Selling Virtual Currency in Digital Games: Implications for Gameplay and Social Welfare

Hong Guo
Hong Guo
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6028-8155
Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556;
Search for more papers by this author
,
Lin Hao
Lin Hao
Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195;
Search for more papers by this author
,
Tridas Mukhopadhyay
Corresponding Author
Tridas Mukhopadhyay
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6691-9595
Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213;
Search for more papers by this author
,
Daewon Sun
Daewon Sun
Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556;
Search for more papers by this author

Hong Guo

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6028-8155

Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556;

Search for more papers by this author

Lin Hao

Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195;

Search for more papers by this author

Tridas Mukhopadhyay

Corresponding Author

Tridas Mukhopadhyay

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6691-9595

Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213;

Search for more papers by this author

Daewon Sun

Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556;

Search for more papers by this author

Published Online:5 Jun 2019https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2018.0812

Supplemental Material

isre.2018.0812.sm1.pdf

Cited by
- AI-generated news summary: Reshaping reader engagement on news platforms
  Omega, Vol. 143
- Pricing and Design of Pay-to-Win Add-Ons
  Mushegh Harutyunyan,
  Esma Koca
  26 September 2025 | Management Science, Vol. 72, No. 6
- Algorithms for Loot Box Design
  Jiangze Han,
  Christopher Thomas Ryan,
  Xin T. Tong
  4 February 2026 | Operations Research, Vol. 74, No. 3
- Affordances, Routines, and Loyalty for Different Online Game Genres
  15 May 2026 | Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 43, No. 2
- Unraveling trust management in cybersecurity: insights from a systematic literature review
  27 August 2024 | Information Technology and Management, Vol. 27, No. 1
- Alice in land of games: Investigating behavior spillover effects of users' engagement and social connections across games
  Decision Support Systems, Vol. 202
- Rational or Emotional? Next-Item Recommendations in Virtual Games via Disentangling Players’ Needs
  Hongke Zhao,
  Chuang Zhao,
  Runze Wu,
  Yong Ge
  17 February 2026 | INFORMS Journal on Computing, Vol. 0, No. 0
- A dualistic approach to harmonious and obsessive passion: The impact of game mechanics on mobile gaming engagement
  2 August 2024 | Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 25, No. 6
- How does “time-lag currency” drive economic and social development in China?
  8 February 2025 | Journal of Social and Economic Development, Vol. 27, No. 3
- Player-vs.-Player Game Design and Pricing: A Tournament Design Perspective
  Haowen Deng,
  Yifan Dou,
  Zenan Wu,
  Cheng Zhang
  25 October 2024 | Information Systems Research, Vol. 36, No. 3
- When and how to introduce live streaming for video game? Consumers’ trade-off between buying and watching
  Omega, Vol. 135
- Psychological distance in the metaverse: user consumption behavior and avatar facial maturity
  7 August 2025 | Management Decision, Vol. 9
- Is In-Game Purchase a Guilty Pleasure? Negative Beliefs and Treatment
  12 February 2025 | Production and Operations Management, Vol. 34, No. 8
- How Star Power Drives Video Game Success
  30 October 2024 | Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 60, No. 3
- Protecting Virtual Economies: A Blockchain-Based Anti-Phishing Authentication Protocol for Metaverse Applications
  IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Vol. 12, No. 13
- Strong social ties and team familiarity: Toward a new understanding of purchase behavior among MOBA players
  28 May 2025 | Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), Vol. 40, No. 2
- Social Norm Awareness and Norm Compliance in Online Games
  1 June 2025 | MIS Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2
- Content-sharing platforms’ copyright protection strategies with non-fungible tokens
  Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Vol. 71
- Liens forts entre les joueurs et familiarité avec l’équipe : vers une nouvelle compréhension du comportement d’achat des joueurs de MOBA
