Game Marketing through Online Community - Literature review Example

Game Marketing Through Online Community

Literature review

The community is a fundamental aspect concerning the social thought. The intellectual history pertaining the concept of community is abundant and lengthy. It is true that the concept concerning the community became of interest to the scientists, social theorists as well as the great philosophers in the 19th century (Wiegandt, 2009, p. 33). Also, a brand community is well referred to a non-geographical and a specialized community that is bound and based on a set of structured relationships among the brand admirers (Storch, 2007, p. 168). The brand community is specialized since there exists a good or rather a service that is branded at its core. Just the same way as depicted by other communities, a brand community is depicted by a consciousness that is shared, traditions as well as rituals and also the aspect of moral responsibility. All of the mentioned qualities are located within the mass and commercial mediated ethos.

Community

Historically, the concept pertaining the community is based on the critiques of modernity. The community as well as the society have been always known to be the antonyms to each other since the community was largely depicted in a way that it was the opposite of the society. Since the beginning of the 20th century up to date, the legacy concerning the community lost has been infused, informed and apparently infected the social thought (Albert et al. 2001, p. 421). In the current modern context, consumption portrays a crucial role towards the brand community.

The consciousness of kind is one of the critical elements pertaining the community. It is the connection that is more of intrinsic which community members feel towards each other. Also, it is a consciousness that is shared among the community members. The presence of traditions as well as rituals that are shared among the community members is another indicator or rather element of the community (Singh et al. 2016, p. 72). This concept of traditions and rituals perpetuates the culture, shared history and also consciousness of the concerned community. The aspect of moral responsibility is another marker pertaining the community. This is a sense of obligation or rather a duty that is felt among the members of the community. The aspect of the moral responsibility is the one that develops a collective action whenever the community is at a state of threats. All these aspects of the community enhance the theoretical notion pertaining the community brand.

Marketplace communities

It is true that the community is a collection of all entities concerning its members as well as the relationships among the members. Through the aspect of commonality, a community is easily identified. The community has enhanced the sharing of resources that may be emotional, material or rather cognitive in nature. Stuffs such as drinks, foods, and critical information are highly shared within the vicinity of a community. The marketplace community is well known as the consumption community. The culture of consumption lead to the revolution of the industries. Since the brand community highly focuses on the customers’ needs, the consumption rate has been highly enhanced (James et al. 2002, p. 39). The customer centric model depicted by the brand community shows that all the activities taking place within the context of marketplace community focuses on the focal customer as shown below.

The chart was created by James et al. 2002, p. 46.

The only dimension that differentiates the various existence of communities is the geography. As much as the brand community is defined as bounded non-geographical community, it may be either scattered geographically or concentrated geographically (Meister, 2012, p. 274). In some other context, the brand communities may be present in the whole of internet non-geographical space. The concept of temporality is among the dimensions concerning the marketplace communities. Some marketplace communities may be enduring or rather stable as others may be periodic or rather temporary. The community that is temporary stable may be a critical asset to the existing marketers. This is true whenever long term market that is stable equates to the longevity.

One would make no mistake suggesting that this peculiar characteristic, namely the ability of the virtual environment to provide a platform for marketing that is not connected to real geographic locations should be carefully examined. According to Spaulding (2010), it is crucial to admit that the contemporary business world has moved from focusing on the real environment and accepts virtual platforms as an effective tool for promotion as well as the exchange of products (p. 38). In other words, it is perfectly normal for a modern consumer to choose a product online without interacting with it in the real world. All this conditions the following idea: the Internet has liberated the marketers from the necessity to focus on real life platforms and they are capable of focusing on the promotion of goods online. This may be regarded as one of the major shifts in the history of business since it literally starts a new chapter in the manner in which products are marketed.

