Marketing Class Project about GW

My Marketing teacher has agreed to let me do my main project this semester on Guild Wars. It'll take a lot of work: at least 25 page paper, at least 20 minute presentation (most are doing PowerPoint, but I'm bringing a Laptop/Projector to demonstrate In-Game transactions). I have one partner who will help me with this project that doesn't play GW but likes the idea.

We've read:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...ned-id1494.php
and
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...y-2-id1505.php
They are old i know but they hold some precedence though; some sound facts.


Basically the project consists of making a 'formal' Marketing Summary and Market Plan for XYZ business or w/e. There is an option of using data as if your business has been around for over a year. (GW's been around 2+ years so we may just use that)

We can write most of the paper with the information we already have, but we still need your help. Our paper will be in this format:

Market Summary
Organization Objectives
Service/Products Offered
Key Differentiators
-SWOT analysis (Strengths vs Weaknesses; Opportunities vs Threats)
Value Proposition
-Goals
Competitive Forces
Target Markets
Marketing Objectives
-Yearly (periodically)
Projects
Critical Success Factors.

We've realized a few things while studying this data:
*People/Gold/Items make or break the economy.
*Items are in a constant decline in value, but can be held back slightly by the consumption, "Gold Sinking" or high demand of the item.
*Gold can inflate and some players see this and act accordingly.
*We must "Climb the falling ladder" meaning as we invest in one item, we must generate a higher return even though the value of that item is in a constant decline.
*Customers can be our employees too if we enlist them for commissions when they find others who want to buy/sell with us.
*We can use other modes of advertising and sale than being in-game (Forums/Trade sites/Chat/etc)
*Both market share and competition includes practically everyone else who plays GW.
*Market share can be split into a more specific market group ("demographic")
(So far we've split the market share into "Those who have money" (Ebaygold/or self-earned) vs "Those who don't have") We're trying to make it more specific

1. Ask any questions about the project you want
2. Have you done a project like this, if so, what/how'd it go?
3. Any information pertaining this topic is greatly appreciated
Anything to show my class/teacher that GW is a good example for marketing.

Project is due 11/26 or 12/3

PS. I emailed Anet a while ago and they said they already get plenty of questions about economic/marketing information per week, but their busy making GW2! Check the forums instead.

Interesting.

At the same time, very nerdy

Good luck!

nerdy is good!

Keep us updated; this sounds interesting!

does this mean, if interpreted right you're making the guru community a little guide to making money?

good luck on the whole thing btw

It wasn't my original goal, but that seems like something this project could serve as after I get my grade.

Also thankyou everyone for the "Goodlucks" but It'll take knowhow and facts to get an A. (besides in I'm not even R1 in Lucky title track)

heh i like that...be sure not to use it though - thats a no-no in professional writing...=P

Nerdy,yet interesting.

I find it interesting a class is letting you use a game...
One more step for games=good? =D

I'd be very interested to see how this turns out

Very interesting... good luck.

The Daedalus project is a great way to gather some stats for marketing and demographics. I realize there's an arguement over whether GW is an MMOG but it as close to one as you'll get. You can check over some of their surveys, graphs and information here that may be helpful:

http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/gateway_intro.html

Might be worth mentioning that NPC Traders effectively set a price floor/ceiling for certian items like runes, dye, crafting materials, etc at any given time.

Not quite sure if this is the best idea only because not every classmate or teacher will know what Guild Wars really is and it could be hard to communicate with your class when you talk about ectos and green weapons :/, but if you can get passed that then you should be fine.

Haha, love that last part there.

Good luck with your project!

I thought I read somewhere that these NPC traders do not establish a price themselves, but react to market prices somehow, some way? If that's true--who's monitoring them? How were they programmed to set a market price?

Anyhoo--subgroups within the market: each class, first of all, probably deserves a group--Why are mods for swords more expensive than mods for bows? Etc....
What classes are largely out of luck in the market?
Also, NF players vs. Non-NF players--does having heroes affect market activity?
And regarding competition: certainly, every GW player is possible competition for selling an item--but are there factors that limit competition? And what factors have come together to set what seem to be pretty hard floors on the values of some things? (I.E. Kuunavang has been advertised (WTS) at100k+10 ectos for a while now).

Sounds like a pretty cool project. Have fun.

The NPCs don't set the prices themselves but they do have minimums and maximums. Have you ever noticed that the price of a rune at the Rune trader never goes below 100g?

And an idea for the "demographic" thing you mentioned; you could divide the categories further by how much money a person has in platinum and alternative currency (ectos, shards, lockpicks perhaps, etc). Or even by moneymaking habits like: power trader, dedicated farmer, tightfisted, loose pockets, etc.

Just throwing ideas around, good luck with your project!

I think this is part of what we call the "Gold Sink". even though the sink 'drains' cash out of the economy, it sets that ceiling yur talking about; we will mention this in our presentation.

our 20 minute+ presentation will be adequate to get everybody on the ball. The presentation isnt just the marketing part (our paper is); this establishes how our marketing helps our business grow and how the game is important to this.

Afaik, when you sell cloth to a material trader, the price of the cloth at any material trader goes down (surplus of supply vs demand). Like the one time SomethingAwful guild bought millions of gold worth of yellow dye before NF came out so all the noobs would think that yellow dye was rare.

never heard about THAT one. Might be worth mentioning?

