What’s in It for You?
Online gaming is another one of those Internet phenomena that just keeps gaining popularity. The trusted networks of the MMORPG—or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game—communities are in many cases, in the millions. In fact, Blizzard Entertainment, creators of World of Warcraft, announced recently that the MMORPG game World of Warcraft in October 2010 “now exceeds 12 million players worldwide. World of Warcraft is currently available in eight languages and is played in North America, Europe, mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Chile, Argentina, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.”
As of January 11, 2010, Xbox LIVE reached a new milestone, with 30 million active Xbox LIVE members. In fact, a new member joins Xbox LIVE every two seconds. See www.xbox.com/en-US/Press/archive/2011/0112-BiggestYear, and even Barack Obama purchased advertising in the online racing game Burnout Paradise during his 2008 campaign for the presidency: www.gamepolitics.com/2008/10/09/report-obama-ads-burnout-paradise.
Many people tend to view online video games as an activity with no business value—a waste of time in which only teenagers participate. However, any time you have 50,000 to 8 million people in the same place with the same interests in a trusted network, a business opportunity exists. ...
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