a (more) positive view of the self and feel a sense of well-being.
Managerial Implications
Our results inform practitioners about the drivers that can channel e-sports participation into positive outcomes such as well-being. Our evidence shows that gamers’ well-being stems from the interplay of sensation-seeking, self-enhancement, and perceived control, which can be—at least partly—affected by practitioners’ actions.
Thus, our findings suggest that e-sports events should emphasize participants’ control perceptions to help players’ well-being. For instance, events could provide key information about the best-performing gamers, best practices, average training hours, electronic equipment, and so on. In addition, game developers can enhance perceptions of control by providing a clear and responsive interface, information about the game dynamics, and a relatively glitch-free experience. Our findings may also raise policy makers’ awareness of e-sports’ potential in supporting public programs to reinforce subjective well-being (e.g., for disabled people; British Esports Association 2021). Similarly, e-sports have proven to be a key platform supporting the development of soft skills (like relational skills) and valuable professional skills (e.g., relevant for STEM careers; Microsoft 2022). Accordingly, e-sports managers should be aware that emphasizing the association between control and skill in players’ minds may further reinforce the psychosocial benefits of e-sports.
Finally, the massive participation in e-sports (and more generally in online gaming) makes privacy issues compelling for the entire industry (e.g., Thomas and Kadish 2021) and may affect sponsorship dynamics. Our findings suggest that managers should not underestimate players’ concerns about privacy. Concern has been expressed about players’ actual perception of privacy-related issues in e-sports (e.g., due to the presence of many underage players). In this vein, our results suggest that e-sports practitioners and policy makers should first consider enhancements to the gaming experience by looking at the toll on gamers in terms of required personal data sharing. Caring about privacy and communicating about privacy to gamers might be crucial for ensuring their well-being. For instance, the PlayStation website addresses gamers, clarifying exactly what Sony does to preserve their privacy (Sony Interactive Entertainment 2020).
Conclusions
E-sports are now a global mainstream phenomenon. Active participation in e-sports has seen impressive growth in the last few years, sustained by the constant technological evolution and boosted by the recent pandemic (Hong, Juan, and Hung 2022), and is expected to grow even further, pushed by younger generations (http://newzoo.com). Thus, marketing and consumer studies on e-sports have also seen remarkable growth in recent years. However, the specific nature of e-sports is such that practitioners and academics agree in considering them a different domain from video and online gaming. From an academic perspective, this encourages scholars to develop specific theoretical lenses to understand the drivers, motivations, and psychological dynamics of individuals who engage in competitive gaming, overcoming the fragmentation that characterizes the current e-sports literature (Cranmer et al. 2021). The present research contributes to the debate on active participation in e-sports by elaborating on the conceptual similarities between e-sports and traditional sports and the specificities of the e-sports gaming experience. We identify potential pathways through which e-sports can promote players’ well-being, proposing that e-sports participation can produce beneficial psychological effects on players. Furthermore, we show that the effects on well-being are driven by context-specific factors logically comparable to those of extreme sports (Raggiotto and Scarpi 2020, 2021), so that virtual edgework theory is a valid interpretative lens for understanding e-sports players’ behavior and perceptions.
Limitations and Future Research
The present research on e-sports and well-being is not meant to be conclusive. First, it does not address the origin of sensation-seeking in gamers: does sensation-seeking stem from psychological motivations, or is it a psychological trait (Yasin et al. 2020)? We welcome future research in this direction.
Second, future research could explore boundary conditions associated with well-being in digital environments. Our operationalization incorporated one mediator (self-enhancement) and two moderators (perceived control and privacy concerns). Additional research could explore other interacting variables, perhaps by drawing from theoretical perspectives other than edgework theory.
Third, research on privacy suggests that social and identity motives might lead consumers that are concerned by privacy issues to behave paradoxically (e.g., to disclose personal information to online services easily), leading to the “privacy paradox” problem (Bandara, Fernando, and Akter 2020). In this sense, future research could explore how such trade-offs affect well-being, contributing to an understanding of how gamers are willing to give up their personal information in exchange for psychologically rewarding sensations.
Footnotes
Appendix
Questionnaire Items.
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| Sensation-seeking (Shoham, Rose, and Kahle 2000) | .84 | I like challenges when playing e-sports. I like very thrilling experiences when playing e-sports. I like feeling the adrenaline flowing when playing e-sports. I prefer things that are excitingly unpredictable when playing e-sports. Every time I play it is an adventure. |
| Perceived control (Cavazza, Lugrin, and Buehner 2007; Lyons et al. 2014) | .83 | My training and skills make me feel in control. The game environment is responsive to actions that I initiated/performed. I am able to anticipate what would happen next in response to the actions that I performed. I can concentrate on the assigned tasks or required activities rather than on the mechanisms used to perform such tasks or activities. I feel able to control events. |
| Self-enhancement (Shoham, Rose, and Kahle 2000) | .82 | E-sports have changed my perspective. E-sports help me become better. After playing e-sports, I am a better person than I was before. After playing e-sports, I think more highly of myself because of that. |
| Subjective well-being (Diener et al. 2009) | .95 | I lead a purposeful and meaningful life. I am engaged and interested in my daily activities. I am competent and capable in the activities that are important to me. I am a good person and live a good life. I am optimistic about my future. |
| Privacy concerns (Pizzi and Scarpi 2020) | .88 | I think my benefits gained from the playing this game can offset the risk of my information disclosure. The value I gain from using this game is worth the information I give away. The risks of information disclosure will be greater than the benefits gained from the use of this game. (reversed item) I believe that the game has adequate security features to protect my privacy. I feel like my privacy would be protected in this game play. I would feel safe in my playing experiences with this game. I would feel comfortable sharing my information with this game. |
Special Issue Editors
Daniele Scarpi, Martina Benvenuto, and Lia Zarantonello
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
