Online gaming has a serious bottom line

It has taken me a while to warm to the idea of online gaming as a viable platform for new PR and marketing tactics. In fact, when I first heard the idea, I thought it sounded a little too high tech. I figured it might work to reach an extremely targeted audience — real tech geeks. I didn’t think there was any hope of it becoming a normal part of a not-so-techy person’s life.

However, as I have searched through some of the sights and listened to the conversations building around them, I’m amazed at how wrong I was initially. (Does anyone see a trend with me: initially write it off as stupid, then learn and love it? I should learn from my own history. Nevertheless…)

I’ve searched through World of Warcraft and America’s Army to see why people might be drawn to the games, and although they’re on a computer, they are, in every other way, just like the PlayStation 3 I love so much.

Since video gaming is a $9.5 billion industry, it’s safe to say there’s a hefty following. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA 2006 Report), 69% of American heads of household played video games in 2006. Of the most frequent game players, 44% said they play games online.

With that evidence, I no longer think that online gaming is too techy to be viable for marketing. It probably won’t be long until we start seeing product placement within these video games. In fact, I was listening to one of the virtual world conference podcasts (compliments of Garrett’s link to it), and the participants were talking about how the users in Second Life were bringing their favorite real-world brands into their virtual worlds. This demonstrates consumers’ interest in having brands they recognized fused into their online experiences, whether in virtual world, online games or anything else.

Ironically, the same virtual world “inhabitants” that had recreated their favorite brands in their second lives also said they HATE marketing. For the consumer who hates marketing (that’s pretty much all consumers…even marketers) but can’t live without his brand (again…pretty much all consumers), these new online tools that feel fun are perfect.

Although there are still some significant obstacles to overcome before the online fun can be turned into useful and reliable marketing tools — intellectual and property (?) rights, regulations, etc. — it’s exciting to be working in communications while this medium is still a frontier.