Exploring the Influence of Online Gaming Communities on the Release of World of Warcraft Classic

Thumbnail Image

Files

bachelor_Hyvönen_Tommi_2020.pdf (5.35 MB)

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

Authors

Date

2020

Department

Mikkelin kampus

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

(Mikkeli) Bachelor’s Program in International Business

Language

en

Pages

46 + 2

Series

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.

Description

Thesis advisor

Lehtonen, Miikka

Keywords

World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft Classic, online communities, netnograph, player motivation, game design, game industry, video games

Other note

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202005103097

Collections

[kand] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ (Open Access)