Production and Distribution

Production and Distribution

World of Warcraft is an immensely popular, established RPG that was released in 1994. Several game sets and expansions later it has 10 million subscribers with the fourth expansion Mists of Pandaria released on September 25th 2012 (the date was eagerly awaited and much promoted in the same way an Event Movie is marketed). It is the world’s most subscribed MMORPG (see below).
Technically WoW is described as a MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role playing game) and is only available to play online via subscription on PCs and MACs. As such it is interactive and often is played in groups e.g. 5 person, 10 person etc. dependent on what you are doing within the game - teamwork may be required fighting against enemies or individual crafting may involve a more solitary activity like making weapons. Guilds are much larger groups that allow for broader social interaction where players involve themselves in ‘Raids’ which is basically getting into groups to fight larger bosses / enemies. Social interaction from group play can often lead to meet ups with other players from a range of countries evidencing its global appeal.
To enter the game the player must select a character from a race and a class e.g. a priest, warrior, hunter, monk, death knight, paladin, rogue, shaman, mage, warlock or druid while a character is like an avatar reflecting a number of different creatures from Orcs, Trolls, Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, Gnomes, Draenai, Worgen and the Undead. A realm or server is also selected (the people you meet will be on this server)and game play can be all about defeating monsters and completing quests or as open player versus player for example – all realms have in game support for the most experienced or novice game player. Narrative complexities of the game and backstories going back 50,000 years dictate that, for example, you can have a Troll who is a shaman but you cannot have an Orc who is a priest.
The game is developed and distributed by Blizzard-Activision who are an American based, global game playing distributor but Blizzard Entertainment remain the independent management company who are responsible for the brand. Technically World of Warcraft as a brand was first announced in 2001 although the first game was Warcraft: Orcs and Humans first developed as identified above in 1994. The game is exclusively manufactured for PCs and MACs due to the power required to run the game reflecting early internet connectivity but fundamentally it is because of the keyboard requirements of game play.
WoW is a high production game; Blizzard have developed high quality graphics (high scale but not top end) and constantly develops and releases patches sometimes every two months to satisfy even the most hardened game player – a regular game player will invest £60-£70 initially and then pay a £10 per month subscription with the option of in game purchases which is not that common. Most revenue is from these subscriptions but Blizzard also make money from popular books about the stories in the game, significant merchandising (T-Shirts, Action Figures), organising yearly conventions and extra subscriptions from hype about constant rumours of a film, Warcraft. Ideas for a WoW film were originally scrapped after it was suggested in terms of mise-en-scene and representations it would be too much like Lord of the Rings. Starcraft (RTS – Real Time Strategy) and Diablo (Isometric action RPG) are the other major games made by Blizzard.