Anyways, is this project about Marketing Guild Wars itself, or marketing In game?

If its in game you can go into all sorts of lovely tactics people use to sell things.

"Ahem, here is our next slide, which outlines the basic points of a tactic known as spamming.

Fig.1

WTS REQ11 ELEMENTAL SWORD PERFECT PM OFFERS NO NOOBS PLEASE!!
WTS REQ11 ELEMENTAL SWORD PERFECT PM OFFERS NO NOOBS PLEASE!!
WTS REQ11 ELEMENTAL SWORD PERFECT PM OFFERS NO NOOBS PLEASE!!
WTS REQ11 ELEMENTAL SWORD PERFECT PM OFFERS NO NOOBS PLEASE!!
WTS REQ11 ELEMENTAL SWORD PERFECT PM OFFERS NO NOOBS PLEASE!!
WTS REQ11 ELEMENTAL SWORD PERFECT PM OFFERS NO NOOBS PLEASE!!


"As you can plainly see, it is a guerilla marketing tactic and is meant to grab the consumer's eye by being as repeteitive as possible."

"Any questions?"

"Moving on to our next slide you can see..."




Good luck on the project!

Hey bro- good luck. As you know.. I'm the merchanting occifer in the guild.

And to the naysayers- OhYo didn't mention his cinematography class or whatever where he frapsed Gary's Mod. If you want to see: http://youtube.com/user/ohyot (look for Potato and Yes Man)

in-game transactions. Is the OP not clear, how should I change it?

believe it or not, it is a tactic, but not necessarily a good one; we'll talk about it in the presentation. A good 'tactic' is repeat business; using the friend list is one of the best tools. These tactics are for "Sales" not "Marketing" which are two separate things that support each other. (short-term vs longterm goals)

all u need to know about making money in GW.... know whats hot, buy from source (as in cities around where it drops), or buy in off hours, early morning USA time is my favorite, most europe not home from work, most USA headed to work.... sell to mass public, (lions arch, kamadan)

note: i said nothen bout farming, i havent farmed in about a yr, my best farming is ppl who think 50k is "OMFG"... yet i can resell for 100k 50e....

I was going to put something about seasonal things but perhaps daily factors play a part.

1) The OP is a very in depth look at the project, I would just say go a bit more into the part about what you are doing IN GAME. Are you keeping track of a) the economy, b) a business/how much gold you can make in X amount of time, c) both? or d) something else

2) I know spamming is a tactic just somewhat less desirable than most

Good luck with your paper.

One thing to consider are the people like me, and I know we are fairly common, who simply don't trade in game because it requires so much time, due to a lack of centralized trading options. I used to sell, when I knew the general prices, but I gave up ages ago. Spamming for sales and being stuck in a certain town to move an item became too boring.

I'm broke and I don't care.

** MAJOR UPDATE **

Tomorrow is my presentation; I have the paper all but finished and the presentation is ready to roll. I've bought an Armbrace of Truth, and I plan to sell it during the 10-15 minutes I'm playing the game during my presentation.

If anyone wants to buy, pm Oh Yo between 6-9pm EST monday 12/09/2007

If anyone wants to be a Sales Rep between 6-9pm EST monday 12/09/2007; I will give you a commission by varying percentages from target price if the sale is made through your help.

I don't know when during 6-9 I am presenting, but I may need your help because Monday's aren't necessarily hot to sell to large amounts of players.

Ask your questions tonight or tomorrow afternoon, if you think it will help the presentation.

Wish me luck; Make GW proud ^^

** Mission Accomplished **

A week before the presentation, I bought an armbrace of truth for about 250k and I used that to show how to promote and sell things in the Guild Wars economy. We used the marketing essentials we learned from class to pick the product, price, how to promote and the place to sell. By the time everyone was on page with the idea, we turned the lights off and let the projector do the talking.

Our presentation was supposed to be 20-30 minutes but it lasted like 35 or more. People seemed to respond well in the audience; i think they really liked the idea of GW. The teacher appreciated the fact that I risked thinking outside the box. I got a lot of "this is kinda like World of Warcraft!" and I said "Ya pritty much only I don't pay monthly fees" lol

I wasn't able to find someone to buy the armbrace at a reasonable price during the presentation but i did get someone tonight to buy it.

I wish i recorded it on camera and/or Fraps to youtube it but; o wells. If anyone wants a copy of our PPT (only 5 slides because it wasn't the focus of the presentation) or a copy of the 7-8 page marketing paper; PM me on-forum or in-game @ Oh Yo.

Thanks for your help; hope i get a good grade!

Sounds fascinating! I'd love to read it when you're done.

Well, I hope you have some things that you've learned to share with folks. I'd wager here are some important parts:

-Almost everyone in the game has the same marketing resources (pm, shouts, party window) so price is a huge factor.
-Play time dictates the baseline for item costs.
-Rarity of the item farmed effects how efficient your farming run is.
-To cut "costs", efficiency is key, which includes reducing selling time to free up more farming time, or finding a more efficient farm. This usually means selling below the average selling price.
-"Lottery" wins factor a lot into random wealth exchange spikes.