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Study on Construct Player Identity and Support the
Development of Game Community of "Honor of Kings" and
"PUBG"
Che Zeng
The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
Abstract. As an entertainment product with outstanding cultural and commercial attributes, mobile
games have penetrated the lives of the new generation of youth and are significant in contemporary
China. However, features within the two fields are relatively independent in most research
discussions. As the core elements of the industry, the interaction and collaboration between game
marketing and player identity construction do not seem to be a popular topic among mainstream
researchers. Therefore, this essay tends to extend an infrequent angle with two mobile games with
the highest popularity in present China: Honor of Kings and PUBG, and conduct combined
theoretical research around the relationship between the game industry chain and the shaping of
player identity. Based on the related theories of game marketing structure, the article will research
under the standard marketing models of promotional strategies, game mechanics, and player
retention. Through the deconstruction and analysis of actual cases, this article demonstrates the
marketing processes possess with complementary relationship to the construction of player identity.
Such promotion exists in a series of game cultural industry links comprise promotional strategies,
engagements during gaming, and user retention, which generates revenue while continuously
consolidating the identity recognition among users and player communities.
Keywords: Game Culture; Game Marketing; User Engagement; Identity Construction.
1. Introduction
As one of the leading developing countries, the rapid development and changes at the industrial
level have brought about many incredible changes in China. One of the iconic aspects would be from
the social scale, lifestyle of the younger generation possess large variety. The market data has
confirmed that video games are now an economic driver of the media and entertainment industry.
More importantly, games have shaped understanding of the culture within a social level of scale [8].
In the past decade of China, video games have gradually become a significant entertainment activity
in the daily lives of Chinese teenagers. Especially online multiplayer games are often a rich source of
complex social interactions [36]. More efficient game progress, more diversity of game development,
and even more diversified game mechanisms have become the standard configuration and
requirements of current online games. The depth and richness of the entertainment experience that
similar products can provide are unmatched by other traditional media. At the same time, the
necessary social activities in the game process offered by online games have partially filled the social
desire of contemporary teenagers and young adults [44].
With the industrial developments in serious of fundamental aspects, topics such as the internal
changes of game players and the impact of the social level, especially the youth, have attracted
increasing public opinion attention. As early as 2016, China had the most online users and online
game players globally [29]. In China, the general trend of public opinion is relatively scarce and
divided. The mainstream public opinion tends to be a generation of adults headed by parents who are
generally worried about the negative phenomenon similar to game addiction (Zhan & Chan, 2012).
On the other hand, the astonishing growth in revenue and market volume of e-sport and online games
does not seem to be unaffected by negative public opinion. The reporting direction of media usually
focused on more topical addiction cases or astronomical figures such as the increase in the number
of users in sales. There are few reports on players and the player community. There is far less
mainstream press coverage about the interaction between players and the consumption and shaping
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relationship between players and games. However, such domains are not discussed yet in the cycle
of gaming and consumption.
Therefore, the essay will explore and discuss the positive effects and promotion effects of game
marketing strategies and mechanisms as the core part of marketing on the process of player identity
and community building. This article will select the two online multiplayer games with the highest
popularity in China for research. Through the potential user attraction at the front end of the industry
chain, the social interaction in the gaming process finally to loyalty cultivation. The essential steps
are deconstructed and analyzed through each section. The article will briefly introduce the
development background of games. Then, based on the theoretical topics argument section on
essential stages of game marketing by Hamari and Lehdonvirta [15], the research will split into three
sections: promotional strategies, interaction design/game mechanics, and player retention. Finally,
after the conclusion, the author will discuss the development prospects of mobile games within the
Chinese market and suggestions for future research directions.