Marketing and Promotion

Blizzard advertise using primarily digital mediums such as YouTube, Amazon, eBay and on gaming websites reflecting the stereotype of young target audiences accessing new media. However, high production value television adverts are sequenced leading up to the release of a new expansion – currently, as of December 2012 (launch September 2012) television adverts for Mists of Pandaria are currently still being broadcast on Watch, Syfy, E4 and Dave targeting the primary male audience who are into escapist moving image media such as Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Advertising often also targets devoted players of the game via digital pre sale (see above) where you can receive in game add ons before the game is released as long as you pay a little extra – this is common for many popular mainstream computer games like Call of Duty, Halo and Minecraft.The date of the game’s release is also part of the marketing and promotion – as identified above the strategy used is similar to an Event Movie where the date of release is an integral part of the marketing process. This way, viral marketing via hype and word of mouth builds excitement and anticipation within the target audience.
Iconic, established games like WoW have also been subject to viral hype via intertextual references through other media – despite the initial negative representation of WoW gamers as overweight and ‘geeky’ in the 2006 South Park episode, ‘Make Love, Not Warcraft’ the programme pays homage to its success and longevity. Blizzard made no attempt to sue the programme makers, perhaps opting instead for the philosophy that as long as someone is still talking about you then you are still in the public’s eye. Most non gamers have at least heard of World of Warcraft because of its high profile media presence. Star marketing has also been used in WoW advertising to ensure this high profile media presence continues – martial arts star Chuck Norris has appeared promoting the game with the narrative voice over stating “There are 10 million people in WoW because Chuck Norris allows them to live” while Ozzy Osbourne challenges the Prince of Darkness and Jean Claude van Damme also lends his gravitas to TV commercials.
A trial DVD version of WoW is also available as a promotional item, sold in retail outlets like Game and HMV with 20 levels of gameplay (there are a possible 90) – once complete if the gamer wants to progress then a credit card is required to purchase a minimum 30 day gameplay duration. Blizzard’s approach to encouraging new gamers to subscribe is far from aggressive, relying instead on the perceived value of the game to be communicated through talkability and friendship groups and also commonly through family members. Regular press releases are available through the Blizzard website that guides interested parties through key events e.g. the release of the game in different countries.
An accompanying quarterly magazine was launched in 2009 by Future publishing, funded by Blizzard which interestingly carries no advertising, reflecting the ‘purist’ approach of many gamers wanting no interference to their passion and pastime, either online or in print. Mists of Pandaria was heavily promoted within its covers and early audits indicated 2.7 million copies were sold in the first week of release. As successful as this indicator is, a minimum of 3 million in the first week was projected with sales acknowledged as slower than other expansions.

Style and Format

Cinematic Trailer

WoW has a ‘soft’ interface – pastel colours are non-threatening and allow audiences to absorb the mystical, fantasy worlds of Azeroth. Green and red are common colour palettes, as in the Jade Garden (part of Pandaria) reflecting the lush, fertile lands of Pandoria but other colour palettes reflect different scenarios e.g. red for fire. Aerial shots show a landscape that is green and mountainous in parts of Pandaria, a new world that gamers can explore and conquer. Gameplay follows your character through forests, trees and kingdoms with the option of following paths lessoning your chances of attack from roaming mobs - as with every WoW expansion you seek to level up your character through winning battles and succeeding in given quests. Knowledge of the map is necessary to get around and complete quests set while trouble can be around any corner. The mise-en-scene shows realist ground based ‘architecture’ while it is the creatures that are essentially mythical.
Creatures are graphic in their design but also ‘cute’ – the Pandaren race are humanoid pandas who practice a unique form of unarmed combat – at times beer loving farmers the Pandarens can also be fierce fighters who protect their land from amongst others, the Mogu and the Mantid (an insect like species). Mist occasionally shrouds Pandaria referencing the reason why it was never discovered for 10,000 years and introduced to gamers as an undiscovered land. Pet battles are a new feature to Mists of Pandaria where you can have up to three pets on your team; there are literally hundreds of pets to collect and you level your pet the same way you level your character. Gamers are constantly attached to their character, everything takes place in the first person while pop ups and displays guide you through your status and health. If you die you either get resurrected or turn into a ghost, the game is never over…..

