Developing a qualitative mapping method: gamers and ex-gamers of Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go, levels of specialisation, constraint, involvement, and loyalty

Background Augmented Reality (AR) for use on smartphones has the potential promise to improve health outcomes thus transforming gaming as a sedentary leisure pursuit to an active leisure pursuit having physical, psychological and social implications. While the question of AR games on long-term health outcomes is still under debate, one question has remained largely ignored by marketers and producers of AR games, and that is what sustains different gamer loyalty in the complexity of their leisure world, and why do some individuals choose to quit playing whereas others are able to resolve constraints with minimal effort to continue their leisure pursuit? We aim to develop a qualitative method to map gamers and ex-gamers of Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go based on their level of specialisation, constraint, involvement, and loyalty.

Method Data were collected through an online Qualtrics survey using convenience sampling. The survey was posted on four subreddit forums dedicated for Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go for two weeks and obtained completed answers from 1052 participants. Our new qualitative mapping method aligns with a deductive category application, coding all highlighted excerpts in NVivo 12 Plus using a predetermined coding scheme based on the combined leisure and consumer behaviour coding framework.

Results and Conclusion Constraints can negatively influence loyalty whereas activity involvement acts to sustain gaming across different gamer groups and should not be underestimated as a powerful influence in decision-making, choice behaviour, behaviour change and ultimately loyalty to the brand.