ABSTRACT

With the growing popularity of pubg, there have been reports suggesting that the game is highly
addictive, with some gamers spending in excess of 40 to 50 hours per week playing. The survey
found that the mainland and overseas markets of PUBG are huge and the number of users is rising.
This paper mainly studies operational model of the famous Computer Games - PlayerUnkown’s
BattleGrounds (PUBG), the survey hopes to provide management suggestions for game operators
through studying the impact of game design, social experience, trust and gender on gaining
popularity of the game. Gaming addiction is presented in this paper. These results are interpreted
and discussed, and future research direction is suggested.
 INTRODUCTION
With such a rise in video games, game developers have worked extensively to bring forward new
ideas, genres and styles. For example, in the recent years, we have seen games being developed for
new platforms (mobile, VR, consoles) as well as innovative genres (Simulations, Battle Royale)
that have taken the world with storm. Games have become more complex, support more players
and have richer graphics and mechanics. It would not be wise to think that gaming is exclusively a
leisure activity; competition has always been at the heart of gaming.

My goal is to explore and gain player behavior insights for one of the latest and popular game
genres: Battle Royale. Battle Royale is a new format for online multiplayer first person shooter
(FPS) games, where 100 players parachute on an island, scavenge for equipment and weapons to
kill other players. The last person surviving wins. PLAYER UNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
(PUBG) is one of the game that features the Battle Royale mode. In addition to this, PUBG is of
great significance as it popularized this genre. The game has been in such high demand that it has
been released on multiple platforms (PC, Consoles, and Mobile) and have seen other companies try
to capitalize on the popularity by releasing more games that feature Battle Royale.

It is interesting and important to explore player behavior in PLAYER UNKOWN’S

BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) as all players start as equal, with no predefined classes, attributes or
weapons. In first person shooter games, this is very uncommon. Most popular first person shooter
games like CounterStrike GO, Overwatch, Halo, Battlefield etc., all have predefined classes that
can be chosen, and give the player access to certain weapons, traits and attributes. Here one can
expect that different classes of players will behave differently. But since there are no predefined
classes, weapons or attributes in PLAYER UNKOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG), extracting
player behavior and playing style becomes very important.

PLAYER UNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (or called PUBG for short) is an online multiplayer
Battle Royale game. It is developed and published by PUBG Corporation, which is a subsidiary of
the game developer, Bluehole. PUBG has an interesting story of birth. This game is based on mods
(modification to a video game) that were created by Brenden “PlayerUnknown” Greene, who used
the Battle Royale genre for inspiration. With the success of the mods, Bluehole and Brenden began
working on an independent game title that would feature the Battle Royale mode. Thus, PLAYER
UNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) was born in March 2017

PLAYER UNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) is a player versus player, last man

standing FPS game where players can compete in solo, duo (a team of two) or squad (a team of
four) mode. The goal, however, stays the same. Last person or team wins. Each match starts with a
plane that flies over the island, where players can choose to jump whenever they want and
parachute to different areas of the island. The flight of the plane changes each game, so the players
have to adapt quickly to find the best spot to land. The island itself is 8 x 8 kilometers in size, with
various locations featuring forests, towns, rivers etc.

All players start with nothing; no armor, no weapons, no gear. Once the players land, the goal is to
quickly scavenge the buildings and find different weapons, armor, health kits and gear. These items
are distributed all over the map. They are heavily concentrated inside buildings, and in areas where
there are a lot of buildings. Thus, to find the best loot, players often go to such areas. However,
presence of good loot attracts a lot of players which means that gun fights start immediately. Some
players choose to go to crowded areas like towns and city centers while other resort to villages and
outposts.

Every few minutes, the playable area of the map decreases in a circle towards a random location.
The goal is to create the map smaller and smaller as less players are left alive, and to force players
towards each other and into combat. During the course of the game, random areas of the map are
highlighted in red and experience aerial bombing, presenting a new threat to players. On top of that,
at random, a plane will drop a supply package that contains rare and unobtainable items. Players
can navigate around the island on foot, or by using different vehicles (cars, motorbikes, quad
bikes). On average, a full round lasts around 30 minutes.

This game is quite complicated and it is very interesting to see the different behaviors that players
exhibit in this game. For my research study, I will be looking at squad mode where up to 100
players compete against each other to be the last man standing. The goal is to explore and analyze
player behavior and to see why the game is gaining so much popularity.

Awards
While still in early access, Battlegrounds won the "Best Multiplayer Game" and was also
nominated for the categories "Game of the Year" and "Best Ongoing Game" at The Game Awards
2017. The game's nomination for "Game of the Year" created some debate, being the first early
access title to be named for one of the top industry awards. Also, about a month before it was
released, the game won "Best Multiplayer Game" and "PC Game of the Year" at the 35th Golden
Joystick Awards, whereas its other nominations were for "Studio of the Year" (PUBG Corporation)
and "Ultimate Game of the Year". It also won the "Breakout Game of the Year" award at PC
Gamer's end of the year awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Game of the
Year". Polygon ranked the game second on their list of the 50 best games of 2017, and The
Verge named it one of their 15 Best Games of 2017, while Entertainment Weekly ranked it seventh
on their "Best Games of 2017" list.

Literature review
Game design
The game design includes the picture, the sound, and the operation method and so on. Past
researches have shown that game design will affect the experience of the first game of players, that
is, the higher the quality of game design is, the more players trust the game and the more loyal
players will be. The game social experience includes the interaction among the user and the user
and the game operator interaction. That is, players in the game of interactive behaviour are
generated by the subjective feelings and emotional experience. A large number of empirical studies
show that the social experience in online games is an important factor affecting customer
consumption. In the game, interacting with other players can increase players' trust in their
teammates and their loyalty to the game.

