Business marketing game for students. Role-playing games. Strategic business game. Examples for students

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What is marketing?

A question that torments many inquisitive minds. Every more or less well-deserved marketer considers it his duty to come up with his own definition of what marketing is. Its official designations - marketing - are more than 500 pieces, unofficial - more than 2000.

But one of the best is the definition given by the "father" of theoretical marketing, Philip Kotler:

“Marketing is the art and science of choosing your market properly, attracting, retaining and growing customers by creating confidence in customers that they represent the highest value for the company”

This definition is the essence of marketing in its classical sense. The art of making the consumer feel that he is really important. Understand that it is the consumer who is at the head of the marketing chain. And to be able to create in his mind that very notorious value. Which, by the way, may not exist anywhere except his consciousness.

But the world is changing. It changes at an astonishing rate. A different rhythm of life, different habits, universal globalization, increased decision-making speed in the face of an almost limitless choice of options - all this leads to the fact that the consumer is no longer “not the same as before” (old grunting is heard in the background). And our market, the gaming one, is subject to constant change more than many others! New trends, gaming hardware that allows you to realize what seemed unrealizable just a year ago, thousands of games entering the market every day - we are rushing forward at such a speed that sometimes we manage to run somewhere before we understand why we ran at all. And game marketing is constantly changing- solutions that worked great a few years ago are now losing to their today's counterparts. New marketing channels, limitless analytics possibilities, traffic buying, influencers that have grown out of nowhere, and social media dominance are what marketing is working with today. But it is possible that tomorrow this will not be enough again. After all, consumers keep changing.

The market is expanding day by day. The possibilities (and desires) of the players have grown. Even 8-10 years ago, the choice of platform was decisive, players were practically called upon to “make a choice” between one or another game. And now, according to heartless statistics, the majority plays on two or three platforms. It's okay to play MMOPRGs on PC, play match-3 on your way to work, and feed the pigs on your farm in the office instead of preparing a presentation for a client.

And what we have at the moment:

Huge audience, unevenly divided between platforms
Different values important to players depending on the platform
Fierce competition (especially in the Mobile/PC segments)
High development cost (Console)
Limited time/money resources of the player
High degree of saturation

Competition on all platforms(as well as competition between platforms) has increased. There are more games, and less attention of users. If earlier the player was ready to somehow put up with a not the most convenient interface, understand the rules and overcome game difficulties, then today, if the game does not “hook” for 10-15 minutes, then it will not get a second chance.

And all this, willy-nilly, should be taken into account and regulated by who? That's right, the same marketers who are hated by game designers and disliked by producers.

And marketing is changing – as it has been changing along with the market all the time.

Brief excursion into history: some 8 years ago, both the market and marketing looked completely different than now.

The developers focused on the quality of the product
Actively invested in the development of gaming franchises
No F2P, just hardcore!
The game was released on 1-2 platforms
And it was highly dependent on the physical presence of the goods on the market

Yes, at one time it was important not only to make a game and provide it with decent marketing, but also to physically deliver it to all stores on time. And the presence of Steam activation in the regions of our country was generally considered an extremely harmful factor for sales, because the general Internetization was just beginning then.

And marketing at that time was very different:

Long marketing cycle (from the moment the game was announced to the release, it often took more than three years)
Traditional promotion channels (mainly specialized resources, including print media)
The high role of PR (well, how else to keep the audience in suspense for three years?)
The importance of designing the point of sale of the game
The huge role of franchises and brand awareness

As a rule, the marketing cycle ended in a month or two after the release of the game. And the main goal was to sell the coveted box of discs to a happy player.
And it was, and it was good. Until someone came up with the idea of F2P.

The market shuddered, and the usual model of work began to crack and crumble before our eyes. Because F2P was based on a completely different money making model! The game was given to the user for free - and then the main task was "Take" money out of it for in-game goodies and bonuses. It fundamentally changed the whole approach to marketing. similar games. In addition, a huge audience, who had not played before, decided to “try” - they still don’t ask for money! I tried it and she liked it. And she had to work with her too.