  1 May 2025 | Recherche et Applications en Marketing (French Edition), Vol. 40, No. 2
- Selling Bonus Actions in Video Games
  Lifei Sheng; ,
  Xuying Zhao; ,
  Christopher Thomas Ryan
  10 June 2024 | Management Science, Vol. 71, No. 3
- Optimizing for strategy diversity in the design of video games
  8 August 2024 | Mathematical Programming, Vol. 210, No. 1-2
- The new supply chain information sharing Renaissance through crypto valuation mechanism of digital assets
  Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 195
- Foundations of Decentralized Metaverse Economies: Converging Physical and Virtual Realities
  17 February 2025 | Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 42, No. 1
- Pricing and Design of Pay-to-Win Add-ons
  1 January 2025 | SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 1
- Design of an in-game economic system based on virtual currency and its impact on player behavior
  21 March 2025 | Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, Vol. 10, No. 1
- Towards a responsible gaming ecosystem: a call to action
  22 October 2024 | Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 38, No. 9
- Implications of Blockchain-Powered Marketplace of Preowned Virtual Goods
  11 August 2024 | Production and Operations Management, Vol. 33, No. 6
- A comparative analysis of Silverkite and inter-dependent deep learning models for bitcoin price prediction
  28 May 2024 | Frontiers in Blockchain, Vol. 7
- Examining the Commonalities and Differences Between Gamblification and Gamification: A Theoretical Perspective
  5 May 2024 | International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, Vol. 70
- Knowledge trajectory of eSports as an emerging field of research
  15 March 2024 | Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 124, No. 4
- Analyzing rational decision‐making's effect: Empirical evidence from Green supply chain
  10 January 2024 | Managerial and Decision Economics, Vol. 45, No. 3
- Dijital Çağda Boş Zaman: Boş Zaman Olgusunun Dijitalleşmesi Bağlamında “Ready Player One” Filminin İncelenmesi
  15 March 2024 | Mevzu – Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, No. 11
- Market Development and Revenue-Sharing Contract Design for Mobile Game Supply Chains
  IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Vol. 71
- Interlopers or Catalysts? Dissecting the Impact of Incorporating AI Players on Multiplayer Online Games
  1 January 2024 | SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 47
- Wasserstein gradient flow for optimal probability measure decomposition
  1 January 2024 | SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 67
- A study on the legal risk assessment of virtual currency transactions based on statistical analysis
  25 October 2023 | Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences, Vol. 9, No. 1
- The Impact of Resale Market on Video Games: Boosted Revenue and Better Player Engagement
- Optimal IP-based content provision model for digital content platforms
  Information & Management, Vol. 60, No. 7
- Optimal Sequencing in Single-Player Games
  Yifu Li,
  Christopher Thomas Ryan,
  Lifei Sheng
  11 January 2023 | Management Science, Vol. 69, No. 10
- Optimizing Free-to-Play Multiplayer Games with Premium Subscription
  Yunke Mai,
  Bin Hu
  23 August 2022 | Management Science, Vol. 69, No. 6
- Moving Consumers from Free to Fee in Platform-Based Markets: An Empirical Study of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Games
  Le Wang,
  Paul Benjamin Lowry,
  Xin (Robert) Luo,
  Han Li
  7 April 2022 | Information Systems Research, Vol. 34, No. 1
- Designing Optimization Problems with Diverse Solutions
  22 May 2023
- Algorithms for Loot Box Design
  1 January 2023 | SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 31
- An evolutionary game analysis of digital currency innovation and regulatory coordination
  Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, Vol. 20, No. 5
- Speculation and Its Consequence in a Blockchain NFT Platform
  1 January 2023 | SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 84
- Administrator-users contribute more to online communities
  Information & Management, Vol. 59, No. 8
- How strategic, offensive, and defensive engagement impact gamers’ need satisfaction, loyalty, and game usage
  International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 66
