Friends in pixels as motivation to contribute to community innovation initiatives

Gamification and video games share more than just a name; they both rely on psychological foundations to create engaging challenges that interest and motivate their users. Consequently, there are still numerous opportunities for cross-pollination in design, management, treatment of users and so forth. Video games that achieve long-term success rely on game structures that support community building, but within gamification, this aspect has been less emphasized. This paper draws on a case study of the company CCP Games and the community surrounding their game, EVE Online. By utilizing grounded theory, we examined the evolution of gamers' contributions and motivations. This analysis led to a conceptual model that reveals the stages of a player's development within both the game and its community. Unique insights into the community were gathered from semistructured interviews with lead users, supported by secondary data. This paper contributes to community innovation, gaming and gamification literatures by highlighting how approaches to motivation within innovative gaming communities can be beneficial for gamification. It also has practical implications, as a better understanding of community members and their needs can lead to improved innovation and co-creation processes in gaming and non-gaming contexts.