Another point that should be mentioned with this regard is that virtual platforms enabled the marketers to transgress national borders. As mentioned by Krishnamurthy and Singh (2005), this has opened numerous markets for ordinary consumers and they are able to enjoy products that are literally sold on the other end of the planet (p. 605). Nevertheless, this should be perceived as a double-edged sword. On the other hand, the fact that the Internet no longer requires paying the attention to national boundaries is particularly beneficial for the ordinary consumers since they are capable of enjoyed an increased variety of goods. However, on the other hand, this poses some significant challenges to the marketers since the latter have to design marketing mix in a manner that would be beneficial in environments that might have contrasting ideas. As a result, companies have to market their products in a way that would be acceptable all over the world and attract different audiences.

Consumer empowerment

The empowerment of a consumer is referred to the powers that a consumer possess that enables him or her to take control or rather to manage the variables that the marketers consistently pre-determine them. Brand meaning is one of the variables. Due to the concept of brand management, an organization can be overwhelmed by the control of a brand that has being replaced by the tribe of a consumer as the consumer tries to re-appropriate the brand (Bernard et al. 2010, p. 1095). This is well known as the brand hijack. Therefore, the brand hijack mainly takes place whenever a consumer snatches away an organizational brand in the process of evolving the brand from the concerned professionals of marketing. For instance, through the concept of co-created hijack, a consumer may invite the specialized subcultures so as to co-create an ideology, persona as well as the use of the concerned brand. By doing so, the consumer may pave the way for the mainstream to adopt the brand. Also, through the concept of serendipitous hijack, a consumer may seize a brand’s use, ideology and also persona control (Hartleb, 2009, p. 56). This concept is mostly put into practice by the fanatics of a certain brand within the subcultures while unanticipated by the marketing agencies of the concerned brand.

Brand community identification

Identification concerning a brand community has got various benefits to the consumers through the concept of community engagement. Through the community engagement, all members have that notion of helping or rather assisting one another. Brand community identification via community engagement ensures that all members participate in events or rather activities that are joint and act volitionally towards the endorsement and also enhancement of the community values (Rene et al. 2005, p. 20). Therefore, the identification concerning a brand community ensures that the community members nourishes within the relevant values hence regulating the disputes.

There are some other aspects of brand community identification that must be outlined. Thus, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that these communities attract people who have consciously make a particular brand a part of their identity. In spite of the fact that this might be regarded as self-evident, this idea sheds light on the common feature all members of brand community possess: to one extent or another they believe that a brand contributes to who they are. This is particularly interesting since it shows that the relationship between the consumers and the marketers is a peculiar one. The latter might use this to their advantage by associating some features with the product that the majority of the people will find desirable. That is why one might suggest that at first, a consumer chooses a brand because it reflects some aspects of one's identity, but later the brand has a direct impact on the development of the identity.

What is even more important is that brand community identification is closely connected to the manner in which a product is promoted by the members of this community. Cova and Pace (2006) found that one's true status in the community is often determined not only by the extent of affiliation that is claimed but also the manner in which a person promotes the brand (p. 1087). In other words, it does not suffice to claim one's loyalty to the brand: it should be evident from one's actions. Therefore, one might go as far as saying that membership in a brand community should be regarded as a dynamic characteristic since it changes with time. Nevertheless, it is not merely the time that modifies it, it is the number of actions or the lack of them that modifies one's place in the community. As a result, it may be particularly beneficial to target the most active representatives of the brand community.

Brand community practices

As per the marketing logic that is based on the modern world, the consumer is perceived to be exogenous to the industries as well as the recipient who is more of passive to the active creation of values by the industries (Hope et al. 2009, p. 43). All the practices pertaining the brand community develop customer values. On the other hand, all activities starting from the development of a product to the logic of service dominant and lastly to the culture theory concerning the consumer may lead to the co-creation of customer values. The practices can also result in the co-creation of competitive strategy.