And marketing has changed:

- Marketing began to count and analyze everything that happens
- The main channels are digital. Traditional media began to yield in a number of indicators
- Efficiency began to be evaluated in what it should: the amount of money earned / attracted users
- The concept of "consumer" has become fractional - "player", "donor", "subscriber", "social worker", etc.
- We learned new words: "monetization", CPI, LTV, and other reengagement, attribution ...

All this has become extremely popular when working with new platforms - browser-based, social games, and those who began to gain weight with mobile games. Especially with the latest! Because by this point:

- Technologies made it possible to provide a fairly acceptable picture with the available system resources
- The cost of smartphones has become low enough that many people can afford them
- There are unified platforms for games on mobile devices (Appstore, Google Play)

And the market has evolved again.

The activation of mobile development has brought us:

A huge new audience of people who have never played AT ALL before (“snake” and “minesweeper” do not count)
A sharp increase in the number of developers for mobile platforms
New game mechanics

And for marketing, the era has finally come performance marketing.

What's this? In a nutshell (okay, a little more than two):

Result-oriented marketing - increasing sales.
A distinctive feature: the ability to see a specific quantitative indicator at all stages of work, which will reflect the result of the work of each individual marketing area.
Based on clearly and unambiguously measurable parameters.
Constantly analyzes received traffic
Main metrics: ROI, ROMI, CPA, CPI, CR, СTR, LTV and other scary words

In fact, this is a set of channels and tools that cover the entire digital, providing an opportunity to make placements effective in terms of indicators that are as close as possible to the business goals of clients.

It was at this point that the concept of “buying traffic” appeared in game marketing. This allowed a huge number of people to be attracted to the games - but also lowered the quality bar for the games being developed. It probably couldn't be otherwise.

Judge for Yourself: New Market ( mobile games), with a low entry price, a fairly budget (at first) cost of an attracted player - and an audience that is not yet satiated! The speed of development and the number of games began to prevail over quality. And the market really made it possible to earn money even on projects of extremely average quality.

That is why we have the following market picture today:

The focus has shifted towards the audience, not the product.
New channels of promotion have appeared: social networks, bloggers/youtubers, "viral" distribution, etc.
New methods for calculating / evaluating effectiveness: LTV, ROI, СPI - F2P forced to change the whole approach to evaluating the effectiveness of certain solutions
"Buying traffic" has become the most effective method of promoting products - traditional marketing has "lost ground"
New timeframes - product promotions start shortly before release, the marketing cycle has become much shorter
The abundance of clones and games of the same type - development is based on the principle of "copy what we earn"

But will this model continue to work just as effectively? Is not a fact. Already now, for example, in the mobile market there is an extremely unpleasant situation for many developers: CPI is getting bigger than LTV. Simply put, attracting one new user costs more than the income from him for all the time that he plays. Traffic has become more expensive (and is not going to stop in its rise in price), but getting people to stay in their game longer and pay more actively is getting worse. This has not yet affected the recognized market leaders, but small and medium-sized developers are already sounding the alarm. Looks like we're ripe for another market change?

Here's what Sergey thinks the marketing of tomorrow's games will look like:

There is nothing special to rejoice at: it will not become easier and easier to work in this market. Traffic will continue to rise in price (and why not, if there is still demand?), And the threshold for entering the market for the "middle peasants" will continue to grow. One way or another, those who refuse to die will be forced to focus on those aspects of their games that are frankly neglected today:

Focus on the product

The future belongs to high-quality, interesting projects for people (Your Captain is with you again, yes. But if you knew how many developers ignore this simple and seemingly well-known statement)
Copying successful competitors will no longer work. The Clone War must end. (We are all adults and we are well aware that individual solutions, original finds and well-proven schemes will be shamelessly used by everyone around - this is normal, why reinvent the wheel if someone has already worked hard before you. But "tear off a blueprint" game, changing the graphics and the name will no longer be so profitable.We remind you: our audience is fed up with the same type of projects).
Games for people, not people for games. (Start already making games for your audience - and choose this same audience on initial stage development. And not to make a game “for men 35+”, and then frantically look for someone who would suit it well with the help of test campaigns in MyTarget).
Quality. Originality. Interest. Everything that cannot be bought for traffic and returned with remarketing. (Give it up - you can't win the traffic race unless you have a few million dollars hidden in a sock.)

