Human-Computer Interaction Quality and Player Loyalty in Cultural Heritage Games: A Theoretical Model with Mediated and Moderated Relationships

Article Sidebar

PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.28924/2291-8639-24-2026-104
Published: Apr 7, 2026
Cite as:
Tengfei Xian, Yihan Ke, Human-Computer Interaction Quality and Player Loyalty in Cultural Heritage Games: A Theoretical Model with Mediated and Moderated Relationships, Int. J. Anal. Appl., 24 (2026), 104.

Main Article Content

Tengfei Xian, Yihan Ke

Abstract

This study explores how human-computer interaction technology, cultural motivation, and emotional connection influence player loyalty in Guangzhou Maritime Silk Road cultural heritage games. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model, Cultural Value Theory, and Emotional Investment Theory, a conceptual model was constructed and tested through stratified random sampling of 438 game players using structural equation modeling. Results reveal that human-computer interaction quality (β=0.342), cultural motivation intensity (β=0.267), and emotional connection degree (β=0.385) all significantly and positively impact player loyalty, with emotional connection being the most critical factor. Emotional connection partially mediates the relationship between human-computer interaction technology and player loyalty (42.3% of total effect), while cultural motivation significantly moderates the interaction technology-emotional connection relationship (β=0.156). The model explains 61.4% of player loyalty variance, providing theoretical guidance for cultural heritage game design.

