Belaud, Lydie <br/><br/>
The social and connected gamer: An analysis using behavioral commitment theory 

 -  2016.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 28 
<br/><br/> Although the market for social and community games is growing quickly, these games have been little studied in marketing. The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of social games and community games and to explain the process leading to the purchase of virtual objects, which is the main source of income for these games. Analysis of individual interviews and a focus group conducted with gamers demonstrates that both the social game and the community game can be explained in terms of behavioral commitment theory (Kiesler 1971) and that the purchase of virtual objects is the result of the commitment process of the gamer. This article provides games developers and managers with solutions to promote the purchase of virtual objects.