Target Audience / Positioning / Appeals

click on image to enlarge

WoW has a very broad target audience ranging from young and old to male and female but as with any media text it has a primary demographic: 14-25, male, ABC1 aspirers who see the game as both exciting but also challenging which is one of the key appeals along with the high production values and escapist, fantasy representations. The whole idea of creating an avatar is escapist in itself with the ability to experience non realist, hyper real situations from safe, point of view perspective. It has been suggested that WoW is cathartic in the way it allows gamers to work through problems in their own lives by engaging in battles with fearsome foes as a possible unconscious metaphor for ‘real life’. Critics inevitably point the finger at gaming culture and games like WoW for creating a virtual world which prevents gamers from engaging in the real world, stifling verbal communication and presenting an alternative to the ‘normal’, physical exercise a young person needs. This criticism was explored, as identified above in South Park where WoW game players were represented as overweight, eccentric, geeky outcasts.
Using the Uses and Gratifications theory all four models of audience appeals apply – diversion (escapism), personal identity with characters, personal relationships with other gamers (this is a massive social appeal of the game) and surveillance where gamers are loaded with historical information on the background to the worlds and characters they virtually exist within – the fictional history is exhaustive, intricate and in depth and as a complex, involved narrative remains another key appeal of WoW. There is a form of snobbery within the game about how much information you know and to have significant cultural capital suggests a form of hierarchy among players. Many dedicated gamers will disproportionately play the game, attend conventions and devote much of their social (and often work time) to playing what can be seen as a cultish form of addiction – these are the gamers who will call the base game ‘Vanilla’ because it is so plain. It can be all encompassing and has been a subject of the passive consumption debate among parents.
Audiences are not exclusively male and are not exclusively young – educated male and female school and college kids enjoy the game with a significant secondary demographic but what remains interesting from research is the resentment younger players can have for the older, tertiary 25-45 ABC1 target audience who are as much into the game as they are. The common stereotype of geeky, male gamers who on their days off wander around the comic shop Forbidden Planet can apply to WoW but there are also older gamers who simply enjoy the narrative quests and challenges. The idea of narrative is very important to WoW and WoW players are as much interested in the multi stranded, linear narratives as they are the high end (not top end as mentioned earlier) audio visual sound and graphics. Some older gamers prefer the strategy elements, gearing up to get new items and equipment and achieving set goals as much as enjoying fights and battles.

The social aspect is important – many gamers get to know other players in their Guilds both in and out of the game and are prepared to travel to meet their virtual colleagues. Blizzard positions the gamer into exploring this possibility by the interactive elements of the game; the above cartoon lampoons the shared knowledge and shared understanding that is so important to game players developing a specialist language and specialist vocabulary. Players are positioned into a preferred reading of having to complete quests and continually level up to avoid ‘failure’. Success in the game is important to gamers and to achieve is to win. For non WoW players a lack of understanding of the complexities of the game often leads to an oppositional reading as explored in South Park.

Genre / Narrative

Within this fictional diegesis (world) Pandaria is one of four continents representing the planet of Azeroth – lush, green and inhabited by Pandarans (Pandas), Mantid (bog people), Mogu (giant humanoids), Hozen (Monkeys), Jinyu (Fish People) and other species who all fight between each other but defend their own turf – an example of this defence can be seen in the cinematic trailer above where Humans and Orcs land on Pandaria after a shipwreck, fight each other in Jade Forest but are attacked by a Pandaran who is defending his land. Unusual in the game play generally the Human and the Orc ally unsuccessfully against the Pandaran when normally they would be separate and clan based. There is always some form of war raging.
As with most MMORPG, in WoW the game player creates and controls an avatar which is played in the first person – unlike FPS games the focus is on the narrative; exploring the landscape, completing quests, interacting with other players and characters and fighting monsters / creatures. There is violence however during frequent skirmishes, fights and full on battles but the violence has a far less brutal, realist feel than representational action in games like Mortal Kombat and Call of Duty. WoW has a mise-en-scene that anchors the genre as fantasy and as such, follows the equivalent filmic conventions. At times WoW looks like Lord of the Rings – numerous battles and creatures including Orcs and also swooping aerial shots have similarities to the trilogy with helicopter shots over the New Zealand area of Waikato with its green grass and rolling hills. Dungeons and Dragons has also a similar visual representation in terms of settings and characters.
Mists of Pandaria markets itself on important additions to the narrative which a target audience with cultural capital will be aware of e.g. being able to work towards getting a legendary weapon from Wrathion, one of the last remaining Black Dragons or the talent and glyph systems which give people a choice as to how to personalise their character while reducing the chances of picking the wrong talents. You can now grow crops on your farm and have cooking specialisations (ideas brought in from other successful games). New patches continually update the game play as well as the narratives. WoW has to be identified as having an open ended narrative in this regard that resists closure – mini narrative episodes have a beginning, middle and an end (3 act structure) and are constant (battles etc.) but the whole point of the game play is that there is no ending, there are just new beginnings. The quests encode an investigative, often multi stranded narrative (see Quest Log below) and narrative arcs ensure familiarity with history.