Article Details

References

  1. UNESCO, Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Paris, 2021. https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines.
  2. A. Appadurai, Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy, Public Cult. 2 (1990), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2-2-1.
  3. C. Cameron, M. Kenderdine, Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2007. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262033534.001.0001.
  4. UNESCO, Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, UNESCO, Paris, 2015. https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/recommendation-concerning-protection-and-promotion-museums-and-collections-their-diversity-and-their.
  5. M. Mortara, C.E. Catalano, F. Bellotti, G. Fiucci, M. Houry-Panchetti, et al., Learning Cultural Heritage by Serious Games, J. Cult. Herit. 15 (2014), 318-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2013.04.004.
  6. A. Bentkowska-Kafel, T. Cashen, and H. Gardiner, Digital Humanities in Practice, Facet Publishing, London, 2009.
  7. E. Champion, Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage, Ashgate Publishing, Surrey, 2015.
  8. M. Terras, J. Nyhan, and E. Vanhoutte (Eds.), Defining Digital Humanities: A Reader, Ashgate Publishing, Farnham, 2013.
  9. Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics (Ed.), Guangdong Cultural Heritage: Historic Sites of the Maritime Silk Road (Chinese Edition), Sun Yat-sen University Press, Guangzhou, 2016.
  10. China State Council, Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, National Development and Reform Commission, Beijing, 2015.
  11. Y. Chunlan, T.S.M. Tengku Wook, F. Rosdi, Advancing Cultural Heritage: A Decadal Review of Digital Transformation in Chinese Museums, npj Herit. Sci. 13 (2025), 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-01714-x.
  12. F. Liarokapis, P. Petridis, D. Andrews, S. De Freitas, Multimodal Serious Games Technologies for Cultural Heritage, in: M. Ioannides, N. Magnenat-Thalmann, G. Papagiannakis (Eds.), Mixed Reality and Gamification for Cultural Heritage, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2017: pp. 371–392. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49607-8_15.
  13. D.Y. Wohn, Y.H. Lee, Players of Facebook Games and How They Play, Entertain. Comput. 4 (2013), 171-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2013.05.002.
  14. T. Marsh, Serious Games Continuum: Between Games for Purpose and Experiential Environments for Purpose, Entertain. Comput. 2 (2011), 61-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2010.12.004.
  15. M. Slater, Place Illusion and Plausibility Can Lead to Realistic Behaviour in Immersive Virtual Environments, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 364 (2009), 3549-3557. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0138.
  16. N. Yee, Motivations for Play in Online Games, CyberPsychology Behav. 9 (2006), 772-775. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2006.9.772.
  17. R.W. Belk, Extended Self in a Digital World: Table 1., J. Consum. Res. 40 (2013), 477-500. https://doi.org/10.1086/671052.
  18. F. Remondino, S. Campana, 3D Recording and Modelling in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage: Theory and Best Practices, Archaepress, 2014.
  19. M. Ioannides, E. Fink, A. Moropoulou, M. Hagedorn-Saupe, A. Fresa, G. Liestøl, V. Rajcic, P. Grussenmeyer, Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection, Springer, Cham, 2016.
  20. R. Parry, Recoding the Museum: Digital Heritage and the Technologies of Change, Routledge, London, 2007.
  21. A. Isaac, B. Haslhofer, Europeana Linked Open Data – data.europeana.eu, Semantic Web 4 (2013), 291-297. https://doi.org/10.3233/SW-120092.
  22. L. Smith, Uses of heritage, Routledge, London, 2006.
  23. K. Kiili, Digital Game-Based Learning: Towards an Experiential Gaming Model, Internet High. Educ. 8 (2005), 13-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2004.12.001.
  24. M. Mortara, C.E. Catalano, F. Bellotti, G. Fiucci, M. Houry-Panchetti, et al., Learning Cultural Heritage by Serious Games, J. Cult. Herit. 15 (2014), 318-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2013.04.004.
  25. T.T. Linh Pham, T.L. Huang, G.Y. Liao, Y.J. Chou, T. Cheng, et al., Cooperate to Play: How In-Game Cooperation Knowledge Impacts Online Gamer Loyalty, Comput. Hum. Behav. 143 (2023), 107686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107686.
  26. P. Milgram, F. Kishino, A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays, IEICE Trans. Inf. Syst. 77 (1994), 1321-1329.
  27. M. Slater, M. Usoh, Body Centred Interaction in Immersive Virtual Environments, Artif. Life Virtual Real. 1 (1994), 125-148.
  28. M. Dunleavy, C. Dede, R. Mitchell, Affordances and Limitations of Immersive Participatory Augmented Reality Simulations for Teaching and Learning, J. Sci. Educ. Technol. 18 (2008), 7-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-008-9119-1.
  29. D. Wigdor, D. Wixon, Brave NUI World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture, Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington, 2011.
  30. S. Oviatt, Multimodal Interfaces, in: J. Jacko, A. Sears (Eds.), The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 286-304, 2003.
  31. Y. LeCun, Y. Bengio, G. Hinton, Deep Learning, Nature 521 (2015), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.
  32. J.J. Cummings, J.N. Bailenson, How Immersive Is Enough? A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Immersive Technology on User Presence, Media Psychol. 19 (2015), 272-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2015.1015740.
  33. M. Carrozzino, M. Bergamasco, Beyond Virtual Museums: Experiencing Immersive Virtual Reality in Real Museums, J. Cult. Herit. 11 (2010), 452-458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2010.04.001.
  34. A. Nijholt, D. Tan, G. Pfurtscheller, C. Brunner, J. Millán, et al. Brain-Computer Interfacing for Intelligent Systems, IEEE Intell. Syst. 23 (2008), 72-79. https://doi.org/10.1109/MIS.2008.41.
