Last Thoughts on Market Research, Funding and Putting the Presentation Together

Thoughts on Market Research

Since we all equally divided the tasks that were research-related or required creative thinking, the last few weeks we collectively focused on selecting the parts that would be used for the actual presentation. This required a lot of editing, as well as summarizing key notes from previous posts. 

At this point, we also detected some areas that seemed to need further research. One of those areas was market research. In our case, market research was required in order for us to find out more about online gamers; we had a clear target audience of young people aged 16-25, both male and female, from all over the world. However, we did not know much about what kind of people they are. For this reason, we needed to research psychographics in particular. Our initial attempt to imagine and visualize the personalities and lifestyles of our audience resulted in a few general points. For instance, we agreed the lifestyles between people from the age group of 16-25 can be vastly different.

A person aged 16 and a person aged 25 might be significantly different: the 16 year old is probably a high school student, ambitious, open-minded, more open to change and new things, very much into games and technology, but also busy with school, hobbies, and planning his/her future. A 25 year old might be a college graduate or not, but he/she most likely has a job, perhaps even a family. The 25 year old is also aware of new gadgets and trends in general, just like the 16 year old would be. The common denominator I see in both cases is that both are modern, busy, open minded, and interested in cool gadgets. They also share an interest in innovative concepts, and have a vibrant social life. Obviously, the most important characteristic they share is the fact that they are digital natives; using technology comes naturally to them, and they can generally use it with ease.

To better understand our target group, we researched and discovered that most online gamers are high school or college-educated people, with women slightly more than half of the total; also, online gamers are impulsive risk-takers that seek novelty and variety (Yoon, Lee and Doyle, 2003)

Funding

Another point we discussed, but decided not to include in the final form of the presentation, is funding.

In order to develop the game, free software can be used, such as the software available on the G4C website. The quality of this software is not the best possible, but it will get out point across and keep the cost of developing the game as low as possible. Although our game will be as cost-effective as possible, it will still require some sources of funding for its production, distribution and maintenance.

Such funding can come from both private and state sources, as well as NGOs. As far as private funding is concerned, gamers or simple people could help with minimal, yet significant, contributions for the development of the game. Culture preservation is a universal matter, and since it concerns everyone, funds might be collected online. Crowd sourcing has proved to be effective in many cases, so it might be turn out to be useful in the development of the game too.

            State funding would be the main source of funding for the game. The game could be distributed and maintained with the help of a few sponsors, such as the UN or national governments. Cultural heritage preservation is commonly perceived as a state matter, and each government is responsible for it. Since the game could be used as a teaching tool (at schools for students or outside them, for everyone else), it would very likely be funded by the state.

Putting the Presentation Together

            Since all our material was already compiled due to the work we did in the previous weeks, our greatest task was to bring all those ideas together and try to summarize them in a concrete, concise manner. This was a particularly challenging part, especially for me, as my parts were the most research-oriented in the group. A lot of information had to be left out, as well as the 30 second game teaser we created. We spent the last days before the submission of our project working on voiceovers, editing videos (and even filming a little for the trailer), and creating slides. The last two weeks, we also finalized the name choice; we decided to name our game Pigeon Watch, inspired by the idea of Neighbourhood Watch. Since our pigeons are guardians and protectors of the cultural heritage sites they frequent, we found the name appropriate. 

References:

Youn, S., Lee, K. and Doyle, K. (2003). Lifestyles of Online Gamers: A Psychographic Approach. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 3(2), pp. 49-56.