2. Literature Review
Through the initial research, the author noticed several patterns. The majority of the current social
science study related to games is mainly focused on such direction, including but not limited to game
addiction, player identity, game strategy and game development, e-sport, etc. Among those, game
addiction is the most popular topic, and more novel research cases such as the influence of gambling
psychology in games on players [7]. The majority of existing articles attempted to demonstrate the
addiction effects of games. However, such a topic would not be the area currently focused on by
mainstream studies. The identity as “player” in games should be inductees as a side of the digital
identity of individuals. Taylor [32] believes that users are employing graphics and text-based systems
to log in to remote computers and communicate and interact with each other and virtual spaces in
real-time. Players construct and consolidate their identity within the virtual society through chatting,
building, playing games, etc. The fact is that academia has a certain degree of research and analysis
on player identities and constructions of different depths. For example, the study on CS: GO game
mechanics by Ståhl & Rusk [31] regarding the shape of player identity elements that distinguish it
from the classic MMORPG games. The user desire for team cooperation is part of the motivation of
the process through identity establishment. At the same time, the selection and customization of
weapons and characters produced through the customization function are also the core factors of the
player identity. In terms of the research on bilateral impacts between games and players, most works
focus on the gaming mechanics. Another typical feature would be [20] summarized and awarded that
compared to games with strategic depth, the core purpose of the games with social function is to
frame multiple types of interactions between players.
In terms of game marketing, articles mention that game marketing act the same value as game
design. Hamari and Lehdonvirta [15] consider from the economics angle and generalize that the
ultimate goal of games marketing is to connect players as consumers with products and form a
customer relationship from acquisition, retention to monetization. The article has built out a thorough
understanding of the core nodes of the core purpose of game marketing. Therefore, this essay will
refer to this theory in the research arrangement. Although, Zackariasson & Dymek [43] argued that
compared to other cultural products, games contain more symbolic information and greater values for
information transmission. Essentially, the underlying thinking of the marketing strategy did not show
apparent differentiation from that of general merchandise. There are also in-depth explorations of the
e-sport industry, which is the core industry of the gaming community. The consumer behavior scholar
[28] considered e-sport from an industrial perspective to be a unique consumer-driven part of the
game market that connects game companies, players, online communities, management agencies, and
many other stakeholders. There are also methodological studies such as Waller [37] summarized the
relevant principles that determine the success of mobile game marketing, including innovation,
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economic efficiency, social equity, and consumer accountability. In addition to traditional media
marketing, new media such as social media are also crucial to sales.
In summary, according to the previous data collection, the author believes that the apparent
position of the game in the player identity does not connect to the promotion and marketing domain
as an essential part of sales. In appearance, the most profound effect on players seems to be the
mechanics and design of the game. However, the promotion and marketing of the game may not stop
at selling a product. Under the apparent sales data, both the product itself and publicity processes
shape the player perception. Such theory will express in more detail presented in the following
expanding research process.
3. Background Statement
At the beginning of the study, the essay will introduce the overview of the two games selected,
including the types of games, primary developers and institutions, and development trajectories.
Among them, the paragraph will focus on the development history. The author believes that a detailed
description of the background information would help to understand the motivations and ideas of
game developers or operators to adopt relevant promotional strategies.
3.1 Honor of Kings
The "Honor of Kings" (王者荣耀) is a multiplayer online competitive mobile game developed by
Tencent L1 Studio in 2015 that supports IOS and Android systems. The construction of game
concepts originated from the Riot Games acquisition by Tencent in 2015 [3]. Tencent started to
become involved in the mobile MOBA game market, which was still in an early stage of formation
at the time. Tencent was required to produce a mobile version of League of Legends. The Honor of
Kings is a tower-pushing game, and the modes include 1V1, 3V3, 5V5, and other PVP battles. In
addition, players can also participate in the adventure mode and enter the PVE (Player Versus
Environment) mode. After reaching a certain level, players can join the Qualifying Competition. With
20 million monthly active users in 2017, Honor of Kings is already the game with the largest group
of users in the world [39]. Revenue generated in 2017 reached 50% of all games owned by Tencent
[4]. In the last year of 2020, the game transforms into the global highest-paid free game, revenues
generating $2.45 billion [35]. The Honor of Kings officially released the professional league in
September of 2016. There are two seasons conducted every year - the spring and autumn, and each
season are consisting of three parts - the regular season, the playoffs, and the finals. According to the
report by Ahmed [2], the game league of Honor of Kings was selected by the 2022 Hangzhou Asian
Games official competition event. It is also the first-time e-sports became an official and medal event.