And here marketing can (and should) be actively involved in the work on the game. How? Yes, at least (at least):

Help to identify the audience of the game
Conduct market research
Even at the development stage, start building a community
Work with development to help avoid pissing into the wind syndrome

Working with brands / creating your own brands

The business does not end with the game itself. Look at the sales of Rovio merchandise and licensed products. Check out the Wargaming non-gaming store. And if it seemed to you that this was “fun for large companies”, then look at the merchandise of “Papers, Please” and FTL at the same time. These guys are well aware that you can make money on your project in different ways.

And let your marketing help you with this:

Looking for new channels for brand development
Developing brand strategy and implementing it
Creating a brand image

Building relationships with players

Remember that the audience is not only “paying”, see behind the numbers real people who like (or not yet) your game. Look how RIOT Games implements their marketing - believe me, when they say that they work for the players, they really do it. And judging by the position of League of Legends in the world, this is bearing fruit. Google finally what is Relationship marketing :-)

Use of new, effective marketing channels

New times - new channels of promotion
Streamers/video bloggers are the new media of the new generation. Use it!
If PewDiePie makes games, then why can't game developers make good streams?! But only good ones :-)
Remember the lessons of Tom Sawyer - he was able to turn his punishment into interesting entertainment for others, and even got richer on it!

A business game is an imitation of a real production (management or economic) situation. Creating a simplified workflow model allows each participant in real life, but within the framework of certain rules, play a role, make a decision, take actions.

Business game method

business games(DI) are an effective method of practical training and are used quite widely. They are used as a means of knowledge in management, economics, ecology, medicine and other fields.

Actively used in the world to study the science of management of CI began from the middle of the 20th century. Significant contribution to development gaming technologies brought S.P. Rubinstein, Z. Freud and other scientists.

This method allows you to model an object (organization) or simulate a process (decision making, management cycle). Production and economic situations are associated with subordination to superiors, and organizational and managerial situations with the management of a department, group, employee.

Players can set different goals, to achieve which they use the knowledge of the basics of sociology, economics, and management methods. The results of the game will be related to the degree of achievement of goals and the quality of management.

Classification of business games

CI can be classified in many ways.


Reflection of reality	Real (practice)	Theoretical (abstract)
Difficulty level	Small (one task, small team of players)		"Sea battle", "Auction", "Crossword", "Who knows more", "Presentation"
simulation game	Imitation practice. Participants solve the problem together or individually.	"Ethics of the manager", "Gossip in the company", "How to keep an employee from firing?", "Blackmail"
innovative	Aimed at generating new ideas in a non-standard situation.	Self-organization trainings, brainstorming
strategic	Collective creation of a picture of the future development of the situation.	"Creating a new product", "Entering new markets"

All of the above technologies and examples of business games are interconnected. It is recommended to use them in combination for the effective practical activities of the participants and the achievement of the tasks set.

How to organize a game?

Games are played according to certain rules.

The topics of business games are diverse, but their conditions must be relevant and close to life situation, problem. Players may not have the experience to solve it, but they do have the basic knowledge, imagination, and other abilities.
The end result common to the whole team, the achievement of the goal, the developed solution.
There may be several correct solutions. The ability to look for different ways to solve the problem must be included in the condition.
Participants themselves choose roles and behaviors for the successful solution of the problem. An interesting and rather complex situational task encourages creative search and application of knowledge.

Stages

Preparatory stage. Identification of the problem, choice of topic and definition of tasks. Choosing the type and form of the game, working on a game strategy, preparing materials.
Entry of participants into game situation. Attraction of interest, goal setting, team building, mobilization of participants.
Group or individual work according to established rules or without them.
Conclusions and analysis of the results independently and / or with the involvement of experts.