There are other examples of brand community practices that should be carefully examined. One would make no mistake suggesting that various promotional campaigns are likely to be extremely successful among the members of this community. Keeping in mind the importance of being active, it can be assumed that participation in which campaigns will be a manifestation of one’s loyalty show the extent of the commitment of a person towards the brand. Moreover, needless to say that the members themselves will promote these campaigns since they will be interested in them. Therefore, it is obvious that brand communities should be regarded as effective platforms for promotion of campaigns and the products the success of which is based on the common idea that participation in the development of a brand is something that members of these communities have to be involved it. Therefore, one should note that the wide range of brand community practices includes those which are directly or indirectly related to various actions.

Other scholars believe that there are some additional aspects of community practices. Thus, Schau, Muñiz, and Arnould (2009) outlined three major directions in which the above-mentioned practices create value for the brand (p.30). The first direction focuses on the provision of general knowledge. Indeed, it is obvious that groups that are dedicated to a particular product are likely to feature a considerable amount of information about it. The second direction focuses on tacit knowledge: the brand community members often change their ideas and views about the way in which they enjoy the product and this contributes to one's personal experience. Finally, being around people who claim loyalty to the same brand has a positive impact on the emotional perception of the latter. As a result, the newcomers tend to be more committed to the brand in terms of emotions and affections. It is rather obvious that development in all these three directions creates value.

Gaming history

In order to develop a proper understanding of the manner in which games can be marketed in online community successfully, one should develop a broad perspective on the manner in which games have evolved. It may be particularly important to start with from the very beginning to focus on the first case which enjoyed commercial success. It is rather obvious that after World War II engineers tried to find news applications for the machines that were developed during it. Even though the technology was primitive and programming required a considerable amount of knowledge, various scientists came up with programs that could have been used for entertainment. So, the question regarding the first game should be the focus on the first popular game. Lowood (2009) states that this title is traditionally given to "Pong" (p. 5). Before it, gaming was something that did not exist and was possible in computer labs; however Pong showed that people can be united by this activity.

However, soon the gaming industry has witnessed a new stage that largely conditioned the future of it. Miller (2006) notes that the second generation of gaming consoles involved cartridges which took games from a public place to one's home. It would not be an exaggeration to state that gaming used to be perceived as a public activity in that sense that people had to go to a public place to enjoy a game on a game machine. However, the development of smaller consoles allowed them to achieve the same enjoyment at home. Instead of killing the industry, the second generation of consoles makes it truly successful since every gamer wanted and needed a personal console. Companies saw the potential of this and quickly realised that if more games are created, more people will buy them and enjoy at home. This has turned gaming industry from something that was enjoyed occasionally to an irreplaceable part of life.

Nevertheless, it is not only consoles that allowed their users to play. Slowly, but surely computers were turning into a platform that was suitable for gaming. Faria et al. (2008) show that originally the computers were not quick successful in attracting the audience due to the low level of performance (p. 465). It is true that consoles were not able to process information as their sole purpose was to provide entertainment. Contrary to that, the computers at the time were focused processing information and were largely regarded as a tool for work, not for entertainment. However, as technology evolved, many of the titles that were originally released on consoles could run on a personal computer. This was a rather promising move since buying a computer was a far better strategic more for a family if compared to buy a console. Nevertheless, given the limited resources that the technology at the time provides, the latter were still much more attractive to the average users.

One should also carefully focus on another branch of development of the gaming industry. Thus, consoles and personal computers were not the only platforms which provided the necessary experience. Van Krevelen and Poelman (2010) report that MicroVision, a company that is currently known for its advanced LCD technology, released an interface which was the first handheld LCD console (p. 3). No matter how sorrowful it may be, but at the time the people were not able to recognize the potential of this technology. There is nothing surprising in that: the conventional consoles featured superior graphics, they were more convenient that personal computers and no one really wanted to make them portable. So, the initiative of MicroVision failed. However, it was revived in 1989 by Nintendo which is currently the leader of portable consoles. Even though initially handheld devices were not popular and could not attract the sufficient number of the consumers, this is one of three major branches of the industry.