3.2 GP (Game of Peace) - Mobile Version of PUBG in China
The "PUBG" (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, 배틀그라운드, 绝地求生:大逃杀), was
developed in South Korea. The lead developer of the game, Brendan Greene, was inspired by the
2000 Japanese movie Battle Royale and some game modes that existed at the time (McCarthy, 2017).
One of the crucial motivations of game creators is the Survivor Game Z competition in the game
DayZ which mainly participates by Twitch and YouTube streamers (Forward, 2018). The core
innovation of PUBG to traditional shooting games is similar to the distinguishes between social
media and traditional media which the permissions or functions were only for a few elites currently
distributed to all users. For example, the present threshold of Youtubers is simple to any internet-
connected device with a camera. And benefit from new forces of entertainment channels such as live-
streaming, the boundaries between producers and consumers are continuously indefinite or even
disappear. Subsequently, the production cooperatively with South Korean game company Bluehole.
And the game was widely popular in a list of countries and regions such as North America, Europe,
and China [42]. When reaching the exploit of the mobile version, not only in the Chinese market, the
entire innovation process has a large degree involved by cooperation with Tencent games [24]. The
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decision is conjectured based on the great profit produced by the Honor of Kings that conducted
Tencent to distribute more attention to the stupendous prospects of the mobile game market in China
[9]. Despite this, the violent and bloody problem of the game has caused several controversies. In the
end, after several twists and turns, Tencent released a modified version called Game of Peace [19].
To remiss the concerns, the game concessions in game design comprise the waved goodbye pose after
being killed and the green blood.
3.3 Contrast of Games
In summary, the differences of genres have resulted in distinguishes in the player interaction during
the game. The Honor of Kings is a traditional MOBA game, and PUBG is the representative case of
the new genre named battle royale. Such characteristics have led to different requirements for players
in the game. For example, because of the random distribution of resources and enemies, the overall
planning of the game in PUBG is more unpredictable, and it tests the ability to adapt. In specific
operations, the combat requires stability of actions to achieve more coherent aiming and faster
switching. However, the Honor of Kings offer resurrected indefinitely, but the characters are based
on different abilities and cannot be changed. Therefore, players need to layouts comprehensively to
coordinate members of distinct attributes to attack. In terms of specific operations, the game even
tests the understanding role of their own and teammate, and abilities to carry out combined strategies.
However, the development background and similar arrangements of the operating mechanism
brought due to the online features are also outstanding. First of all, in terms of development
background, the exploit of PUBG mobile and Honor of Kings are partly responsible or led by Tencent.
Although the specific impact has yet to be studied in-depth, it is undeniable that the influence exists.
Secondly, in essence, mobile games relied on the Internet to give birth to more or less similar design
ideas. The effects of such underlying factors on the two games also show deep reflection in the
following sections of the details of the marketing process.
4. Promotional Strategies
Even in the era before social media, publicity was considered a crucial step in sales. During the
sales process of the two games, the company spent a large amount of experience promoting and
building credibility. On the other hand, the propaganda methods continue to iterate with the changes
in market demand under the influence of technical ideas and media forms. Games are essentially
commercial products, and publicity is a crucial industry link. The company uses promotional items
to achieve the initial purpose of displaying game attributes and game culture to attract potential users.
This paragraph will list several advertising methods adopted by operators. In addition to forming a
production team with a reputation in various territories, online game anchors and e-sports have
increasingly become one of the foremost promotion modes for online games. Take Honor of
Kings and PUBG as examples. Although two games obtain different attitudes towards e-sport in the
background of the games, the operators of the games have held corresponding tournaments.