Fantasy codes and conventions are omnipresent in WoW – it has young target audience who enjoy myth, magic and innocent excitement despite the apparent death and violence. It is how the death and violence is represented that grounds the game as belonging to the fantasy genre. Narratives can be emotive and often romanticised and characters have additional appeal beyond their manifest representation. The colour palette has clear connotations of the fantasy genre with rich colours but also earthy, natural colours (browns, greens, yellows) anchoring the aspirational representation of the kingdoms. Soft, pastel colours are also used to ensure the magical, mystical feel is maintained. Players will say some characters are ‘really scary’ and there is nothing ‘soft and pastelly’ about the game but fundamentally the mise-en-scene is non realist, escapist and non-threatening. The iconography includes a broad range of creatures which is very common to fantasy game play as well as fantasy films and audiences would expect and demand these conventions.

Representation

As with much fantasy the game has an element of realism combined with escapist imagery and WoW has an ‘old fashioned’ traditional look and feel – this is despite the futuristic and at times science fiction iconography. It feels nostalgic because you are in a game that is referencing ‘times gone by’ and thousands of years of history. Swords, shields and ‘magic’ have traditional connotations and this is one of the appeals; gamers are embracing digital technology but absorbing and embracing a fictional past, free from the stresses and strains of modern society. As with Disney films and fantasy films like The Hobbit representation is important because it is not always what is conveyed on the surface that is so important – Disney has been accused of unconsciously teaching gender roles and fantasy representations should always be carefully examined.
Dominant, aggressive creatures in WoW are frequently gendered as masculine but not exclusively - Goblins, Dwarves and Shaman inevitably have masculine representations with rough voices and dominant behaviour and actions, much the same as humans or humanoids but arguably WoW on one level represents some creatures in a non gender specific way. Pandarans for example seem to be just cute, humanoid Pandas who can be fierce fighters. The obvious Panda connotations help to engage the millions of game players in China, not just because of the areas of the world Pandas are found in but how their native habitat is represented within the game. They feel an affinity to the natural world and practice a form of Chinese martial arts which sees them win many battle and fight – they are also known for their art of acupressure, another known stereotype. Their surroundings have oriental connotations and their religion/belief system is very similar to Buddhism with meditation crucial and power gleaned from the Earth Mother.
Dwarves are a race who benefit from the ‘representation of the small’ in fantasy and popular culture – Dwarves and Elves make frequent appearances in fantasy and are usually subject to cultural stereotyping. In WoW their background werw as reclusive makers of weapons who lived in the mountains but who eventually had to rise up to defend their land. They fight well but when presented with an emotional situation reveal their weaknesses. Fantasy requires extreme, hyper real representations and Mists of Pandaria provides this with new races including the Jinyu, the Hozen (a monkey like race), the Virmen (a rabbit like race) and the Grummels (a race related to the Troggs). Some races in the game take their essence from, or are based on existing human races and ethnicity but the analysis can be very subjective – stereotypically some players see Humans are American, Worgen have been described as English, Taurens as native Americans, Trolls as Jamaican with Goblins amusingly described as the Italian Mafia. It would be difficult to develop characters or creatures for a game without drawing on an essence or a stereotype as stimulus.
The only issue would be are these negative cultural stereotypes being reinforced and circulated by the game and is there an issue of passive consumption? There is indeed a lack of strong, female independent characters in the game while women characters have been described as ‘barnacle characters’ whose existence depends on the storyline of others. Feminist writers have heavily criticised WoW makers and players as being white, male, straight and middle class who have encoded the World of Warcraft through male eyes, a male point of view. In 2006 Blizzard changed the body models for the new Blood Elf race because the existing models appeared too feminine – one of the things you can make a Blood Elf character say in the game is “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me”?

