Nota metodologica

The first step of the reaserch "Business and Gaming" involved a survey of Italian and international social network sites (SNS) which use online gaming to promote products, services and brands, raise funds and recruit staff. The purpose of this phase is to identify those SNSs, as defined by danah boyd and Nicole Ellison (2007), that contain online games (excluding web-based casinos and gambling) and where the dual network and gaming dimensions are both functional in marketing, fundraising and recruitment. Analysis of over 2400 sites identified certain development stages in the use of network technologies for marketing, fundraising and recruitment and three case studies were selected, one for each area of interest. Step two in the study involved interviewing individuals in the three case-study companies (PlayStation® Home for marketing, L’Oréal Brandstorm and L’Oréal e-Strat for recruitment and Cesviamo for fundraising). The interviews aimed to gain an understanding of how projects came about, their function, project outcomes and possible future developments. The third and final step was a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a video gamer network, the PlayStation Network (PSN), from different viewpoints and autonomous with regard to the three fields under examination. The decision to investigate a gaming community stems from the desire to study these groups both as a network of relationships based on gaming and the potential interest they might hold for the company: indeed web 2.0 users are consumers, staff (or aspiring staff) and current or future fund donors. PSN users constitute an ideal sample for the macro-areas under investigation: they are experts in using the web and new technology, they are very culturally active, they are potential ideal targets as well as critical observers of the marketing, recruiting and fundraising policies in the most advanced areas of online experimentation. The analysis of PSN users is based on two specific research tools: a websurvey (an online questionnaire) and four focus groups. The questionnaire was structured to identify the technical, relational and communicative skills acquired through gaming and opinions on the three areas researched in phase one of the study. The websurvey was then e-mailed to a sample of 142,000 Italian PSN users and put online to allow for direct compilation by members of the community. While the online questionnaire was deemed the most appropriate method of studying the network and its members, focus groups were conducted both in person (at the offices of SCEI and the Faculty of Communication Sciences) and in a “virtual” discussion area on PlayStation Home, involving a total of 22 users. The use of Home to host the focus groups, while following in the recent tradition of virtual ethnography, is also significantly experimental – a feature accentuated by the nature of the environment. It is a highly innovative experience, nationally and internationally, which proved (despite a number of critical issues) to be of great interest in terms of content and methodology. The uncommon collaboration between a large university and a successful multinational, the complexity of the research methodology, the size of the gamer sample responding to the questionnaire (8829 individuals) and the unique innovation of online focus groups in Italy make “Business and gaming” an exceptional example of scientific investigation.

La ricerca ”Business e Gaming. Gioco e Social Network nella rete d’impresa” ha previsto tre diversi livelli di indagine e una metodologia piuttosto articolata. Il primo step è consistito in un censimento dei social network sites (SNS) italiani e internazionali in cui il gioco online risultava utilizzato come strumento di promozione di prodotti, servizi e brand, raccolta fondi e selezione del personale. In questa fase si è cercato di individuare quei SNS, a partire da una definizione di danah boyd e Nicole Ellison (2007), che contengono giochi online (fatta eccezione per casinò e giochi d’azzardo sul web) e in cui le due dimensioni del network e del gioco sono entrambe funzionali ad azioni di marketing, fundraising e recruiting. L’analisi di oltre 2400 siti ha portato all’individuazione di alcune linee di sviluppo dell’uso delle tecnologie di rete per il marketing, il fundraising e il recruiting e alla selezione di tre casi di studio, uno per ogni ambito di interesse. Il secondo step della ricerca ha previsto la realizzazione di tre interviste ai referenti dei tre casi selezionati (PlayStation® Home per il marketing, L’Oréal Brandstorm e L'Oréal e-Strat per il recruiting e Cesviamo per il fundraising). L’obiettivo delle interviste è stato quello di comprendere come sono nati i progetti, qual è il loro funzionamento, a quali risultati hanno portato e quali saranno gli eventuali sviluppi futuri. Terzo e ultimo step è stata un’analisi quali-quantitativa di un network di videogiocatori, il PlayStation Network (PSN), trasversale e al tempo stesso autonomo rispetto ai tre campi di indagine presi in considerazione. L’analisi si è giovata di due strumenti di indagine: una websurvey, ossia un questionario online e quattro focus group. Se un questionario online è sembrato lo strumento più appropriato per studiare la rete e i suoi utenti, i focus group si sono svolti in parte in presenza, nelle sedi di SCEI e della Facoltà di Scienze della Comunicazione, e in parte in uno spazio “virtuale” di discussione in PlayStation Home, coinvolgendo complessivamente 22 utenti.