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Exploring the influence of online gaming communities on the release of World of Warcraft Classic
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School of Business |
Bachelor's thesis
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en
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46 + 2
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Abstract
Objectives
The main objectives of this study were to study the extent to which the decision making of Activision Blizzard in the release of World of Warcraft Classic was influenced by the online community surrounding the game on third-party websites.
Summary
World of Warcraft Classic (a version of the game how it was at the end of 2006) was released in the August of 2019 to overwhelming success. Many people in the World of Warcraft gaming community advocated for this version of the game to be released, however, it is unclear how much the community affected the decision to release this version of the game. This exploratory netnographic study aimed to discover the extent to which the community affected the release of World of Warcraft Classic. The study was conducted by analyzing four Reddit threads and two YouTube videos on the topic with the help of Atlas.ti qualitative research software.
Conclusions
The results of the study indicated that community interactions with Activision Blizzard had likely influenced the release of World of Warcraft Classic. However, the determination of the extent of this influence proved not to be possible in this study, due to the lack of available information. Series of community and in-game related factors were discovered, which affect the motivation of players to play the game. Community interactions proved to be one of the most important factors affecting player motivation.