The examination of gaming history can hardly omit by far the most important date in it – 1983. Aoyama and Izushi (2003) believe that the events that took place at that year shaped the development of the entire industry, securing the dominance of one branch for decades to go (p. 423). In 1983, the emerging market of video games reached it limits and collapsed: one of the most famous images of it is Atari burying cartridges with the newly developed I.T. themed game. There are several aspects that should be identified with this regard. First of all, the video game crash showed that the content of the product mattered: the initial hype around this industry settled and people were able to make conscious choice; this urged the producers of games to make better products, but the former were so fixed on maintaining high revenues that they did not produce any high-quality titles. Another point that should be mentioned is that the disappointed consumers turned away from consoles and looked for a new platform – personal computers. The latter were able to provide a better gaming experience and this shaped the development of the industry: for decades high-quality games were created exclusively for personal computers.

As it has already been mentioned, the crash of 1983 allows the computers to dominate the competition and made them the most important platform for gaming. That is why it is rather obvious that new advancements were witnessed. Laviola (2008) shows many of aspects of computer experience that the majority of the people today takes for granted were perceived as extremely innovative many years ago (p. 10). Indeed, today a mouse, 3d acceleration or high-quality sound are thought to be irreplaceable elements of computer games. They were milestones of development that marked new chapters in the industry. Needless to say that after text based interface the users had to get accustomed to a mouse.

One would not make a mistake that in the twenty-first century, the gaming industry was reborn several times. Mortara et al (2014) show that the development of online games took the gaming experience to a completely new level: people now could communicate with their counterparts that were sitting at home (p. 319). As a result, this returned games to what they originally were: a public action, but now it could have been achieved at home. The development of smartphone technology showed that there is an entirely new platform that has emerged and companies tried to engage it effectively. In spite of the fact that smartphone games are mostly free today, they are still quite popular and many companies devote their resources to developing them. One should recall the success of Angry Birds: started as a simple physics-based game, it expanded to a wide range of products and recently a full-length film was presented which is based on the story of this game.

At the present moment, the gaming industry is one of the major sectors of the market. Marchand and Henning-Thurau (2013) point out that development of a modern game requires more resources and time than the production of a blockbuster movie (p. 14). In addition to that, the revenue and the popularity of games is many times higher. With all this in mind, it is safe to suggest that today gaming has evolved in an industry that attracts millions of users and generates fantastic profits. The development of technology has made the gaming experience outstanding. Another point that should be mentioned is that many companies try to blur the boundaries between different platforms. As a result, many games are developed to be played on consoles and personal computers which shapes their interface and many other aspects. This might be regarded as a step forward since it finally put an end to the war between platforms. However, there are still some exclusive game that can run on a particular console, but that might be regarded as a marketing move to attract the audience.

Online community

Now it may be particularly beneficial to turn to the examination of the notion of online community. It must be noted that several scholars tried to approach this issue. For example, Kozinets (2002) claims that it may be particularly useful to employ the technique that he calls "netography" which is a term that is created similarly to "ethnography" (p. 62). According to him, this will allow a researcher to approach online community in a manner that will not disrupt any processes inside it. As a result, one will be able to research the actions of gamers and they will not even know that they are being studied. In addition to that, this kind of approach helps to save resources and time which makes it particularly useful.

If one considers certain peculiarities that exist inside the online community that matter for marketing, one will have to note the importance of word of mouth. Kozinets et al (2010) examined a number of online communities and come to a conclusion that word of mouth plays an important role in the promotion of a particular brand (p. 71). Indeed, it may be rather easy to forget about the fundamental nature of this group: even though it exists in the virtual environment, it consists of people and largely depends on their communication. This leads to the understanding that the interaction between people creates value for the brand and determines its development. While some companies might think that this is a chaotic process that cannot be influenced, the reality shows that right promotional campaigns may turn online communities into major driving factors of brand development. Therefore, it is crucial to turn the members of these communities into allies that would constantly produce positive consequences for the brand.

