Young people at play. Behaviors, motives and social structure

Research on reasons for playing digital games is more often than not limited to individual motivations and behavior conceptualized in terms of playing duration and/or frequency. The goal of this study is to explore how the process of game choice differs when behaviors are conceptualized differently. In addition, it also considers the role that is played by friendship networks in game choice. Results show that the mediating role of habit in relation to conscious motivations changes as the type of behavior changes. The same is true for the role that is played by the social structure in terms of friendship networks. These findings open up new questions and opportunities in terms of social context and behavior when it comes to the study of media choice in general and game choice in specific.