Conducting a business game can be associated with a large number of stages. During the game, the participants will have to identify the problem, consider and analyze the situation, develop proposals for solving the problem. The discussion of the course of the game and wishes complete the work.

Business game "Production meeting"

In production management, an active business management game is modeled. The example includes the characteristics and scenario of the business game "Production meeting". It is held at the end of the course "Management", when students already have an idea about the principles of management and the role of the production process.

Game participants:

employees of the enterprise (7 people). The meeting is attended by the director, deputy for production, head of the technical department, head of the assembly shop, head of the turning shop, foreman, secretary;
group of experts (10 people).

Locomotive repair or machine-building plant (organization of any profile with an average or small number of employees). Not so long ago, a new director was appointed by the owners of the enterprise. He was introduced to the staff and managers of the plant. The director will hold an operational meeting for the first time.

Game plan "Production meeting"

Business game scenario
Introduction	Introduction. Goals and theme of the game.
game situation	Acquaintance with the situation in the company.
Meeting preparation plan	Distribution of roles (7 employees and 10 experts)
	the leader organizes informing the participants of the game with at the meeting. removal of the director for a while to another office "due to operational" necessity. then the facilitator brings to the participants information about the behavior of employees at the meeting (from the characteristics). Those present at the meeting reacted to the new bosses with skepticism and distrust.


meeting	Director's speech, reaction and questions from superiors.
discussion and collective discussion of issues.	What will be the behavior of the director at the meeting? What can he say or do to establish business contacts with employees? What can he take when summing up the results of the first operational meeting?
Summarizing	Conclusions from experts, from game participants. Self-esteem. Have you achieved your goals, have you achieved your goals?

Role-playing game

Entering a production situation in a certain role is an interesting business game. Examples for students can be very diverse. It is only necessary to connect the imagination.

Role-playing game "Interview". conducts an interview in the form of an interview with the applicant. Vacant position - sales manager. Before the game, the participants read the biography and description of their hero. After studying the documents (10 minutes), the manager begins the interview. When summing up, it is assessed how the boss conducted the interview and interview, analyzed the information in the documents, what decision he made. The applicant evaluates the work of the manager.
Role-playing game "Conflict client". The game is played in pairs. A department head answers an angry customer's phone call. The customer complains about the quality of the goods. It is assessed whether the manager will be able to cope with the conflict situation and build the conversation properly.
Role-playing game "Assessment of the professionalism of an employee." The player, from the position of a leader, evaluates the performance of an employee, using information about the effectiveness of the team's work. Based on the data, he fills out a certification form and prepares for an interview with an employee. Thinks about how to build a conversation, what questions to ask. The role of an employee can be a young specialist, a woman with two children, an advanced employee, and others. As a result, the way the player formulated the questions, highlighted the main thing, is evaluated.

Strategic business game. Examples for students

Strategic game "Knitting factory "Style"". The management of the knitting factory plans to expand sales markets. This requires the production of higher quality and demanded products. In addition, it is planned to launch several new technological lines.

It has long been planned to replace equipment in several workshops. The problem was the lack of financial resources associated with large receivables. What strategy is appropriate in this situation? What can plant management do? Forecast based on table data. Several indicators of financial and economic activity are recommended to be submitted for three years.

Sample management game topics

	Examples of business games
Group discussion	“Making management decisions. Selection of a candidate for the position of director "Organizational culture of college students" "Management cycle in an educational institution"
Role-playing game	"Personnel certification" How to ask for a pay raise? "Telephone Conversations" "Conclusion of a contract"
Emotional activity game	Ethics of business communication. Love affair at work" "Conflict between heads of departments" "Business conversation. Dismissal of an employee" "To handle the stress"
simulation game	"Control Efficiency" "Development of a business plan" "Business letter" "Preparation of the annual report"

Game method and case method

When planning a business game, it is recommended to combine its different forms. The game may contain cases (situations). The case method differs from the method of business games, as it is focused on finding and solving a problem. Examples of business games are related to the development of skills, the formation of skills.

