The structure of affection descriptors for social network game: case study of CityVille on facebook

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structure of affection descriptors in order to understand users' affection revealed in social network games (SNGs) such as City Ville, Farmville, and Cafe World based on the Facebook platform. Literature relating to the affection was studied, and affection descriptors shown in SNG were selected. Six experts reviewed whether 208 words collected from the literature related to affection and a simple psychological experiment such as a free-association test were suitable for an affection descriptor. One hundred twenty users re-tested 46 affection descriptor candidates derived from the expert review. Ultimately, 25 high-scoring affection descriptor candidates were found. The relationship and framework among affection descriptors were examined using a controlled-association test administered to the 25 high-scoring affection descriptor candidates. The result of this research revealed that 19 representative affection descriptors were derived: elegant, peculiar, novel, interest, clean, confused, excited, complex, degage, upright, prominent, functional, beauty, tiny, elementary, short, modern, useful, and simple. This study suggests directions for practical production and essential design guidelines for SNG.