An Empirical Investigation into the Sources of Customer Dissatisfaction with Online Games

Most extant research focused on the attractiveness of online games, but paid scant attention to the sources of customer dissatisfaction with online games. Thus, this study investigates the sources of customer dissatisfaction (dissatisfiers) with online games. From an online survey, this study identified five factors as the sources of customer dissatisfaction: (1) the deceptive behavior of other online gamers, (2) the discourteous behavior of other online gamers, (3) the unattractive design of online games, (4) the ineffective customer support of online game service providers, and (5) the undesirable restrictions or regulations imposed by online game service providers. Findings in this study highlighted the fact that the anonymous and intensive interactions among online customers themselves can result in customer-originated dissatisfiers such as deceptive behavior and discourteous behavior. This study also reminded online service providers of company-originated dissatisfiers such as ineffective customer support and improper constraints.