Virtual Identities and Market Segmentation in Marketing in and Through Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)

It has been asserted that the emergence of virtual worlds has changed the ways that business may be conducted. In massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) a participant is given the opportunity to not only create an identity of how they would like to appear but also select individual activities. Clearly, this opportunity may carry marketing implications because marketers are given the opportunity to consider potential customers as they might like to be. Background in self-identity and buying behavior, the nature of MMOGs, taxonomy of gamers, and the construction of identity is sketched. Five propositions are developed that summarize our observations from this foundation.