The Sociology of Marketing

[StephenArdrey]

There is always more than what meets our eyes in day-to-day society. I am not talking about long and often pointless rants about how the illuminati is trying to get you to remove all the hair from your nut sack. More along the lines of how big marketing firms hire socioligist to help better controll groups of people. How trends in games, movies, music, and other areas are actually reinforced and how this effects indie companies going up against them.

First, you have to understand how psychology and sociology differ as sciences. Psychology, is th study of how an individual thinks and the latter is how we think and react as groups. Pretty simple explanation with much deeper insight needed, but for this article, it will work just fine. The basic principal of sociology is the study of in and out groups.

The most basic understanding of the in group, are those who follow mainstream culture and trends. Out groups, are basically everyone else in society. Whatever, the acceptible social norm is considered, is where the in-group resides. Sociologist, help marketing companies not just by following trends but being able to create new ones depending on the outlook of the in group. So everything would be better if we were all hispsters?

Not really, hipsters don't understand the basic principal that once something becomes a trend. Major corporations figure a way to ride that pony until it dies. It's safe to make the assumption, that if you see it on store shelves, then someone else has a finger in how it got there. Usually, someone big and major in order to help draw in a specified audience. What about counter culture groups?

Well, this is where things get really strange. You have two options, a) figure out how to market specifically to their sensibilities (i.e. hipsters, green fanatics and others) or b) based on purchasing potential, ignore them completely and try to get them labeled as dangerous. Where do we as fans of Postal fall into those catagories?

Mostly, we fall under group b along with people like Juggalos. While most of us are educated and not on a FBI watch list, we could potentially become like the fans of ICP, just from liking divergent art and not having the spending power that others have. Hipsters, have an advantage in the fact, that they usually make between50 and 80K a year. This is where I have an issue with hipsters as a whole.

Being a hipster and supporting some forms of indie art, doesn't make you a true supporter of things different. In most cases, all you are doing is making a few select indie products more mainstream and no longer independent. Before you call certain artist sell outs, understand what it is most creators really want before you blame them.

Even though it positively effects the in groups view of independent art, it doesn't mean that they understand all forms of indie production. Most people expect something massively brilliant and bold for under 25,000 dollars, but if it doesn't reach them at a certain gut level, then it has all been in vain. You also have to understand that, by pure definition alone, every skin flick ever made is an independent movie. You don't see hipsters giving millions of dollars to see if an Acadamy Award worthy porn can be made.

They also shop at major retail chains and drink coffee from Starbucks. Their notions of indie are skewed and often I want to kick them in the nuts. Just because you dress out of thrift shops and Urban Outfitters doesn't make you edgy or independent. It just means your sucking off the corporate tit, like everyone who goes to Wal-Mart. In order to be truely independent of all of that, you would have to take some really drastic steps.

You would have to stop buying everything and producing everything on your own. Music, games, movies, clothes, and virtually everything else on earth you can think of. True, independence from corporations is impossible unless people just quit spending money and start trading with each other again. The only issue, is that we don't have the means to do this without taking advantage of someone else. The hipsters have it wrong.

The only way to escape the social programming all around us, is to break away from what we have known for years. It would mean stepping out of comfortable social circles and redefining what it means to be a creature in the social environment. Gamers, as a whole, have a keeping up with the Joneses mentality.

If it's newer, better, faster, and prettier. We have to have whatever that it is. No matter if it's a game, computer, system, controller, or any number of other things I can mention. It would take, not listening to our instincts on how cool something is now but trying to perfect what we already have. Let's all have a reality check.

How many non-glitchy games have we played in this generation?

How many games are sold on the sole purpose of socialization?

How often do we find ourselves playing non-complete games, only to wait on the DLC for monthes?

Stop, and think about how reviewers sell you socialization. WoW, is the epitome of marketing socialization to the masses through pointing out the sheer volume of people who play. 10.2 million subscribers, this number gets thrown out on every advertisement they have created for this game. Granted, MMO's are only fun if their are other people playing them.

They are trying to sell your brain on the conceptof acceptance. That there is a virtual world, where you and your friends, can have fun adventures finding random shit. The only issue is, do you honestly need that to fulfill your social needs?

No, this is creating a false need incentive. You want to connect with people, they are offering you a way to connect with people, so this works on the isolative needs that some of us are currently facing. It works on the individual by working with the group. Why does this work so effectively?

Studies have shown, that the more time one spends online, the more isolated they feel. A company offering a way, to ease that feeling, is standing to make tons of money. Even if it's a complete bullshit way of doing it. Why does this all matter?

