Il PSN. L'analisi quantitativa

The third and final step of the surve "Business and gaming" 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”, realizzata dalla Facoltà di Scienze della Comunicazione della Sapienza in collaborazione con Sony Computer Entertainment Italia, ha previsto, tra i tanti strumenti di indagine utilizzati, la somministrazione di un questionario a un campione di videogiocatori iscritti alla newsletter del Playstation network. Ne sono stati raggiunti, 8.829, prevalentemente maschi (97%), con un’età compresa tra i 20 e i 34 anni, un livello culturale medio-alto, che risiedono soprattutto con la famiglia d’origine e si concentrano nelle città del nord Italia (49%). Tra i risultati più interessanti, quelli relativi ai loro comportamenti culturali, che appaiono ricchi ed eterogenei e affiancano l’alta frequenza d’uso dei videogame. Il campione raggiunto, in particolare, si rivela esperto nell’uso del web e delle nuove tecnologie, caratterizzato da un attivismo culturale fuori dal comune, composto quindi da quelli che ci sono parsi come destinatari ideali, ma anche osservatori critici, delle politiche di marketing, recruiting e fundraising dei più avanzati territori di sperimentazione online.