curriculum concept map: using a mmorpg to teach about new media & web 2.0 business models &...

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Brian J. King

TECH 665

April 28, 2008

Curriculum Concept Map: Using a MMORPG to Teach about New Media & Web 2.0 Business

Models & Competition in Saturated Markets & Integrative Thinking

Introduction

As our society and our technology evolves so have our business models and with this to

survive in the highly competitive marketplace today’s business people must become highly

aware, adaptable, and agile to stay afloat. Existing marketplaces are generally saturated with

competition that is already meeting the market need presented by the consumers in the

marketplace. An example of an over-saturated marketplace would be the soda business; Coca

Cola and Pepsi are very obviously not the only two companies in this market although

companies such as Faygo are not going to overtake the competition in this specific marketplace.

As business and marketing undergraduate students learn in most general education

institutions is more about how the past worked, how traditional markets work, and very rarely

anything about how the markets of today are and how to best compete in these highly saturated

and competitive marketplaces. The students need to be learning subject matter that teaches them

integrative thinking skills and know how to compete in a marketplace of the present. The

marketplace of today is saturated with red oceans1 and needs to teach students about how to

create blue oceans2 of these marketplaces according to W. Chan Kim the author of a Harvard

Business School Press publication Blue Ocean Strategy. A chart taken from INSTEAD (a

1 An example of a red ocean is Coke vs. Pepsi, a marketplace that is already saturated withcompetition and is highly unlikely to enter into this marketplace without drastic innovation

instilled. (http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/qa/AnswerArchive.php)2 http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/qa/AnswerArchive.php



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division of Wharton’s business school) shows the difference between red and blue ocean

competition strategies.

Table 1 http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/bosprimer.cfm

Businesses today are increasingly able to compete with the creation of the Internet and

the diffusion of technological advancement. With that has come the arrival of new media & web

2.03 companies and principles. These companies are very different then traditional marketplaces

that generally have a product they produce themselves, or a store like Target that distributes

products from many companies. These traditional companies require large start-up costs, large

liabilities, and are already inside of a very saturated marketplace where competition generally

can be easily diminished by the massive power of the established brands such as Target and other

corporations.

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/bosprimer.cfm





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Although today’s new media and web 2.0 companies have an interesting quirk to

differentiate them from the traditional marketplace economics. These companies generally allow

for mass customization and personalization and information sharing, as well as the dissemination

and delivery of non-mainstream content, products, services, and more. Additionally they

generally thrive on user generated or submitted content. With a business model such as this you

require very little startup costs and low risk as a business owner and can almost distribute your

work load to the people (community) of your website. Many of these companies have developed

ways to utilize integrative thinking, technology, and evaluated red ocean markets to develop very

specialized niche markets and created market demand where it may not have previously existed;

in turn creating a blue ocean.

Description of Problem

The problems faced is that in today’s university environment as a business student you

simply are taught about the traditional marketplaces and how these work, although are not given

any (or generally very little) insight into the present time marketplace and how it is evolving

leaving many graduates entirely obvious of these companies existing and how they have created

a competitive edge against many traditional businesses and business models. There needs to be

an engaging and educational simulation game that engages students to learn, foster community,

and ideate with these new media companies; in turn providing assurance that the students are

prepared for the current state of the marketplace.

Content Area & Intended Learning Outcomes

The content areas in blue on the concept map are the main areas of focus that have direct



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branches from the grey (main topic). These blue main content areas all have interconnections

amongst themselves and the sub-branches of the remainder of the concept map. The intended

learning outcomes for this MMORPG are as follows:

1. To enhance the learners’ knowledge domains of new media, integrative

thought, community involvement, and to further their business knowledge into

more specialized areas such as what the concept map refers to as The World is

Flat economics.

2. To facilitate collaboration through the use of the new media tools and

integrative thinking to form beneficial and innovative partnerships in the

MMORPG.

Curriculum Concept Map

Refer to the concept map found on the course wiki at http://dgbl08.pbwiki.com/Brian-

King-CM.

http://dgbl08.pbwiki.com/Brian-King-CM





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