The value system characteristics of Chinese online game players

Understanding characteristics of players is an essential part of game design. This paper reports the results of our study to identify the value systems of Chinese online game players based upon the Emergent Cyclical Levels of Existence Theory (ECLET) by Clare W. Graves. We conducted a survey of 5427 participants within the online game Ghost II that measured their value systems based upon the ECLET. Our study showed that Chinese online game players are mainly operating at Blue value system, a core value that is to sacrifice self now in order to receive reward later. The data was also compared with instrument averages resulted from global measurement main based on western subjects. The differences across the demographic variables such as gender, age and occupations were also examined. The study is significant in its research methodology (using commercial game data in the study) as well as its findings regarding players' core values. Our findings establish a baseline for the future study of value systems and provide valuable information for game designers to understand and meet the need of target users.