The MMO Gaming Membership
To use a “crude categorisation” (Eiriz and Wilson, 2006, p.282), the four main streams of relationship marketing research, the “Disciplinary Roots of Relationship Marketing” (Moller and Halinen, 2000, p.35) have thus far been:
Interaction and Network Approaches, Marketing Channel Approaches,
Services Marketing Approaches and Database Marketing and Direct Marketing approaches. Of which Commitment Trust Theory is theoretically and evidentially, from Morgan and Hunt’s (1994a) comments, and conceptually from the framework itself, an Interaction and Network Approach.
This approach is defined as one which has the view that
Relationships exist between actors (firms, organisations and individuals), who exchange all kinds of resources. Relationships are seen as the vehicles for accessing and controlling resources and creating new resources. (Moller and Halinen, 2000, p.36)
As Commitment Trust Theory is an Interaction and Network approach it is critical to this study to define an operational definition of the relationship interactions and the channels by which they occur (as without which, the entire conceptual approach of the theory is invalid). Essential to this approach is the ability to identify how the actors interact (as they are the unit and level of analysis) and what networks they use to interact (Eiriz and Wilson, 2006).
In Commitment Trust Theory, exchanges are between actors, and the form of the relationship and the (assumed) dyadic dynamic follow from this conception, with the notion of power mediating (or generating) unequal or unreciprocated exchanges. In business transactions though, one of these actors may be an automated system or non-interactive in the exchange. For example consider the online automated ordering system from Amazon.com, a customer cannot quibble or haggle about the postage charges within this exchange. Similarly when buying from a high street retailer or leading supermarket the customer cannot usually bargain or negotiate for a lower price on the products they wish to purchase. In particular, in marketing research, as Mitussis et al. (2006, p.575) discuss, the business application problems of relational theories such as Commitment Trust Theory and relationship marketing in general, can occur when the nature of the focal relationship (i.e. interpersonal, business-to-business, service or mass market) is more towards the mass market end of the spectrum.
This brings into focus the problems of examining an entertainment service product business-to-customer relationship such as an MMO game using a Commitment Trust Theory approach. While the product itself is a service, and service encounters can take place between customers (players) and the business (through in-game contacts, telephone contacts with accounts department etc), for the most part, the relationship is both a distant one and a mass market one. Usually the customer buys the MMO product from a generalised seller, and installs the product using pre-printed instructions and enters sign up details (including credit cards details, address etc) into an automated online system. At no time do they engage in an actor-to-actor interaction, and at all times the power of structural arrangements of the developing relationship impose and dictate the lack of a reciprocated exchange. From then on, after purchase and installation, the customer receives the right to engage in an online entertainment service which usually includes no direct business-to-customer interactions as encounters with customer service representatives will only happen if problems occur, but probably not at all if nothing goes wrong. Renewal of the subscription fees is perhaps even automated, depending on the customer’s choices though, as expected in the definition of a massively multiplayer online game, a great deal of customer-to-customer interaction would be expected to occur.
Interestingly, it is seen by Ducheneaut et al. (2006a) that it is these customer-to-customer relationships “…where most of a player’s important relationships are formed and frame a player’s social experience in the game”
(p.284) that are key to Commitment to the ongoing gaming relationship and maintenance of playing (and paying). In a survey examining 220,000 World of Warcraft characters over eight months it was found that “Characters in a guild were significantly less likely to abandon a character than characters not in a guild, but interestingly, as long as a character was in a guild, the size of the guild was not important” (Ducheneaut et al., 2006a, p.292).
Consequently, the customer-to-customer relationships are seen to be performing the important consumption-based customer support group function. Indeed, once the customer has completed all the level progression
game content it was found that “WoW becomes a much more intensely social game” (Ducheneaut et al., 2006a, p.308). These activities are strongly encouraged by game designers, with virtual world game design books such as Bartle (2003) stating that “it is imperative that players be able to form groups” (p.391) with group communication, promotion of mutual dependencies and communal activities being seen as critical in customer retention (p.212).
While customer-to-customer interactions may be an important dynamic, this still does not address the issue of the business-to-customer non-interactivity.
Specifically, Commitment Trust Theory posits “Relationships develop through interaction” (O’Malley and Tynan, 2000, p.806) which is a particular issue in business-to-customer relationships in that, in this channel, the interactivity is usually in a highly managed, usually asymmetrical, context (p.807). This type of business relationship exists in the business world in a wide number of ways though; utility providers, telephone companies, satellite TV companies, all these types of service companies, as Bolton (1998) explains have
“embraced relationship marketing with its focus on maximising customer lifetime value” (p.45) with an aim of developing longer relationships with their customers.
The focus of this study’s approach is to define the mass market subscription transaction as the purchase of a membership which entitles the purchaser to various rights and services. The operational definition of a membership used by this study is drawn from Gruen (2000)
…a formalised relationship in which a member has made a formal application (which may or may not involve a fee), the member is recognised by the membership organisation as a member (whereas others with similar characteristics or interests are categorised as non-members), and the organisation maintains a specific memory of the member (such as a file - electronic or hardcopy - or on a membership list). (p.357)
As Gruen (2000) relates, membership organisations are widespread and pervasive, with some studies showing that almost 70% of adult Americans
belong to some kind of membership organisation (p.355). Using Gruen’s (1994; 2000) classifications of membership, the renewal payment is an
“access membership” (2000, p.360) which allows access to a service without which it is inaccessible. While this membership concept may at first seem like a large conceptual leap, examining the commonalities of a membership relationship as discussed by Gruen (2000) in his five general similarities, “the asset nature of the memberships, the requirement for core service performance, the availability and use of multiple types of bonds, mutual value creation and the presence of psychological mediating constructs” (p.362) leads to the conclusion that an online gaming subscription has more parallels with a golf club membership relationship or a football season ticket holder relationship than a purely transactional one. Furthermore, MMO gamers share the “five unique characteristics” (Gruen, 2000, p.364) which identify them as members:
1. A specific contractual period of membership exists. The