League of Legends or World of Warcraft? The effect of political ideology on consumers game choice

Abstract

PurposeThe majority of research to date has focused on how to leverage the effectiveness of in-game marketing campaigns. However, the author’s understanding of how to segment consumers for game consumption is limited. This research aims to focus on how consumers’ political ideology could influence consumers’ game choices.Design/methodology/approachThis study used one state-level Google trend data and two experiments to show the effect of political ideology on consumers’ game choice.FindingsThis study found that liberals prefer non-persistent world games and conservatives prefer persistent world games. These effects occur because consumers’ political ideology alters their motivation to search for new opportunities, and this motivation, in turn, determines their choices. Finally, this study demonstrates the moderating role of brand familiarity in the effect of political ideology on game choice.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers a new angle for game and marketing research about how consumers’ beliefs such as political ideology can change consumers' thoughts and preferences about games.Practical implicationsThis study offers new insight into the gaming industry and marketers. They can use political ideology as a new and effective way to segment consumers.Social implicationsThese findings offer important insights into the ubiquitous nature of games in consumers’ everyday lives by detailing how political ideology influences game choice.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need to study how an important industry such as gaming can be effectively segmented through an important factor such as political ideology.