Speaking of the relationship between the online community and gamers, one should point out that there are two dimensions that should be addressed. First of all, it is important to state that gamers or people who associate themselves with this culture and activity tend to be active users of social networks. Fox and Tang (2014) believe that being a gamer often constitutes an important part of one's identity and it is natural for people to highlight this in their social media profiles (p. 315). As a result, it is essential to state that online community of gamers should be regarded as subdivisions of larger online communities. This means that a person may use a social network and be a gamer. Therefore, the latter shapes certain patterns of behaviour of a person which should be taken into account by the marketers. Indeed, one size fits all approach may not be useful in this case since it will ignore importance aspects of gaming culture.

The second dimension that should be mentioned involves specially designed online communities for gamers. Davidovici-Nora (2014) believes that these communities hold a considerable amount of potential for marketers since they attract a particular category of consumers and follow a certain pattern (p. 84). Consider the example of Steam: this is a special network that digitally distributes games, but it also has numerous features that turn it into a social network. However, given the peculiar nature of interactions between the users, few people will recognize Steam as a social network: the communication between users is a side product of their activities. Nevertheless, this may be the platform that allows them to manifest their gaming nature to its fullest. Thus, many aspects of a conventional social network are absent, but some aspects are emphasised. All this leads to the understanding that online communities of gamers should be targeted by marketers to achieve the best result.

There is no doubt that the analysis should also focus on the role that viral content plays in marketing in online communities. Feijoo et al (2012) rightfully argue that today it may be one of the most effective ways to promote a particular product (p. 213). On the one hand, one can hardly reject the fact that people tend to share some unique content which ultimately makes it viral. On the other hand, while sharing and watching it, people are exposed to the marketing message. As a result, they unconsciously develop a positive attitude towards the product that it being promoted. Think about all viral content that is associated with GTA V. Indeed, after this game was released, the social media started sharing content that was captured by the users. As a result, the popularity of this game became even bigger. In spite of the fact that people who spread the content did not believe that they helped the company to promote the product, the more people watched the videos them more people were aware of it.

All this brings up the topic of the contemporary virtual culture that is widely spread in online communities. Maccallum-Stewart (2013) shows that the manner in which people interact online is significantly different from the conventional way (p. 166). A good example is the use of memes. Needless to say that virtually every cultural unit can become a meme; that is why there is no surprise that some games have contributed to the formation of memes. What is even more important is that today gaming is a part of the modern culture. This is not an activity that is suitable for social outcasts of people who are not able to find their proper place in the society: it is something that the majority of the people does and to a certain extent playing games has become mainstream. All this leads to the understanding that the potential audience for marketers has increased significantly.

With the expansion of the number of people who are engaged in this activity, it may be particularly important to make certain reservations about the age of these people. Greenberg et al. (2008) found that games attract individuals literally from every age group (p. 240). It must be noted that those people who witnessed the dawn of gaming and the emergence of first consoles are old now, but this experience is closely connected to their memories of the childhood; that is why they enjoy playing games. In spite of the fact that this might seem to be a rather beneficial state of affairs, this complicates the work for marketers. Indeed, a successful product is expected to attract a wide range of people, but what if the people differ significantly in age. As a result, the community has developed different levels of rating and marks the games accordingly. This has shaped the manner in which the content of the popular titles is created.

Finally, one should also consider the manner in which some of the games are perceived in the online community. Ash (2010) shows that today sequels of popular titles are long waited for and people are willing to buy them as quickly as possible (p. 655). Moreover, the interest of the online community does not disappear even though the new parts of the games provide a different, yet fundamentally the same experience. Consider the success of Call of Duty series: the games feature a wide range of setting, starting with the World War II and up warfare in the future. In spite of the fact that the gameplay stays the same, rarely featuring new additions, numerous gamers keep buying new parts, showing their devotion. All this leads to the understanding that popular games are likely to produce sequels and they will be as popular as the original game. This holds a considerable amount of potential for marketing.