The Honor of Kings is one of the dominant products in the Chinese market encompasses a wide
range of age groups. Such games are available for more diverse promotional strategy styles. For
example, to invite celebrities to adapt and promote reputation to attract potential users [27]. On the
other hand, the solid production team can also be a traditional invisible publicity method. For example,
Tencent invited Hans Zimmer, Jeff Broadbent, and other famous composers to participate in the game
music for Honor of Kings. In 2021 Shanghai, the company held the Honor of Kings Symphony
Concert, the event evaluated by the media as a break from the long-term barriers between high-end
art and popular culture [23]. Also, most of the characters of Honor of Kings are Chinese historical or
mythological figures. Such gain arouses attention to history among young players and is an essential
publicity element to create a positive image [41]. At least the company has tried a propaganda strategy
in such a direction. But in fact, the publicity framed more controversy over the adaptation of historical
and mythological characters. Step into the online era, the study by Wang et al. [38] mentioned that
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Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) and user-generated content (UGC) play an important role in game
adoption. Therefore, promotions are crucial for game selling, especially for new products. The status
of social network operations in many promotion methods is also increasing.
Figure 1. The Co-brand razor of Honor of Kings and Gillette
The Co-brand marketing methods gain wider popularity around companies. The core principle of
this type of program is similar to celebrity publicity, that is, using influence to publicize. However,
the scope of project cooperation is broader, and the product types are much diverse. The specific
results are similar to the custom T-shirt in fandom cultures. But outcomes with more scaled and better
quality ascribes manufacturer-side customization. For example, the co-branded razor that the author
found in a local supermarket (Figure 1) uses color and pattern design prerequisite corresponding to
the game characters from the razor to the packaging. Publicity outside the game can sometimes even
shape and consolidate the identity more than in the game. For example, Co-branded industrial
products make the player identity clear at a glance, representing an influence on the real world. In
2018, PUBG once cooperated with DC to release the skins of famous characters Joker and Harley
Quinn. Other popular cases include the Avengers series skins by Fortnite and Marvel [5]. Among
those, especially the Thanos skin gain wide recognizance around players. And recently,
the PUBG China version has also conducted a joint publicity campaign with the classic Japanese
animation IP Gundam (Figure 2) and Ultraman. Linkage promotion has launched customized
products such as landmarks in maps or special events in a limited period.
Figure 2. Co-Brand page of PUBG and Gundam
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After IP construction reaches a mature stage, the company publicity combines the separate modes
into phases with higher diversity. Comprehensive marketing is recently popular, that is, through a
combination of the single marketing methods, multi-directional strategies, iconic type of synthesized
marketing is the e-sport promotion. As Ahmed [2] reported, the GP's (PUBG China) PEL
(Peacekeeper Elite League) Season 2 in July 2020 that coupled with the cooperation with UFC
(Ultimate Fighting Championship), the cooperative advertisement is also the first cooperation project
between UFC and China e-sport. In addition to the overwhelming advertising, the core product is the
award of the UFC gold belt to the best team of the week. Along with the intensifying competition in
the market, the frequency of Co-brand marketing projects has dramatically increased.
Although based on the brief observation of promotion methods on the phenomenon level, amount
of conspicuous connections to player identity constructions are detected. As the first step of product
marketing, attracting customers determines the subsistence of the project. In fact, Al-Mansour [1]
claims that the most efficient and fascinating features include the game engineering design and a wide
range of options for users, which boost PUBG to become one of the top real-time streaming war
games. The competition is to successfully win potential users by cutting costs and increasing
marketing efforts, especially using the principles of social communication to overcome its limited
marketing budget. The publicity introduces and displays the game to consumers, which is the basis
for subsequent player participation and the construction of consumption habits.
5. Interaction Design/Game Mechanic
After successfully attracting interest, to keep the players in the game and continue to participate in
the game operation and continuous connection with other players is very important. As mentioned
previously, given the significant distinguishes in the fundamental logic of games. The most significant
manifestation is in the game as a product, such as the design style, operation logic, and game layout.
This part will compare the battle flow of the default modes of the two games and the design and
arrangement of social functions in the game for comparative analysis.
