For the assignment of Major Project 2, I elected to tackle the exploration and examination of the online presence of Blizzard Entertainment. There are several components of their presence that I would like to describe and analyize on both levels of effectiveness and competitiveness in their realm of online gaming. I will not do much compare/contrasting, but I will mention some of the competition very briefly to give a sense of the shadow Blizzard Entertainment casts.
A simple introduction to Blizzard, to those who are unfamiliar:
Blizzard Entertainment is an web-based company that specializes in online gamming. Recently their specialty has been in games that are dubbed Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games. (MMORPG) Their focus hasn't always been online gaming, but it's always been gaming of some type, and today that is the heart and soul of their company. They offer a myriad of games, some of the titles you're bound to see will be StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, and Diablo III. Clearly is a company of generations worth of games, many of these IN house generations and expansions. Arguably their biggest game and the one that will be targetted specifically in this study, is World of Warcraft. Which, at its height, was reported by Blizzard to support over 17 million players. The company shifted its focus to this MMO titan after its launch in 2004.
Now then, Blizzard is unquestionably a very healthy online company but how did it get this way? What are its most essential and successful components?
Firstly Blizzard's advertising campaign is second to none. Blizzard reaches out through about as many mediums as you can care to imagine. The advertise MOST heavily online. Which makes good and rational sense since their target market needs internet access at the bare minimum. Perhaps you've been surfing the web and off to the side of your facebook or google search or daily news article you've seen a "Play FREE Today....World of Warcraft" banner off to the side.
As part of their marketing startegy Blizzard introduced the "free trial" version of their very popular game which allows users to create a character and explore the tip of the Warcraft iceberg. Consumers have the oppurtunity to get their feet wet in the virtual world of Blizzard's creation before committing to actually immersing themselves by buying the game and setting up a subscription. This "test-drive" philosophy has convinced many a consumer to purchase the game.
Blizzard also advertises heavily on television anytime they launch a new expansion pack. This extended advertising strategy is brilliant because it reaches out to players both new and lost. Sometimes active subscribers will discontinue their subscriptions and stop playing the game. These TV spots will often bring those have left back with promises of new game content...new adventures, and more fun than before. And because Blizzard has a tendancy to focus on quality, they usually deliver. In addition, the cinematic trailers tend to excite and entice the interests of new prosepctive players.
Advertising is far from being Blizzard's only strength. Another component of their online presence is their MASSIVE community and the customer service that they provide. They support millions of players and customers with their various online mechanisms. Firstly you have their games, which each, in turn, support millions. And then you have their commecial site which is streamlined and user friendly, which supports ALL of those users across all of their games. And then each game itself has a mutli-functional website with thousands of forums for players to discuss game issues, develop and foster community within their own population of players, and allow them to share ideas and connect even outside of the game in another medium.
If any player has a complaint or issue with the game they are, in addition to working with their fellow players, encouraged to fill out a "ticket" where in that player will write about and describe the issue they are having. This can be filled out as you play the game. Due to the list of players waiting for response, you may wait a couple of days to get a response, but when you do ALL of their customer service people are very helpful, friendly, and knowledgable. There is an unquestionable emphasis on quality customer service. If you happen to be online when the customer service rep is available to help you, they will open a chat window right there in game and have a conversation with you to resolve whatever issue you may be experiencing.
A third extreme strength of Blizzard is their rewards program. They reward their members that recruit new members. They make it easier for recrutided members to "gain levels" and play with friends. Essentially they have a snow ball effect in place with their recruiting system. It has, to date, proven highly successful.
The breadth of the Blizzard's reach is difficult to fully understand. They have a full team of developers that work exclusively on how one of their given games work. They have a team that focuses on how it works, making sure all of the systems of play mesh; that certain character types function in battle as they are supposed to; that "enemies" are not TOO difficult so as to be impossible, but challenging enough to ensure that it isn't easy either. They have yet another team that focuses on advertising and promotions; another that directs its attention to managing customer service; yet another that overseas the development of new content; another that ensures their "quests", missions, and dungeons all fit under an overarching storyline; they have....for all intents and purposes, created several worlds, worlds that are by no means small.
I cannot help but make a reference to "Snow Crash" at this thought. Players log in to their character and "become" an avatar. They run about and slash swords, sling spells, build things, create things....it truly is a vast world. There are specific servers dedicated to an entirely subculture of playstyle known as role-playing where the players will "speak" in character as they interact one with another. If you were to play a human wizard who wished to sell his wares on streets of your city you wouldn't type, "Got 4k Copper Ore 4sale!!" You would instead declare, "I've a load of copper for which I have little use. I'm hoping to find a buyer to take them off my hands, interested?" Or some variation of the same.
Not all players perscribe to this, but on any server it's common for guild-mates to hail from different regions, countries, and even continents. You can play the game with these folks for years, get to know them, and even become friends...without ever seeing them in person. It's not the "metaverse"...but it seems like a step along the path to that.
At the end of the day, it's undeniable that Blizzard has built an empire. They affect millions of consumers. Their business touches many competitors. They are indesputably good at what they do for so many reasons yet they exist only through digital mediums. If you were to go the Blizzard Store...you'd be logging into a website. They surely do have a corporate headquarters...but I would be highly surprised if a customer had ever set foot there; for none of their millions of customers have any need to. In the world of online companies, many are based strictly online, but many also have physical presences. In either of these communities...Blizzard is a Titan; and a highly successful one at that.