Social experience
Through contacting with the game, trust is a sense of psychology in the game products, in
cooperation with other players and the game player group of trust , from the creation of social
experience. Game loyalty refers to during the changes in the environment and the marketing efforts
of other game operators triggered by a variety of options, customers still maintain a sense of game,
commitment and preferences, keeping the intention and behaviour of continuing to use, and be
willing to pay for specific additional services and extend the behaviour including the intent to
recommend in the game .Many researches have shown that there is a positive relationship between
trust and loyalty and trust is an intermediary variable between social experience and game loyalty.
Similarly, the better the game design is, the easier it is to make players believe the game, so that
they will feel more loyal to it.

Maps
The Maps are the playable area where players are pitted against each other in BATTLEGROUNDS.
Within these maps, a red zone periodically spawns onto random cities/locations causes explosions
within that area and also periodically a C-130 flys over the map and drops an air drop.
Currently Erangel, Miramar, Sanhok & Vikendi are used for all the game modes.
Weapons in the game
One can significantly increase your chances of leaving a firefight alive and with fewer bullet holes
than your opponent by playing with the right weapons, especially during those really close ones
where your enemy is only a few feet away and actively engaging. Different weapons in the game
are assault riffles, sniper rifles , DMRs ,SMGs ,shotguns, LMGs, pistol ,side arms, melee weapns,
crossbow.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
We are taking exploratory research design for our research. Exploratory research, as the name
implies, intends merely to explore the research questions and does not intend to offer final and
conclusive solutions to existing problems. As we don’t know much about the game and why it is
becoming so much popular among teenagers , so we are undertaking exploratory design for our
research.

Conducted in order to determine the nature of the problem, exploratory research is not intended to
provide conclusive evidence, but helps us to have a better understanding of the
problem. Exploratory research design will not provide the final and conclusive answers to the
research questions, but will merely explore the research topic with varying levels of depth. We are
doing exploratory research on the basis of which more conclusive research can be done , as very
few researches have been done till now on this game. The survey use questionnaires method whose
respondents are students and employees.
Ques:1

Please select the appropriate age group to which you belong ?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 16-19 11 13.3 13.3 13.3
20-23 53 63.9 63.9 77.1
24-27 14 16.9 16.9 94.0
More than 28 5 6.0 6.0 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:2

Please select your gender

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Female 33 39.8 39.8 39.8
Male 50 60.2 60.2 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:3

What is your current profession ?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Professional 6 7.2 7.2 7.2
Self Employed 4 4.8 4.8 12.0
Student 73 88.0 88.0 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:4

According to you which gaming device you wish to prefer while

playing Pub-g ?
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Laptop 2 2.4 2.4 2.4
PC 3 3.6 3.6 6.0
Ps4/Xbox 8 9.6 9.6 15.7
Smartphone 67 80.7 80.7 96.4
Tablet 3 3.6 3.6 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:5

How much time do you spend on this game everyday ?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 1-2 hours 69 83.1 83.1 83.1
2-4 hours 9 10.8 10.8 94.0
4-6 hours 5 6.0 6.0 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:6

1.In your opinion , what has influenced you to play Pub-g ? [Voice
chat]
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Agree 31 37.3 37.3 37.3
Neutral 29 34.9 34.9 72.3
Strongly agree 23 27.7 27.7 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0

2.In your opinion , what has influenced you to play Pub-g ?

[Graphics]
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Agree 40 48.2 48.2 48.2
Neutral 15 18.1 18.1 66.3
Strongly agree 28 33.7 33.7 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0

3.In your opinion , what has influenced you to play Pub-g ?

[Gameplay]
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Agree 28 33.7 33.7 33.7
Neutral 20 24.1 24.1 57.8
Strongly agree 35 42.2 42.2 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:7

1.Rate the uniqueness about pub-g game [Genre of game]

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 1 Non-unique 13 15.7 15.7 15.7
2 Moderate 40 48.2 48.2 63.9
3 Unique 30 36.1 36.1 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0

2.Rate the uniqueness about pub-g game [Helps connecting with

people]
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 1 Non-unique 12 14.5 14.5 14.5
2 Moderate 43 51.8 51.8 66.3
3 Unique 28 33.7 33.7 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0

3.Rate the uniqueness about pub-g game [Mind engaging]

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 1 Non-unique 9 10.8 10.8 10.8
2 Moderate 36 43.4 43.4 54.2
3 Unique 38 45.8 45.8 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:8

What is the motivation behind playing Pub-g ?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid To earn money 3 3.6 3.6 3.6
To socialize with people 16 19.3 19.3 22.9
Trending game 64 77.1 77.1 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:9

From where did you get to know about the game ?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Friend Group 60 72.3 72.3 72.3
Play Store 1 1.2 1.2 73.5
Promotion Campaign 3 3.6 3.6 77.1
Social media 19 22.9 22.9 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
Ques:10

On the scale of (1-5) how much would you rate pub-g ?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 1 4 4.8 4.8 4.8
2 4 4.8 4.8 9.6
3 19 22.9 22.9 32.5
4 34 41.0 41.0 73.5
5 22 26.5 26.5 100.0
Total 83 100.0 100.0
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS
Game design, social experience and trust are important factors that influence game popularity.
Therefore, the game operators should focus on the following three aspects: (1) To improve the
game's own quality and enhance its market competitiveness; (2) To enhance after-sales service and
retaining user groups; (3) To meet the needs of different users. This research establishes correlation
between both personality traits and individual perceptions and popularity of game. Since, there has
been no significant research on player behavior in Battle Royale games, this analysis might lay the
groundwork for future studies.