5.1 Valley of Kings (5v5)
The Valley of Kings mode is the most mainstream and default game mode of Honor of Kings. Two
teams consisting of five players fight, and the two ends of the map are the hub with core buildings
named ‘crystal’, forts, and resurrection points of both sides are also the starting point. To win, the
team will have to destroy the core building or one side to surrender, which needs to be proposed and
accepted by all players. The option to exit the game does not exist. Each character has unique skills
and attack methods. To destroy the hub of the enemy, the team must firstly smash the defensive turrets.
There are arranged based on the three main routes/lanes to the other side of the map, named
confrontation, central, and growth (top, middle, bottom) used to reach the base towers of the enemy
(Figure 3). In addition to the primary mission to destroy the energy tower of the opposite team, neutral
creatures will appear in the fringe zone called ‘jungle’ areas. The Attack to such area’s targets
including minions, neutral creatures, and even heroes will obtain gold coins. The action of attacks to
neutral monster also with probability to receive two buffs that can last for 80 seconds, namely
supplements, red amplify attack damage, and blue provides mana recovery. Outside the battle, players
can also apply the coins to buy products such as new characters and outfits of the hero or change the
relevant attributes of the holding characters. The virtual currency used can be recharged with
sovereign currencies, in this case, would be Renminbi.
In the course of the game, in addition to indirect exploration and cooperation in battle, the core
interaction methods of players include microphone voice and real-time comments. Among them,
attributes to the timeliness of the mainstream communication method, based on the high requirements
of MOBA for team fit and tactical strategy, the battle process of trial and run-in has also transformed
into a type of communication. Out of the combat, the game provides a community section for players
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to exchange game information such as strategy guides. The synchronization of the friend list of
several software accounts allows to team up with friends.
Figure 3. Map overview from the game tutorial
5.2 Common Mode (Battle Royale Mode)
In the default mode, about a hundred players parachuted to different areas on the site. The map is
approximately 8 × 8, 6 × 6, and 4 × 4 kilometers. The original map was an island map named “Erangel”
with a mix of multiple terrains [25]. Players will be required to collect the equipment resources
scattered in the selected area, including guns, protective gear, vehicles, and medical supplies. Armed
and conducted random encounters. Different sections are unpredictable terrain, equipment, and player
density [10]. The game supports personalized combat methods with a first or third perspective to
adapt [18] with solo, double and quadruple teams are available. The game will pass several rounds of
screening, the player who survives to the last becomes the winner, and the game ends. Generally, the
combat duration is around 30 minutes [6].
Although the game provides a chatbox system, voices are still the most popular communication
during relatively varied and chaotic situations. But unlike Honor of Kings, 30 minutes of game time
result in more in-depth dialogue. The game mode with higher flexibility also causes the game
coordination requirements to reach a whole new level. In the situation of players forming a team
regardless of acquaintance, the game progress will be more voiced to achieve the purpose of
cooperation. Players need to anticipate competitor locations and activities while integrating and
allocating the equipment and other resources. One of the crucial motivations of the game creator
Brendan Greene is that the Survivor GameZ competition in the game DayZ mainly participates by
Twitch and YouTube streamers [14]. Such activities also contacted with the previous concept which
the permissions such as content production that only a few users were available before are now open
to all. Eventually, the boundaries between producers and audience gain gradually vanish.
5.3 Section Summary
To summarize, two games are fundamentally distinguished from categorization and produce a
discrepancy in the interactive actions during the game. The Honor of Kings is the standard MOBA
game, while PUBG belongs to the new genre named battle royale. Such background conditions have
led to different requirements for players in the game. For example, given the stochastic distribution
of resources and enemies, the overall planning of the game in PUBG is relatively uncertain, and it
tests the ability to adapt. In specific operations, there are requirements for changes to the stability of
the player operation to achieve a more stable aiming and faster switching. However, the Honor of
Kings offer indefinitely resurrected, but the characters are based on different abilities and cannot be
changed. And the users will need more comprehensive layouts to coordinate team members of
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specific attack patterns for victory. In terms of the concrete thread of the game, the game tests
understanding abilities in limited communication. Simultaneously, team role abilities to formulate
combined strategies are required. However, the development background and similar arrangements
of the operating mechanism supply by online functions are also outstanding. First of all, in terms of
development background, the innovation of the mobile version is partly responsible or led by Tencent.