Indie game developers, simply cannot afford the specialist needed to work all of these angles. It takes marketing and advertising companies as well as just more leverage. If you want to offset, this implosion of brain washing, there is one way.

Talk to your friends about games you love and be a cheer leader. Often, this has a domino effect amongst people and can spread widely rather quickly. I am trying to figure out how to start up some retro tournaments but I am not sure when since my schedule is swamped currently. It might take till next spring but when it's up everyone here will be the first to know about it. It's time for me to have a Dr. Pepper and shut the fuck up. Take care.

[SlimDurst]

Beautiful

[RedGhostFrog]

So true. Epic article there, Stephen.
Also:

I am trying to figure out how to start up some retro tournaments but I am not sure when since my schedule is swamped currently. It might take till next spring but when it's up everyone here will be the first to know about it. It's time for me to have a Dr. Pepper and shut the fuck up. Take care.

Any chance there'll be an online choice for this? If so, I'm in
You take care too, man.

[StephenArdrey]

So true. Epic article there, Stephen.
Also:

I am trying to figure out how to start up some retro tournaments but I am not sure when since my schedule is swamped currently. It might take till next spring but when it's up everyone here will be the first to know about it. It's time for me to have a Dr. Pepper and shut the fuck up. Take care.

Any chance there'll be an online choice for this? If so, I'm in
You take care too, man.

It will all be done online. I am working on getting some server space for my production company and we were going to run some tournaments for Postal 2, Blood, Rise of the Triad, and some others. It's just some stuff we have been tossing around during my staffings so we are doing more and giving more out there. It just takes time and money, plus there is only about 5 of us. That means right now getting other things ready takes priority.

[FaTony]

You would have to stop buying everything and producing everything on your own. Music, games, movies, clothes, and virtually everything else on earth you can think of. True, independence from corporations is impossible unless people just quit spending money and start trading with each other again. The only issue, is that we don't have the means to do this without taking advantage of someone else. The hipsters have it wrong.

While difficult with physical stuff, it's no problem with intellectual property. Delete Windows, install Linux distro of your choice. Get GCC (included by default with most distros), some nice IDE such as Code::Blocks and start making your games. Remember to stay out of proprietary frameworks such as DirectX.

Easy with PC, not so with mobile stuff. Remember that open source =/= free. Android is open source but far from free (there's a link to a study on Wikipedia). You would want to get yourself a different OS, thankfully, there's Openmoko and Replicant.

[The_YongGrand]

Marketing, has been there since time has been invented. Or, as long as the world existed.

Marketing can make and break something - when you make something, it means you make cash out from the stuff. At that, you have a risk of breaking something too in the process.

Let me tell an example: That "Duty Calls" game. Yeah, I'm being a bit too euphemistic here. See what happens to the "Modern Warfare" series? It's like old stuff written in new book. Look at "Ass Effect 3" - dangling the DVDs into space and then drop them from orbit as a marketing stunt. And then, the world's human beings in search for that fallen DVDs, like hungry zombies being curious of eating a clit. Why ruining games like these? "Battleshit" series? No way. It's the same old shit again and again. There are nothing anymore original on any new games like that anymore since 2009.

Another example: cinema movies. We have too much Marvel and DC comics as being scriptwriters and churning out the sequels. Is there anymore originality? No! Because almost the whole world's population wants that, probably.

In some parts of the world like SE Asia, strong marketing and commercialism severly affects the thinking of many youths. In the end it becomes "herding mentality". Just because others said that the shit tastes good, one will just say "yes". There are no individualism, and being one means that you are the next anti-social Postal dude on the team. That just sucked, isn't it?

In my place, the youngsters are now on the ukulele hype. The hype probably started from some advertisments which features sounds of ukulele plucking (also probably from cheesy Korean dramas as well), and featuring youngsters playing them as hobby. Then these people, from the conversations, said that "ukulele is the best instrument in the world". What the fuck, man? An ad tells that ukulele is good, then go grab one, plink and plunk a few chords and then stow it under the bed, and they tells that "it's the best instrument in the world"? Oh goodness. You gotta be fucking kidding! They would defend to the death that ukulele is the best by simply quoting in researchs and health. So much for marketing.

I would have continued on one thing also: Badminton, but it could be a long story. It's another one of the widely commercialized sport in a peninsular SE Asia, and if you don't play them in this nation, you could be labelled "unfit". And people find excuses for playing this sport because others are playing. I guarantee you, if I see those Yonex rackets again, I will just break it in half, munch it out, swallow it and shit them out again.