Inherent Tensions in Gaming Markets and their Effect on Audiences, Community, and Market Positioning

Over the last twenty years, the gaming industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing markets in the modern economy. While the segments of video games and online gaming have garnered the lion’s share of both consumer and researcher attention during this time, the segment of tabletop board games has also experienced a recent resurgence making the broader gaming industry one of the more interesting settings for studying a variety of theoretical and practical questions. This is due to the inherent tensions that exist both between and within different segments of the industry. The goal of this symposium is to embrace these tensions and serve as a catalyst for a conversation around markets and industries that contain such contrasts in physical vs. virtual, formal vs. informal, high-tech vs. low-tech, and mainstream vs. oppositional features and processes. We plan to do this by (1) focusing on how different types of audiences, such as consumers, expert critics, and game members, shape evaluation processes across different segments of the broader gaming industry; (2) exploring successful product positioning strategies in different segments; and (3) investigating how users themselves can take in active role in game positioning on the market. To this purpose, the symposium consists of four unique papers that cross various theoretical perspectives and different levels of analysis to explore the effects of inherent contradictions of gaming markets on product and firm performance in four diverse game contexts - global video games, digitally distributed PC games, global EVE Online role-playing game, and U.S. tabletop board games. Decomposing Optimal Distinctiveness: The Aesthetic vs Functional Dimensions of Product Categories Author: Bryn Choi; U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Author: Olga Khessina; U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Does it Hurt to be Compared? Antecedents & Consequences of Comparisons by Information Intermediaries Author: Richard Franciscus Johannes Haans; Erasmus U. Rotterdam Formal and Informal Organizational Structures: A Study of an Online Game Author: Eric Dunford; Georgetown U. Author: Marie Louise Mors; Copenhagen Business School Author: David Waguespack; U. of Maryland Organization Response to Crises and Customer Reaction in the Board Game Industry Author: Matthew Barlow; U. of Nebraska, Lincoln Author: Olga Khessina; U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Author: Ying Li; Department of Business Administration. U. Carlos III de Madrid Author: Samira Reis; U. Carlos III de Madrid Author: Cameron Verhaal; Tulane U.