遊戲化最常見的定義為「將遊戲的設計元素帶入非遊戲環境的使用」，主要應用於教育或員工訓練情境，並且被認為可以提升學生或員工的學習動機，進而提升其能力。最常見的元素為分數、勳章及排行榜，而隨著網路科技的進步，更多的遊戲化元素也逐漸被使用。然而，遊戲化亦可被應用於降低使用者轉換卻較少受到研究與關注。雖然許多社交網路服務都已提供遊戲化元素給使用者，卻仍然缺乏驗證遊戲化元素是否適合用於社交網路服務。
在眾多被使用的遊戲化元素中，虛擬形象作為使用者在虛擬世界中的代表，也於近期被許多社交網路服務提供商提出。因此本研究將以自決理論及其子理論基本心理需求理論為基礎，並使用問卷進行調查以及利用結構方程模式加以分析，探究在社交網路服務中加入虛擬形象元素是否會使使用者產生內在動機並影響持續使用意圖。另一方面，也同時研究內在動機的形成是否會受到為滿足基本心理需求而導致過載形成負面效果之情形調節。提供單一元素是否會影響使用者對社交網路服務之持續使用意圖的檢驗方法，以及給予相關企業與提供商在設置虛擬形象功能上的參考。
本研究結果證實，虛擬形象可以透過滿足使用者的基本心理需求，提升其對社交網路服務的內在動機與持續使用意圖。並且透過合理的配置可避免因虛擬形象產生的負面效果調節，最大化發揮虛擬形象功能。本研究亦證實所提出之驗證模型可被用於檢視單一遊戲化元素是否會對社交網路服務的持續使用意圖產生影響，提供後續相關研究參考。

Gamification, most defined as “the use of game design elements into non-game contexts,” is mainly used in educational or employee training scenarios. The most common elements are points, badges, and leaderboards. Although many social network services have provided gamification elements to users, there is still a lack of verification that gamification elements are appropriate in social network service environments.
Among gamification elements, avatars have recently been proposed by many social network service providers as the representative of users in the virtual world. This research will be based on the self-determination theory and its sub-theory, the basic psychological needs theory. Questionnaires will be used to conduct surveys and structural equation models will also be used to analyze whether adding avatar elements to social network services will generate intrinsic motivation for users and thus enhance their continuance use intention. It is also investigated whether the formation of intrinsic motivation is moderated by the negative effects of overloads to meet basic psychological needs. This research provides a method to estimate whether a single element will affect the user's continuance use intention of social network services and provides companies a reference for setting avatar features.
The results of this study confirm that avatars can improve the intrinsic motivation and continuance use intention of social network services by meeting the basic psychological needs of users. And through proper configuration, the negative effect moderation caused by the avatar can be avoided to maximize benefits of using it. This study also confirms that the proposed model can be used to examine whether a single gamification element has an impact on the continuance use intention of social network services and provides insights for future research.

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