  35. M. Wilson, Six Views of Embodied Cognition, Psychon. Bull. Rev. 9 (2002), 625-636. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196322.
  36. R.L. Oliver, Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1997.
  37. T.O. Jones, W.E. Sasser, Why Satisfied Customers Defect, Harv. Bus. Rev. 73 (1995), 88-99.
  38. M. Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper & Row, New York, 1990.
  39. P. Sweetser, P. Wyeth, GameFlow: A Model for Evaluating Player Enjoyment in Games, Comput. Entertain. 3 (2005), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1145/1077246.1077253.
  40. S. de Freitas, M. Oliver, How Can Exploratory Learning with Games and Simulations Within the Curriculum Be Most Effectively Evaluated?, Comput. Educ. 46 (2006), 249-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2005.11.007.
  41. B. McKercher and H. Du Cros, Cultural Tourism: The Partnership between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management, Haworth Hospitality Press, New York, 2002.
  42. S.H. Schwartz, Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries, Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 25 (1992), 1-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6.
  43. A. Bandura, Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication, Media Psychol. 3 (2001), 265-299. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532785XMEP0303_03.
  44. C.M. Steele, A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance., Am. Psychol. 52 (1997), 613-629. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.6.613.
  45. H. Tajfel, J.C. Turner, The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior, in: Political Psychology, Psychology Press, 2004.
  46. D.A. Norman, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books, New York, 2004.
  47. A. Pansari, V. Kumar, Customer Engagement: The Construct, Antecedents, and Consequences, J. Acad. Mark. Sci. 45 (2016), 294-311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-016-0485-6.
  48. D. Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998.
  49. L. Smith , N. Akagawa, Intangible Heritage, Routledge, London, 2009.
  50. E. Hatfield, J. Cacioppo, R.L. Rapson, Emotional contagion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994.
  51. J. Bowlby, Attachment and Loss: Vol. 1. Attachment, Basic Books, New York, 1969.
  52. S. Kaplan, The Restorative Benefits of Nature: Toward an Integrative Framework, J. Environ. Psychol. 15 (1995), 169-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-4944(95)90001-2.
  53. A. Damasio, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Putnam Publishing, New York, 1994.
  54. M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human Values, Free Press, New York, 1973.
  55. J.S. Chen, D. Gursoy, An Investigation of Tourists’ Destination Loyalty and Preferences, Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag. 13 (2001), 79-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110110381870.
  56. R.W. Belk, Possessions and the Extended Self, J. Consum. Res. 15 (1988), 139-168. https://doi.org/10.1086/209154.
  57. A. Beaudry, A. Pinsonneault, The Other Side of Acceptance: Studying the Direct and Indirect Effects of Emotions on Information Technology Use1, MIS Q. 34 (2010), 689-710. https://doi.org/10.2307/25750701.
  58. J.S. Eccles, A. Wigfield, Motivational Beliefs, Values, and Goals, Annu. Rev. Psychol. 53 (2002), 109-132. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153.
  59. P. Bourdieu, The Forms of Capital, in: Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, pp. 241-258, Greenwood, 1986.
  60. R.C. MacCallum, M.W. Browne, H.M. Sugawara, Power Analysis and Determination of Sample Size for Covariance Structure Modeling., Psychol. Methods 1 (1996), 130-149. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.1.2.130.
  61. F.D. Davis, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology, MIS Q. 13 (1989), 319-340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008.
  62. V. Venkatesh, M.G. Morris, G.B. Davis, F.D. Davis, User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward A Unified View1, MIS Q. 27 (2003), 425-478. https://doi.org/10.2307/30036540.
  63. R.M. Ryan, E.L. Deci, Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being., Am. Psychol. 55 (2000), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.
  64. M.B. Holbrook, E.C. Hirschman, The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun, J. Consum. Res. 9 (1982), 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1086/208906.
  65. R.L. Oliver, Whence Consumer Loyalty?, J. Mark. 63 (1999), 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429990634s105.
  66. L.J. Cronbach, Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests, Psychometrika 16 (1951), 297-334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555.
  67. J.C. Nunnally, I.H. Bernstein, Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1994.
  68. J.C. Anderson, D.W. Gerbing, Structural Equation Modeling in Practice: A Review and Recommended Two-Step Approach., Psychol. Bull. 103 (1988), 411-423. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.411.
  69. R.P. Bagozzi, Y. Yi, On the Evaluation of Structural Equation Models, J. Acad. Mark. Sci. 16 (1988), 74-94. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723327.
  70. C. Fornell, D.F. Larcker, Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error, J. Mark. Res. 18 (1981), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104.
  71. R.B. Kline, Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, Guilford Publications, New York, 2015.
  72. K.J. Preacher, A.F. Hayes, Asymptotic and Resampling Strategies for Assessing and Comparing Indirect Effects in Multiple Mediator Models, Behav. Res. Methods 40 (2008), 879-891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879.
  73. M.E. Sobel, Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models, Sociol. Methodol. 13 (1982), 290-312. https://doi.org/10.2307/270723.