The challenges and opportunities for virtual world marketing: World of Warcraft - Dissertation Example

50% of the subscribers reported taking on year-long subscriptions because it came with early access to an expansion before it was released to other subscribers and it provided a free copy of a game feature referred to as Diablo III. Ultimately, the survey results confirm that virtual world marketing is an ongoing process that not only attracts subscribers, but sustains interest and engagement. Acknowledgements I am especially grateful to WoW subscribers for allowing me the opportunity to submit a survey at Blizzard Entertainment’s WoW online forum.

I would also like to thank my mentor for guiding me and offering constructive criticism and advice. Without my mentor’s assistance this dissertation would not have been possible. Contents Abstract 3 Contents 5 Chapter One 6 Introduction 7 Research Questions 10 Significance of the Study 11 Aims and Objectives 12 Research Methodology 13 Chapter Two 17 A Review of the Literature 17 Introduction 17 Marketing Goals, Objectives and Strategies 18 Traditional Marketing Theories 21 Personality Theory 21 The Emergence and Growth of Traditional Marketing Theories 27 Relationship Marketing Theory 33 Virtual World Marketing Concepts 39 Conclusion 43 Chapter Three 45 World of Warcraft Marketing 45 Background 45 Marketing Aspects of World of Warcraft 46 S.W.O.T. Analysis of WoW 49 Conclusion 50 Chapter Four 52 Methodology and Results 52 Questionnaire 52 Forum Observations 52 Results 53 WoW Online Community Observations 57 Chapter Five 59 Conclusion and Analysis 59 Strengths of the Research 62 Weaknesses of the Research 62 Suggestions for Further Research 63 References 63 Chapter One Introduction WoW is the world’s most popular Digital Video.

The paper talks about WoW as the world’s most popular Digital Video Essentials (DVE) in history. WoW is a massive multiplayer online role-play (MMORPG) game which debuted in 2004 and currently “dominates the MMORPG market”. The game’s success is attributed to creative marketing communications techniques that have constructed a virtual world with real world subscribers with an annual recruitment and retention of rate of approximately 11 million users. In 2010, WoW had 12 million subscribers.

However, by September 2011, that number dropped to 10.3 million having previously dropped to 11.1 million in June 2010. Despite the decline in subscription rates, WoW remains the world’s most popular subscription game. Blizzard Entertainment, WoW’s owner claims that it expected subscription declines as some of its more sophisticated and long-term subscribers had exhausted the current game. It is estimated that new expansions would eventually lure subscribers back. WoW has experienced subscription declines in the past.

This experience has taught Blizzard Entertainment that subscribers will typically only subscribe to one game at a time. As a result, they will leave WoW to try new games, but will eventually return to WoW. For the present, WoW’s main competitors are Arkham City, Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3. Despite the competition, WoW owns a 62% share of the DVE market history. Rabowsky provides some insight into why WoW’s experienced significant success since its inception. According to Rabowsky (2010), MMORPG’s bring together massive “multiplayer experience” and have significant “economic potential”.