Mini Glossary of Terms

• RPG: Role Player Game – the game player takes on a role or character.
• Expansion: A new version of extension of the game.
• Event Movie: Where the date of release of a film is used in its marketing.
• Interactive: A two way form of communication between game and player.
• Guild: A large WoW group.
• Realm: An individual copy of the game world, sometime referred to as a server.
• Brand: The established identity of a product.
• High Production Value: Big budget.
• Patches: Add-ons to the game play.
• Mise-En-Scene: Everything in the shot – setting, objects and props, dress code, lighting, colour, graphics, character expression / pose / movement.
• Stereotyping: When something is labelled as belonging to a group.
• Digital Medium: A media platform e.g. a website that uses digital encoding.
• Escapist: No realist representations that allow audiences to temporarily disappear from their own life and merge into a fantasy narrative.
• Digital Pre Sale: Where goods are sold, normally online before a game’s release.
• Mainstream: Media consumed by mass audiences.
• Viral Marketing: Where a product is advertised using hype and a non paid for form of communication to a target audience. Viral marketing disguises the fact that it is an indirect form of advertising.
• Intertextuality: One media text that references another.
• Star Marketing: Well known celebrities that are used to endorse, advertise, sponsor or launch a brand / media text.
• Narrative Voice Over: Non diegetic talking that is overlaid during post production.
• Talkability: Something that people talk about – a form of viral marketing.
• Press Release: Where companies release a statement about their product or brand.
• Interface: The surface that the game is played on – what you see as a game player.
• Colour Palette: The colour scheme in front of you.
• Aerial Shot: A camera shot from high up e.g. from a crane, helicopter of aeroplane.
• Level Up: Where you improve the health of your character and jump levels.
• Demographic: A word used to describe the target audience but in detail.
• Aspirers: Audiences who seek to improve their lives.
• Hyper Real: Exaggerated representations for the purpose of entertainment values and audience identification.
• Cathartic: A way of working through your own problems by watching similar issues to your own or fictional violence.
• Virtual World: A make believe world that is common in game play.
• Metaphor: Something that stands for something else.
• Uses and Gratifications Theory: A theory developed by Blumler and Katz in 1974 suggesting audiences are active and gain different pleasures from media texts.
• Cultural Capital: The knowledge, skills and experience that affect your understanding of a media text.
• Cult or Cultish: Where audiences become so devoted to a media text that it achieves ‘cult’ status because it is disproportionately liked so much.
• Passive Consumption: Where audiences are negatively affected by media output.
• Multi Stranded Narrative: Different storylines, all interweaved together.
• Linear Narrative: A narrative that follows a historical chronology.
• Audience Positioning: Where and audience is deliberately meant to understand the encode meaning – they are ‘led by the hand’ or ‘positioned’.
• Preferred Reading: The intended meaning of a media text.
• Oppositional Reading: The opposite to the intended meaning understood by the audience.
• Diegesis: The fictional world a computer game or any media text is set in.
• FPS: First Person Shooter – computer / video games like Grand Theft Auto.
• Anchor: Confirm definitely.
• Convention: Something that is common to a genre.
• Open Ended Narrative: Where a narrative has no obvious ending.
• 3 Act Structure: Where a media text has a beginning, middle and end.
• Encode: Meaning that is put in to a media text.
• Narrative Arcs: Familiar storylines, characters or themes that go back often to the beginning of a game or other media text.
• Emotive: Emotional.
• Manifest: Obvious, on the surface.
• Connotation: Implies meaning.
• Iconography: Visual elements common to a genre.
• Realism: The degrees or reality evident in a media text, e.g. a computer game.
• Nostalgia: Fond longing for the past.
• Feminism: A movement / ideology which focuses on a lack of female equality in all walks of life.