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<jats:title>Background and objective</jats:title>
<jats:p>Online games combine gameplay with commercial communication through rankings, rewards, item descriptions, progression systems, and competitive feedback. These features communicate the functional and symbolic value of virtual goods, yet the psychological processes associated with players’ consumption responses remain insufficiently explained within Advertising and Marketing Communication. This study examines the associations among Achievement Motivation, Flow Experience, Game Genre, Player Type, and Online Game Consumption Behavior by integrating achievement motivation theory, flow theory, and person–situation interactionism.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>A laboratory-based cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 300 online game players recruited through Credamo in 2024. Credamo was used only for participant recruitment. Participants attended an offline laboratory in Hengqin, Guangdong, played their preferred online game for 60 min, and completed a post-session questionnaire. Online Game Consumption Behavior was represented by four ordered categories of monthly in-game expenditure. Player Type was classified as light or heavy according to weekly gaming time, while Game Genre was coded as a competitive or noncompetitive game context. The proposed associations were examined using regression-based moderation and mediation analyses with 5,000 bootstrap samples.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
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Achievement Motivation was positively associated with Online Game Consumption Behavior (B = 0.609,
<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>
&lt; .001) and Flow Experience (B = 0.528,
<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>
&lt; .001). Flow Experience remained positively associated with Online Game Consumption Behavior after Achievement Motivation was included in the model (B = 0.617,
<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>
&lt; .001). The indirect association through Flow Experience was statistically different from zero [B = 0.326, 95% CI (0.229, 0.479)], while the direct association remained significant (B = 0.283,
<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>
&lt; .001). Player Type did not significantly moderate the association between Achievement Motivation and Online Game Consumption Behavior (B = −0.044,
<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>
= .173). Game Genre showed a significant moderating association (B = 0.220,
<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>
&lt; .001), with a stronger positive association in competitive game contexts.
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<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>The findings connect online game consumption with a commercial communication environment formed through gameplay systems and purchase-related information. Flow Experience statistically accounted for part of the association between Achievement Motivation and Online Game Consumption Behavior, while Game Genre was associated with variation in the strength of this relationship, with a stronger positive association in genres coded as competitive. The results suggest that the meaning communicated through virtual goods may be more closely related to player motivation when competition and visible performance comparison are central to gameplay.</jats:p>
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