Although the specific impact has yet to be studied in-depth, it is undeniable that those elements have
an influential role to play. Secondly, in essence, mobile games relied on networks to produce similar
ideas in design sections. As for the shaping of the player identity, both games reveal a high degree of
freedom in specific operations. And tactics and semi-actively force players to develop a set of DIY
play methods. Such features greatly consolidate the “gaming” part of the core of the player identity.
At the same time, the players are connected by scattered individuals and based on the connection
established to build community. The online game players obtain a better service experience by
spending the virtual currency. For the game companies, such a concept results in virtual game coins
being a valuable commodity [21] which is also one of the major incomes of the entire industry chain.
The positive reputation created by a high-quality gaming experience is also an essential invisible asset.
Therefore, it is reasonable for the mechanical design of the gaming process an object focused on by
researchers.
6. Player Retention
Extending based on the former aspect, based on the theory by Hamari & Lehdonvirta [15], the
commercial attributes of games purport that the demand for user monetization is crucial to profit and
determines the sustainable income and development prospects of the product. At the same time, it is
also a significant node for shaping player consumption habits and consolidating player identity. In
addition to publicity, client participation is also a crucial path to solidify game communities and
player identities, for example, e-sport and other fanworks. The principles are similar to sports events
such as NBA, UFC, etc. As byproducts of fan culture, the latest research corroborated the
consolidating effect of fanwork in building user loyalty [13]. The following phase will quote similar
principles for further discussion.
During the past decade, e-sport has been a rising aspect that focuses on development. The KPL
(King Pro League) invested by King Glory and the Honor of Kings World Championship Cup have
become top events of e-sports. Regarding the success of competitions, the company believes that
there are two advantages mainly in two aspects of coexistence of professionalism and entertainment
[34]. And for PUBG, the original lead producer Brendan Greene has already had a reputation among
mod enthusiasts and even practitioners. Therefore, the start of innovation of PUBG is already deeply
related to streaming and is still a popular option for life streamers today. The countless live broadcasts
and secondary creation videos are expressed daily and become invisible assets crucial for game
operators. At the same time, the volume of the live broadcast market of China is enormous worldwide.
After the lockdown of COIVD - 19 in 2020, 62% of 904 million internet users in China, of about 560
million citizens participated in live-streaming [17], the amounts of audience result in live-streaming
become the core marketing direction of Tencent as the dominant participant of the game innovation.
In connection with the above-mentioned blurred boundary between the author and the audience. The
concept of ‘Let’s Play’ in live-streaming which the plasticity between the active and passive roles in
the user experience. Live broadcast viewers can participate in the game by switching between active
and passive in the interactive TV viewing experience [30]. In addition, according to observations by
Lu et al. [22] on live-streaming in China, the primary motivation of viewers is to learn game skills or
simply to enjoy the game in a more relaxed way. Eventually, the live broadcast communities formed
a shared identity among all participants constituted by stream content and audience experience.
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Figure 4. E-sport section in Honor of Kings
According to induction by Taylor [33] of e-sport, self-identifying as a gamer becomes a way of
expressing passion and signaling to other individuals. Becoming a “gamer” is often a channel to form
communities. Although some members within the community proudly use the traditional label of
gamers as a core identity and social label, others might prefer to ignore such tag and treat the activity
of gaming into another frequent leisure event in their daily routine. A similar result has a significant
manifestation in the game communities. The community of players headed by Reddit presence with
stories of individual collectivist gamers who share personal experiences of building expertise and
entrepreneurship as a channel to connect individuals with multiple users. Example by expert gamers
or entrepreneurs and collective interests. Among them, digital social identity echoes the prevailing
market orthodoxy and shapes the digital leisure and gaming community [40]. Perhaps based on the
previous principles, Tencent has inserted an e-sport section in Honor of Kings (Figure 4). The plate
even provides live broadcasts of competitions.
