In Get in the Game: How to Level Up Your Business with Gaming, Esports, and Emerging Technologies, decorated gaming and social media research and marketing executive Jonathan Stringfield delivers a roadmap to understanding and navigating marketing and business integrations into the gaming ecosystem: who plays games (and why), how modern games are created and oriented around the world of esports, and where brands can get involved with modern games.
This book explains the breadth and depth of the gaming audience, describing the rapidly changing demographics of modern games and the various motivations gamers have for playing games. It also unpacks the history of gaming and how it has impacted the creative processes and output from the industry. Finally, it offers a practical guide for brands wishing to integrate themselves into new gaming environments, with an emphasis on maximizing success for marketers, developers, content creators, and fans.
Get in the Game provides: - A thorough introduction to why marketers and executives must pay closer attention to gaming, as well as existing roadblocks to understanding the gaming industry - Comprehensive explorations of the psychology and motivations of gaming, and implications towards messaging and brand safety. - Practical discussions of gaming as a competitive platform or streaming viewing experience. - In-depth examinations of gaming ad placements, deep marketing integrations between companies and games, and future directions for the industry and how it relates to the emergence of the metaverse.
Perfect for marketing strategists, brand managers, and Chief Marketing Officers, Get in the Game will also earn a place in the libraries of executives seeking to connect with the misunderstood yet largest segment in consumer entertainment.
Table of Contents
Preface: the Revolution of 1972 ix
Part I: Playing the Game: Understanding Video Games as Media 1
1 Introduction: The Gaming Moment 3
2 Tricks Your TV Can Do: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Gaming 13
3 Why Do We Game?: Gamer Motivations and Psychology 43
4 Underworld: Violence, Addiction, Toxicity, Representation, and Brand Safety 59
5 Getting in the Game (without Changing It): Gaming Integration Opportunities for Businesses 75
Part II: Watching the Game: Esports, Streaming, and Games as a Viewing Experience 99
6 Multiplayer: An Introduction to Esports 101
7 Good Luck Having Fun: The Rise of Esports 117
8 Work to Play and Play to Work: Game Streaming and Streamers 135
9 Unbalanced: Opportunities in Game Viewing for Businesses 149
Part III: Storytelling in Virtual Worlds: Future Directions and Conclusions 171
10 Life in the Screen: Metaverse and Future Directions 173
11 Conclusion: Point of No Return 189
Notes 199
Acknowledgments 221
About the Author 223
Index 225