- To Share or Not to Share? The Optimal Technology Investment in a Virtual Product Supply Chain
  9 October 2022 | Sustainability, Vol. 14, No. 19
- An empirical study of play duration and in‐app purchase behavior in mobile games
  1 September 2022 | Production and Operations Management, Vol. 31, No. 9
- Metaverse: How to Approach Its Challenges from a BISE Perspective
  8 August 2022 | Business & Information Systems Engineering, Vol. 64, No. 4
- Envy or conformity? An empirical investigation of peer influence on the purchase of non-functional items in mobile free-to-play games
  Journal of Business Research, Vol. 147
- Gamblified digital product offerings: an experimental study of loot box menu designs
  17 May 2021 | Electronic Markets, Vol. 32, No. 2
- Understanding peer recommendation in mobile social games: the role of needs–supplies fit and game identification
  23 February 2021 | Information Technology & People, Vol. 35, No. 2
- Blockchain competition: The tradeoff between platform stability and efficiency
  European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 296, No. 3
- Fast Popularity Value Calculation of Virtual Cryptocurrency Trading Stage Based on Machine Learning
  25 January 2022 | Frontiers in Physics, Vol. 9
- Location-Based Mobile Gaming and Local Depression Trends: A Study of Pokémon Go
  11 April 2022 | Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 39, No. 1
- Incentivized Actions in Freemium Games
  Lifei Sheng,
  Christopher Thomas Ryan,
  Mahesh Nagarajan,
  Yuan Cheng,
  Chunyang Tong
  8 December 2020 | Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Vol. 24, No. 1
- Pricing strategies for blockchain payment service under customer heterogeneity
  International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 242
- The engagement–addiction dilemma: an empirical evaluation of mobile user interface and mobile game affordance
  17 March 2021 | Internet Research, Vol. 31, No. 5
- Finding the way out to African swine fever: Analysis of Chinese government’s subsidy programs to farms and consumers
  Computers & Industrial Engineering, Vol. 160
- Consumers’ Adoption and Use of E-Currencies in Virtual Markets in the Context of an Online Game
  13 April 2021 | Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 16, No. 5
- Freemium Pricing in Digital Games with Virtual Currency
  Zixuan Meng,
  Lin Hao,
  Yong Tan
  17 February 2021 | Information Systems Research, Vol. 32, No. 2
- Selling Virtual Items in Free-to-Play Games: Transparent Selling vs. Opaque Selling
  Yifan Jiao,
  Christopher S. Tang,
  Jingqi Wang
  12 July 2021 | Service Science, Vol. 13, No. 2
- Leveraging the Numerosity Effect to Influence Perceived Expensiveness of Virtual Items
  Yunhui Huang,
  Kai H. Lim,
  Zhijie Lin
  13 October 2020 | Information Systems Research, Vol. 32, No. 1
- Impact of online gamers' conscientiousness on team function engagement and loyalty
  Decision Support Systems, Vol. 142
- Optimal Level Design in Video Games
  SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 60
- Optimizing Free-to-Play Multiplayer Games with Premium Subscription
  SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 37
- Addiction, Gambling and Gaming: Chasing the Digital Dragon
- Freemium Pricing in Digital Games with Virtual Currency
  SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 72
- Increasing the Sales of Virtual Goods: Leveraging the Numerosity Effect in Virtual Worlds
  SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 28

cover image Information Systems Research

Volume 30, Issue 2

June 2019

Pages iii-vii, 351-710

Article Information

Supplemental Material

Metrics

Information

Received:November 27, 2014
Accepted:July 18, 2018
Published Online:June 05, 2019

Cite as

Hong Guo, Lin Hao, Tridas Mukhopadhyay, Daewon Sun (2019) Selling Virtual Currency in Digital Games: Implications for Gameplay and Social Welfare. Information Systems Research 30(2):430-446.

https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2018.0812

Keywords

PDF download

Available Issues

Available Issues

Available Issues

Available Issues

Available Issues

Selling Virtual Currency in Digital Games: Implications for Gameplay and Social Welfare

Supplemental Material

Volume 30, Issue 2

Article Information

Supplemental Material

Metrics

Information

Cite as

Keywords

Sign Up for INFORMS Publications Updates and News