To conclude the paragraph, the section discussed the last link of the marketing chain. The article
narrates and analyzes mainly target the e-sport culture and player community. Such leagues and
communities are the foremost tools to consolidate player stickiness which keeps users in the
consumption cycle. The majority of existing research is absorbed in such domains, perhaps attributed
to the high degree of discussion and popularity of e-sport events in recent years. Given the different
business models and even powers, not all game operators tend to have the strength to intervene in the
e-sport field. But in the objective perspective, by showing player identity and colorful game culture
to the public, the contribution of alliance economy and associated fan culture in shaping player
identity is beyond the reach by simply advertising with pop stars.
7. Conclusion & Discussion
In the last section, the author will first summarize the research. Combined with multi-angle
elaboration, comparison, and analysis based on the game industry process, this article constructs a
relatively three-dimensional understanding of the construction of player identities by operating
strategies. Based on the previous research to mainstream research, topics possess a certain amount of
relative discussion. At present, not numerous targeted research on the relationship between game
promotion and marketing strategy, player identity, and player community construction. Therefore,
this essay attempted to explore the staggering areas between two relative topics with vast space to be
discovered. Through the analysis and observation of authentic cases, the article agrees and
demonstrates the constructive role of game marketing and publicity in the identity’s construction of
gamer and gaming communities.
The article is divided according to the relevant theories of game operation and follows the coherent
steps of the game operation chain. The analysis abides by the promotion of attracting potential users,
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the game as a product, and the e-sport industry that finally shapes loyal players and consolidates
player loyalty. To ensure the analysis results possess universal value and are representative, the article
selected two mobile games with the highest popularity in China: Honor of Kings and PUBG. After
summarizing related industry cases and consulting with existing research theories, the article analyzed
and demonstrates the role of game promotion in shaping player identity and community building.
Although, the two selected games possess differences in genre, development history, and operation
mode. The common attributes of mobile games and the involvement of Tencent in the crucial
development stages have injected similarities to certain degrees. One of the aspects would be that
games provide a framework to give the initiative to the player to interact independently. In the entire
marketing process, users from the potential client, game participants to “gamers”, the recognition of
their identity continues to deepen with the interaction in the game. Refers to the success of caution of
the marketing, the player identity, and game community are gradually being constructed during the
entire process. Although the free labor by spontaneous activities of fans drastically assists the
popularization of the games. However, as the starting point and core of the industrial chain, companies
are still in a relatively dominant position. Both forces complement and eventually form the present
game culture with rich categories and high inclusion.
To end the essay, combined with research, the author wishes to establish a brief discussion and
outlook on the prospects of studies toward the online games under the Chinese market and cultural
environment. The biggest challenge might be the controversy target on game addictions. In China,
where game addiction has been deliberate for more than two decades, such a topic has always been
an essential social issue that aroused general interest. However, the main focus of criticism is mainly
on the game group as the media entertainment product itself. As one of the biggest games in
China, Honor of Kings is naturally the subject of criticisms targeted to game addiction. The People
Daily criticized to Honor of Kings as “poison” that indirectly caused the parent company Tencent to
lose approximately US$14 billion on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that year. The PUBG Mobile
also has received a certain degree of rejection in many countries, such as the Royale version is still a
prohibited format in India and Nepal. At the same time, the game is also continuously controversial
for delivering bloody and violent messages to teenagers in China. The China Audiovisual and Digital
Publishing Association issued a related statement that it discourages the battle royale game and
considers the game are overly violent.
However, Chapman & Linderoth consider that games as a genre of cultural objects possess a
special status, and such cultural products could regard as social value thermometers. From a
dialectical perspective on a morality review, referring to, the motivations of players and game
designers to commit or frame unethical behavior under universal values are complex. Therefore, for
future research on the Chinese market and cultural background, large parts of the field are still empty
for expansion in the ethics and underlying behavioral logic.
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