Thus, a case is a model of a certain situation, and a business game is a model of practical activity.

The business game method makes it possible to present management principles and decision-making processes in an accessible way. The main advantage of games is the active participation of the group, the team of players.

What is a business game? The specifics of organizing a business game at a training session at a university. What is the difference between a business game and a training game? An example of three business games in the course "Business communication / Business communications".

business game- this is an imitation of the work process, its modeling, a simplified reproduction of a real production situation. This is a method of consolidating the theoretical material received in the course "Business Communication" / Business Communications.

The main features of a quality business game as a teaching method:

the presence of a problem or problem that needs to be solved;
distribution of roles and role functions;
modeling the process of making managerial decisions;
interaction of game participants;
multi-alternative solutions;
the presence of conflict situations;
the presence of a system for evaluating gaming activities.

Goals of business games:

learning through workflow simulation;
formation of professional mentality;
motivation of students;
training skills in making managerial decisions;
student assessment.

The difference between a business game and training

The game models the entire work process from start to finish (for example, organizing and holding a business meeting), while the training affects a separate aspect of the process (for example, psycholinguistic aspects of business speech).

The game has a time limit (beginning and end), and training does not always have clear boundaries.

In the game, a set of skills is worked out, and the training is aimed at developing one skill.

There are always winners and losers in the game, and training is aimed only at personal indicators.

There is always a specific goal in the game, which can only be achieved with the help of effective solutions, and training does not always have clear goals.

Examples of business games

Business game "Assigning a task to a subordinate."

Purpose of the assignment- hold a business conversation with a subordinate regarding the assignment of a production task:

the task is traditional, planned;
task is extreme, unscheduled.

Preparing for the game. Participate in the game leader and subordinate. The group acts as an observer. The person acting as the manager needs to think through the possible task and select an official (for example, an economist, a fire safety specialist, a fire inspector, etc.) to whom it will be entrusted.

Then you should prepare for the content of a business conversation:

explain the task and instruct the subordinate;
bring the task to the stage of understanding by subordinates of its essence;
to motivate the subordinate to conscientious and high-quality performance of the task.

When bringing the task to the consciousness of the subordinate, the leader must ensure that the subordinate has a clear idea of what, when, how, under what conditions, by what forces and by what means, by what date, with what final results the assigned task must be completed.

During a business conversation, the manager should get answers for the next questions(to make the right decision):

Will this subordinate be able to complete the proposed task?
Does he want to do this job?
What kind of instruction and to what extent does he need it?

The person performing the role of a subordinate (from among the trainees) is given an attitude to refuse to complete the task. Lack of professional competence is used as reasons for refusal. Such an attitude will allow the person acting as a leader to apply psychological, pedagogical and communicative methods of influencing a subordinate, forming his psychological readiness to complete the task. In addition, the recognition of a subordinate in incompetence will provoke the leader to instruct.

Organization of a game lesson

The acting manager conducts a business conversation with a subordinate in two versions: first, a planned task, then an extreme one, that is, an unscheduled one. Each conversation lasts 15 to 20 minutes. The roles of performers can be played by those who wish from among the trainees.

The rest of the participants act as competent judges. Their goal is to analyze the results of a business conversation, briefing and communication techniques used. After the play, a discussion is held in which all participants are involved.

Preliminary preparation for a business conversation - task assignment

Invent and formulate in the form of a management decision the task, as well as the conditions necessary for its implementation.
Set goals for the upcoming conversation.
Make a plan of the conversation in advance, think over the time, place and organizational conditions for it.
Think over the beginning of the conversation, the introduction of the interlocutor into the conversation, the conditions for creating an atmosphere of complete trust.
Prepare questions for the subordinate, the clarification of which will help achieve the goal.

Note: To complete this task, the acting leader is given 10 minutes.

Stroke: invite a subordinate to your place and announce to him the reason for the call.

