Back in the day…

I remember a time when impersonating a plumber and killing turtles was a blast. We didn’t mind being a square persona, we didn’t care about the fact that we could only play with only one other player. We were young, innocent and we were ok with the fact that we had to start over at level 1 when you had no more life at the top of the screen.

But now, what are the gaming fans into?

Now people don’t only want to be the star of their living room but want to be the star of a community. Be recognized as one of the best on the server or of the virtual world they’re part of. Now we see the same kind of human behaviour in those gaming environments as in real world. People create relationships, depend on others, show their social status or accomplishment and even feel betrayed or left behind.

The boundaries between the games and life is getting thinner and thinner

Now people are craving for social interaction in realistic worlds and in fantasy ones. In the past, gaming was a way to get away from reality and to experience great challenges. Now with online gaming you can even live social experiences that can fulfill for some the need for a real life experience.

The gaming industry is aware of that

Today the gaming industry understands that gaming is not only for boys and it has to please everyone. This industry knows now that the little boys that were the past gaming fans are now growing up and still need their gaming fix. It now tries more and more to understand their community of players from a behavioral point of view. In some online games a lot of things are planned and studied, so they can reward the players for specific actions and make the world respond to their behaviors. What’s great is the impact that the players have on the game and the impact the game has on the player.

What makes a game so engaging? What can we learn from this industry?

How to some it’s sometime more attractive than real life? It’s really impressive how someone embraces a game, like for example ‘World of Warcraft’ and makes it part of life. How can a game make someone want to spend more time in the virtual realm instead of the real world?

• Is there a non-game related brand or a product that has as much influence on someone to be such a part of its daily life?
• Can a company learn from its customers by watching them interact in a game?
• How can we leverage the gaming power on a user to send a message?

I think that a lot of companies can learn from how the gaming industry knows their customers.