Linyue Li, Boyu Lin, Shenziyue Zan, Xi Yao
Purpose High-intensity gamified interaction has become central to live-streaming commerce; yet, existing interactive marketing research largely conceptualizes gamification as a static engagement stimulus. This study reconceptualizes gamified live-streaming commerce as a dynamic interaction-structured retail service process. Design/methodology/approach Taking live-streaming matching games as the focal context, a multi-method design was adopted. Study 1 employed content analysis of live-stream comments to identify systematic topic–sentiment patterns. Study 2 drew on initial and follow-up interviews to develop a Gamified Consumption Experience Dynamic Model, reconstructing how participants described and reinterpreted their participation processes over repeated interaction episodes. Study 3 applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) as a triangulating configurational extension of the interview findings by examining whether broader comment-based patterns correspond to the consumer participation orientations identified in Study 2. Findings The findings suggest that gamified live-streaming participation is better understood as a dynamic process of interaction, appraisal and adjustment than as a one-off response to static engagement stimuli. Across the three studies, consumers’ reported participation experiences were shaped by repeated negotiations between affective arousal, cognitive appraisal and self-regulation, giving rise to differentiated consumer participation orientations and broader configurational patterns. Originality/value This study explains how value and disvalue emerge through the same dynamic process of high-intensity gamified interaction, as the relative salience of affective arousal and cognitive appraisal shifts across repeated participation. It identifies the misalignment between affective amplification and consumers’ legitimacy judgments as a trigger for cognitive reappraisal, self-regulation and differentiated participation orientations.