”WE WANT A 3D GAME” : Customer expectations for the games company when buying a serious game
Sorppanen, Mikko (2012)
Sorppanen, Mikko
Oulun seudun ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012111215170
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012111215170
Tiivistelmä
All digital games are not used for entertainment. Some of them can also be used for non-entertainment purposes and these games are called serious games. This thesis is carried out in co-operation with one Finnish games company that produces serious games.
Customer expectations for the product bought and the fact how well these expectations are met are the basis for the value perceived by the customer. The purpose of this study is to try to understand the expectations the customers have when making a purchase decision to buy a serious game. Expectations are subjective experiences of the customer, and because of this subjective nature, a semi-structured interview was considered to be the best data collection tool. The background knowledge for this thesis is obtained from the literature concerning theory of marketing and digital games.
The material was analysed using a qualitative content analysis and classified into main categories according to the content of the data. The categories were formed based on the theory on customer value and customer satisfaction. The analysis revealed that the customer had different expectations for the game and the company developing the game. The main expectations concerned information about pricing but also information about possibilities and restrictions of the technology being used. Beside expectations, the analysis revealed that even though the serious game bought was easy and fun to use, the customer felt that it was still difficult to implement. This was mainly because of the prejudice of the potential users. This thesis does propose suggestions for the games company, how to develop their marketing of serious games in order to better meet the expectations of new, potential customers.
Customer expectations for the product bought and the fact how well these expectations are met are the basis for the value perceived by the customer. The purpose of this study is to try to understand the expectations the customers have when making a purchase decision to buy a serious game. Expectations are subjective experiences of the customer, and because of this subjective nature, a semi-structured interview was considered to be the best data collection tool. The background knowledge for this thesis is obtained from the literature concerning theory of marketing and digital games.
The material was analysed using a qualitative content analysis and classified into main categories according to the content of the data. The categories were formed based on the theory on customer value and customer satisfaction. The analysis revealed that the customer had different expectations for the game and the company developing the game. The main expectations concerned information about pricing but also information about possibilities and restrictions of the technology being used. Beside expectations, the analysis revealed that even though the serious game bought was easy and fun to use, the customer felt that it was still difficult to implement. This was mainly because of the prejudice of the potential users. This thesis does propose suggestions for the games company, how to develop their marketing of serious games in order to better meet the expectations of new, potential customers.