True Confessions Of A Marketing Intern

It has been over a year since I first paid for it. I haven’t been able to quit very long ever since. There’s just something about it, knowing that there are 11 million other people doing it too, makes me feel better.


But what is it about Blizzards World of Warcraft that makes it SO addictive. I have a few theory’s but as an addict who has quit (and then come back), no single answer will do.

For many teens (and adults), fitting in is a problem; in World of Warcraft, you find millions of people, who don’t know who you are, so they cant judge you, it makes it easy to get caught up in the hype and stay there for a long time.

You can make friends who you can talk to (via text or voice) and play with on a casual come and go basis. Everyone is very friendly and open to helping others, so you can always find a friend or someone to do that crazy dungeon with. And if your not into making friends, you can play solo for hours and hours on end without ever needing to speak to another human.

World of Warcraft is portable. It’s runnable from the folder that it is originally installed to on your computer and because its specific to your online account, you can copy the folder onto your flash drive and take it and play anywhere.

$15 a month is cheap entertainment for parents who don’t want their children out on the streets, its cheap for students working part time jobs, and its really cheap for everyone else (even the unemployed). Knowing that there is a place that you can go (without leaving your home) where people don’t judge you, are friendly, always online and always happy to help, is defiantly a place where many people want to be. I believe that these are a few of the reasons why so many people have come to play World of Warcraft.

L.O.R.D.S interface

All this WoW talk has really inspired me to consider the evolution of virtual communities.  My first experience with an online environment was playing a games called L.O.R.D.S on BBS.  BBS were a precursor to the World Wide Web (WWW).  Essentially it was a local network of users who could dial into a variety of BBS site.

L.O.R.D.S is a text based game and players were limited to about 15 minutes of gameplay per day (http://tiny.cc/vByEA) .  This limit was due to server constraints.  Also, only 1 player could operate in the environment at a time.  While in there you could still attack other players, message them , develop relationships, and even marry inworld. It is certainly noteworthy that someone has reinvented LORDS for the digital age (http://www.lordsgame.com/).

WoW (World of Warcraft) is like L.O.R.D.S on steroids.  Wow has taken all the recent advancements in technology and applied it to create a world similar to that of L.O.R.D.S.  Players can attack, build relationship, and unofficially marry just as they could in L.O.R.D.S.  The main difference is that now they are not limited by time constraints and they can interact real time.

It is interesting to watch the evolution of virtual worlds.  To see text based games evolve into 3D virtual worlds in just over 10 years.  With such dramatic evolutions in technology I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years will bring.

The Cure To WoW Addiction

My previous post pertaining to World of Warcraft (WoW) made this appear to be the epitome of Virtual Worlds.  This is not totally the case.  While they are certainly doing a lot right, they still have room for improvement.

1. Slow Load Times: This is a common complaint for most online Virtual Worlds today.  Virtual Worlds require a lot of processing power and cutting edge graphic cards.  Slow response time can create a world of frustration for a typical WoW user (http://tiny.cc/Chtxh).  Unfortunately, this is a problem that only time and better video cards can fix.
2. Inconvenient Updates: As was stated in my previous post, one of the powers of WoW is their consistent updates.  This is a double edge sward though.  These updates are run during peak hours (on the East Coast of North America) and can cause trouble for users online at that time.  The good news is that Blizzard, the company that created WoW, is aware of this inconvenience and they are looking to reduce downtime (http://digg.com/d14X96).
3. Full Servers: When an avatar is created in WoW it is assigned a server.  If that server is full then the user can not log in.  They can move to a different server but a fee of $25 USD is attached to the move.  WoW will occasionally let users switch from a busy realm (server) to a realm which is less occupied.  In the future they may consider allowing users to switch realms for free
4. Addiction: Once again, this is both a positive and a negative.  Form a corporate perspective this is great.  WoW has become the crack of Virtual Worlds.  From a user perspective this can be devastating.  People have lost jobs, friends and relationships all due to WoW addictions.  WoW Insider has an excellent article explaining the WoW addiction and offering light counseling to anyway who may feel addicted to the game (http://tiny.cc/dVN7b)

Just to give you an idea of World of Warcraft’s (WoW) reach I did a Twitter search on “World of Warcraft” (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=world+of+warcraft). I then compared my results to a Twitter search of the top 3 video games of 2008  according to CNET News (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10022181-62.html).

World Of Warcraft………………………………..  15 Tweets in 32 minutes
Grand Theft Auto IV…………………………….  15 Tweets in 19 hours
Super Smash Bros Brawl………………………..  15 Tweets in 14 hours
Mario Kart………………………………………….  15 Tweets in 41 minutes

If you are looking for an audience that is tapped into social media then World of Warcraft users are it.  WoW currently has more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers and is estimated to hold 62% of the massively multiplayer online game market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_warcraft).

While companies are not allowed to market inworld, WoW has managed to gain advertising revenue through sponsorship.  The WoW world has been featured in ads for Toyota Tacoma (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u15HmEMp2Qc) and Snickers (See video below).  WoW has been doing just as well gathering free celebrity support from both Mila Kunis of That 70’s show fame and Macaulay Culkin, who both admit to being WoW players (http://tinyurl.com/cm3pcv).

How does this relate to marketing?

Well, I think WoW has managed to do a few things really well that can be applied to many other industries:

1. WoW has history.  WoW users really feel connected to the back story of the Virtual World.  The whole history is available at http://www.wowwiki.com/History_of_Warcraft.  The creators clearly put a lot of time into working out the history of the world and this will help the user become more involved in the game.  This can be applied to traditional organizations by creating a transparent history of your company.  This is particularly easy for organizations with formal websites and the company’s history can be included in the about section of the site.
2. WoW has created an intuitive environment. WoW is easy to use.  Even if you have never played and RPG video games you will be able to figure out WoW in  a few hours.  You may not be proficient inworld but you will be able to navigate, which is more than many Virtual Worlds have accomplished.  How you can apply this to a traditional organization would be in ensuring that your location is intuitive.  If you have a convenience store then figure out where customers expect to find bread and place it there, if you have a website then ensure it is easy to navigate.
3. WoW is constantly evolving.  Aside from 3 versions of the base game WoW has a plethora of expansion packs, board games, and new patches released every Tuesday.  Aside from creating a constant stream of products for WoW users to purchase, by constantly upgrading the product they are able to hold the users attention without becoming boring.  The can be replicated in a traditional organization by constantly updating your offerings; even if it is just something as simple as new packaging for a product, aesthetic improvements to a facility, or website promotions.
4. WoW is incredibly addictive. From speaking with past WoW addicts I’ve come to understand that the WoW addiction is all about the camaraderie formed with the games.  We have to go back online to socalize.  This level of addiction can be almost impossible to replicate and is the secret to WoW’s success.  The best a traditional business can do is to ensure  atight community and support these efforts with an online community through social media.