Index

Conclusion:

At the most basic level communities have been seen to form around commonality and common interests e.g. weather, computers etc. Personal relationships can then develop beyond their initial context (e.g. chat room, MMOG, social network etc.) to form a ‘community’ to some degree and in its broadest sense. On this basis and in terms of online communities, competitors exist on many levels. Qualitative differences are noted between how these communities form, which is centred on the social interaction tools available for members to develop bonds with other members.

Early text interaction was fairly one dimensional and arguably did not specifically aid the development of a community. Communication in its crudest text chat form however facilitates social interaction to a degree, but limited the complexity of social expression. Large cohesive communities are therefore less likely to occur in such environments. User numbers were also not particularly large at the time, due to the limited internet use in the 1980’s. As such these early communities represent small, niche competition, which is decreasing with the entry of more socially advanced communities. Never-the-less their introduction was the key to future market development.

Engagement and increased social interaction is seen as the key to facilitating the development of communities online. Building the tools to meet the specific aims of the audience is important for them to be valued and adopted in social interaction. The evolution of adding social functionality certainly began during the infancy of the World Wide Web and online communities (in MOOs for example). The market has since developed to offering a wealth of social interaction tools and complex forms of self-expression that can be seen today. A contemporary example of this is how Habbo has adopted personal profiles also found in social networks like MySpace. As this offers an additional level of social interaction, members have the potential to further express themselves and build bonds with the community. Based on the above analysis this is the key area for market development and needs communicating to the market.

As these social elements play such an important role in community development, their increasing prevalence, especially in MMOSGs has certainly increased the competitiveness of this market seen today. With their focus on developing a community and the social interaction to facilitate this, the MMOSG market represents the greatest competition to have entered the online community market. This is particularly pertinent for Habbo, who also is positioned as an MMOSG and thus needs to continue developing relevant and appealing social interaction to stay competitive.