A PhD in CN?

Entry posted by crushtania November 23, 2008

211 views

I recently used CN as an example for my Games Studies course at University (yes, we played video games for credit!) that centered around Viral Marketing and the Experience Economy. Below is an edited extract with references removed. (Yes, my tutor, who has a PhD in gaming, actually read this.)

Viral Marketing can be one of the most effective tools in creating brand awareness and sales for games. Viral Marketing can be a vital component and ideal “commodity” in an era of non-industrial production and consumption. But first, an operational definition of viral marketing will follow; as well as how it relates to games and how they operate within gaming paradigms and as an adjunct to cultivate the “experience economy” or, the sale of wholesome, integrative, interactive and immersive experiences instead of mere narratives and discrete, passive consumption of texts.

Hallmarks of viral marketing strategies are as follows:

1. Gives away products or services

2. Provides for effortless transfer to others

3. Scales easily from small to very large

4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors

5. Utilizes existing communication networks

6. Takes advantage of others' resources

The first strategy lures people into the realm of experience; with games being interactive by nature, they’ve have always had an advantage in the viral marketing stakes. Demos handed out in PC magazines or even full game code back in the 80s being prime examples. The Demo phenomenon utilizes all six of these strategies simultaneously. It’s free, it comes on a medium that requires little to no effort to distribute, its portable, targets specific markets and communication mediums and also takes advantage of other computers to sell the end product. Steam could be considered a viral marketing strategy par excellence as the program itself generates content for the end user to download.

This is an example of the Experience Economy. "Experiences must provide a memorable offering that will remain with one for a long time, but in order to achieve this, the consumer – or the guest - must be drawn into the offering such that they feel a sensation. And to feel the sensation, the guest must actively participate. This requires highly skilled actors who can dynamically personalise each event according to the needs, the response and the behavioural traits of the guests." In a market that seeks experiences rather than products or texts-as-products, users will be attracted to games that literally “transform” them in some way, much like Psychoanalyst Jung’s observation that “the meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” They must be inspirational and be sustained over time.

One such online game that uses some elements of the transformation economy is the text-based nation simulation game called Cyber Nations. Cyber Nations (or CN) can be played as superficially or in-depth as possible; apart from the actual game engine itself there are literally hundreds of player-created alliances, each with their own governing principles, whom collectively enter into a Rousseauian “social contract” to advance their player-created alliance through “aid programs”, espionage, diplomacy, war and other guidance. Each “ruler” has the opportunity to join alliances and wrest their control over them. Many “rulers” who participate in the main forums can reach celebrity status (such as leading prominent alliances, making controversial statements or being outed as traitors) or even engage in multi-lateral talks over Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to create distinct and unique experiences of their own.

In the CN Wiki, there are detailed expositions into how experiences are created; in the following link, a drama between two of the largest alliances in the game that rocked the entire foundations of the game is detailed, including a timeline of user-created events, statements from “alliance leaders” and even user-created images that lends itself to a wholesome and immersive experience, despite the lack of ambience and even user-interactivity with the core game itself. (http://cybernations.wikia.com/wiki/Pacifica-Polaris_Dispute) Interestingly enough, viral marketing strategies are utilized from within the game itself as alliances attempt to recruit new users to their ranks.

As academics argue, this new culture is merely an adjunct of the non-industrial mass media that segments and targets specific markets yet creates a completely interconnected network of experience.

It’s summed up by the designer of the Playstation, Ken Kutaragi:

“You can communicate to a new cyber-city. This will be ideal home server. Did you see the movie ‘The Matrix?’ Same interface. Same concept. Starting next year [once the Playstation is introduced] you can jack into ‘The Matrix!’”

The non-industrial economy integrates humans to machines and creates a dynamic, interconnected environment that generates experiences based on the input of the users themselves. World of Warcraft and the aforementioned Cyber Nations could not deliver an experience without the interplay of users and their impact upon the “spaces” – without user input, the games would merely wither up and “die” (especially in the case of Cyber Nations, since text is the primary form of communication; avatars more so in visual-based MMORPGs such as WoW.) creating the user as a “prosumer” – a portmanteau of producer and consumer – that a user or player has to be active in the creation of the experience being sold to him. The experience economy (sales) and viral marketing create a simulacrum of authentic, spontaneous and immersive “sensations” – which video games have been utilized to create since their popularization and inception into mass culture.