IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/idt/journl/cs7302.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Dynamics of Co-Creation in the Video Game Industry: The Case of World of Warcraft

Author

Listed:
  • Myriam DAVIDOVICI-NORA

    (Institut Telecom / Telecom-ParisTech, Paris, France)

Abstract

These latest years have seen both an increasing development of Users Generated Content (UGC) on the Internet and a growing number of free transactions of these contents through online communities. The video game industry shares this general trend and we shall examine it in detail through the example of a worldwide success game, World of Warcraft (WoW). This massively multiplayer online (MMO) game exhibits two specific economic characteristics. The first one is that the original content is produced by a game developer who keeps intellectual property rights while leaving open to players some possibilities to modify that original content into an enhanced content. We call this innovation process, which involves both the participation of the producer and of consumers, co-creation. Based on a typology of the different UGC in WoW, we specify the meaning of co-creation and put forward some arguments on the players' motivations to co-create and their consequences on the attractiveness of the gameplay to the players' community. The second characteristic is that co-creation is not limited to the design of the game before its marketing. It is a continuous interaction between players and developer even after its marketing. This dynamic process requires both regulatory actions by the developer and a new industrial organization to distribute these UGC through the WoW players' community.

Suggested Citation

  • Myriam DAVIDOVICI-NORA, 2009. "The Dynamics of Co-Creation in the Video Game Industry: The Case of World of Warcraft," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(73), pages 43-66, 1st quart.
    • Handle: RePEc:idt:journl:cs7302
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.idate.org/RePEc/idt/journl/CS7302/CS73_DAVIDOVICI.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric von Hippel & Ralph Katz, 2002. "Shifting Innovation to Users via Toolkits," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(7), pages 821-833, July.
    2. Von Hippel, Eric A. & Katz, Ralph, 2002. "Shifting Innovation to Users Via Toolkits," Working papers 4232-02, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yi-Wen Chen, 2020. "Sustainable Value Co-Creation in the Virtual Community: How Diversified Co-Creation Experience Affects Co-Creation Intention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Czernek-Marszałek Katarzyna & Klimas Patrycja & Wójcik Dagmara, 2024. "The dark side of social relationships – the context of the video game industry," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 60(2), pages 89-107.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kibaek Lee & Jaeheung Yoo & Munkee Choi & Hangjung Zo & Andrew P Ciganek, 2016. "Does External Knowledge Sourcing Enhance Market Performance? Evidence from the Korean Manufacturing Industry," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Habicht, Hagen & Oliveira, Pedro & Shcherbatiuk, Viktoriia, 2012. "User Innovators: When Patients Set Out to Help Themselves and End Up Helping Many," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 66(3), pages 277-295.
    3. Maxim Kotsemir & Alexander Abroskin & Dirk Meissner, 2013. "Innovation concepts and typology – an evolutionary discussion," HSE Working papers WP BRP 05/STI/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Spencer H. Harrison & Kevin G. Corley, 2011. "Clean Climbing, Carabiners, and Cultural Cultivation: Developing an Open-Systems Perspective of Culture," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 391-412, April.
    5. Alexandros D. Tsangaridis, 2014. "Strategic Financial Analysis Of The Merger Of New Tt Hellenic Postbank S.A. With Eurobank - Ergasias Bank S.A," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 8(1), pages 354-372.
    6. Maria Antonietta Raimondo & Gaetano Nino Miceli & Stefania Farace, 2013. "Self o mass branding? La relazione tra personalizzazione e marca," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(4), pages 149-171.
    7. Lalicic, Lidija & Dickinger, Astrid, 2019. "An assessment of user-driven innovativeness in a mobile computing travel platform," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 233-241.
    8. Nikolaus Franke & Martin Schreier & Ulrike Kaiser, 2010. "The "I Designed It Myself" Effect in Mass Customization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(1), pages 125-140, January.
    9. Astebro, Thomas B. & Dahlin, Kristina B., 2005. "Opportunity knocks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1404-1418, November.
    10. Pantano, Eleonora & Viassone, Milena, 2014. "Demand pull and technology push perspective in technology-based innovations for the points of sale: The retailers evaluation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 43-47.
    11. Zhang, De-Peng & Yang, Chen-hui & Zhang, Feng-Hua, 2014. "Analysis of the equity preference influence in customer participation incentives," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-8.
    12. Shenja van der GRAAF, 2014. "Smarten Up! Open Data, Toolkits and Participation in the Social City," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(96), pages 35-52, 4th quart.
    13. Stephan Hankammer & Robin Kleer & Frank T. Piller, 2021. "Sustainability nudges in the context of customer co-design for consumer electronics," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(6), pages 897-933, August.
    14. Maria Antonietta Raimondo & Stefania Farace & Gaetano Nino Miceli, 2018. "User-Generated Systems of Signs and Meanings in Product Customization: Taxonomies and Research Directions," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 61-83.
    15. Hsieh, Sara H. & Chang, Aihwa, 2016. "The Psychological Mechanism of Brand Co-creation Engagement," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 13-26.
    16. Borner, Kathrin & Berends, Hans & Deken, Fleur & Feldberg, Frans, 2023. "Another pathway to complementarity: How users and intermediaries identify and create new combinations in innovation ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    17. Ting Kong & Taiwen Feng & Yufei Huang & Junya Cai, 2020. "How to convert green supply chain integration efforts into green innovation: A perspective of knowledge‐based view," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1106-1121, September.
    18. Bengtsson, Lars & Ryzhkova, Natalia, 2013. "Managing a strategic source of innovation: Online users," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 655-662.
    19. Eisenbeiss, Maik & Blechschmidt, Boris & Backhaus, Klaus & Freund, Philipp Alexander, 2012. "“The (Real) World Is Not Enough:” Motivational Drivers and User Behavior in Virtual Worlds," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 4-20.
    20. Frédéric Marty & Julien Pillot, 2019. "Cooperation, Dependence and Eviction - How Platform-To-Business Relationships in Mobile Telephony Ecosystems Should Be Addressed in A Competition Law Perspective?," CIRANO Working Papers 2019s-01, CIRANO.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    open innovation; online community; video game; innovative user; customization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:idt:journl:cs7302. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: BLAVIER Thomas (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/idatefr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.