Explain the meaning of the work to be done to the subordinate and ask him if he can handle it.
Answer all the questions of the subordinate regarding the upcoming work; if necessary, show him how he can do it.
Explain the requirements regarding the timing of this work and inform you about the progress of its implementation.
Ask the subordinate to repeat the task or ask where he is going to start.
Show confidence in the abilities of the subordinate, use the “advanced praise” technique.
Use communication techniques taking into account the psychological type of the subordinate. If the subordinate refuses to complete the task, find out the reasons for the refusal, try to eliminate them, motivate the specialist, taking into account his personal expectations, and bring the conversation to the end.
End the conversation with a specific decision and action.

Table “Conversation quality”

Business game "Meeting"

The purpose of the business game- acquisition of skills in organizing the preparation and holding of business meetings with maximum efficiency.

The order of the business game:

When conducting a business game, the distribution of roles is not made, and the participants are all those present at the lesson.
The leader of the game reminds the participants of the main theoretical provisions for the preparation of business meetings, including the following main groups of actions: planning a meeting; agenda setting; determination of the composition of participants; preparation of participants for the meeting; preparation for the meeting of the head; preparation of the premises; direct meeting.

Exercise

You are the leading construction company in the city of N. Fires at your construction sites have become more frequent this year. This causes enormous damage to the business. Your budget allows you to allocate $30,000 to solve this problem.

Thus, the main task is to develop a plan for resolving the issue, which would ensure normal working conditions for the company.

Work order:

Select 4 students from the group with the assignment to evaluate the actions and behavior of the meeting participants. Appoint one of them as the leader of the expert group.
Form subgroups of participants in the preparation of the meeting (those who prepare documents for the meeting, those who participate in the meeting, those who prepare documents after the meeting).
The rest of the group of students are the participants in the meeting, who should ask questions during the meeting.

If, in the opinion of the facilitator, the goal of the meeting has been achieved, the results of the work are summed up. If a solution fails, you can try to simplify the problem by changing the proposed circumstances. In conclusion, the final decision is formulated and recorded in the form of a resolution.

Business game "Negotiation"

The purpose of the business game- acquisition of business negotiation skills.

Instruction for participant number 1. You are the company "Pozhkontrol" engaged in fire audit, that is, it establishes the degree of compliance of the enterprise with all fire safety standards.

Your client, Aquaexpert LLC, has overdue payment for your services. Two days before the due date, you reminded the director of this company (it is he who is in charge of procurement and gives orders for the transfer of money) that the due date is approaching, he promised to pay the bill. The day of payment came, but the money never arrived, so the next day you decided to personally meet with the debtor.

Aquaexpert is a major client that brings good income, and you don't want to ruin your relationship with him. Regularly opening a new branch, this company is turning to you for services.

Your task: achieve payment for services rendered without spoiling the relationship with the client.

Instruction for participant number 2. You are the director of Aquaexpert LLC. The company "Pozhkontrol" has provided you with a fire audit service with a deferred payment, which is very beneficial for your company. As a rule, you pay your bills on time. But this time you overdue the payment date, although the manager reminded you of the payment two days before the deadline, since you need this amount for staff training. You can pay the bill, but it's not profitable for you. The day after the due date, the director came to meet you.

Your task: to delay the terms of payment for the service as much as possible, without spoiling the relationship.

Stages of the game: stages of negotiation.

Distribution of roles: We conditionally divide the audience into two teams: the Pozhkontrol company and the Aquaexpert LLC company. Participants elect directors, deputies, inspectors, economists, etc. and think through arguments to defend their positions.

Documentation:

Protocol on the distribution of posts.
Letter - a proposal (one contracting party) and a response to it (another contracting party).
Contract.
Acts of work performed.

All documents are filed in a folder and transferred to the expert group.

Evaluation of the actions of the game participants:

Points: for the use of speech etiquette formulas, for the use of professional terms, for the use of speech tactics.

Penalty points: for non-observance of speech etiquette, grammatical errors, speech errors, incorrect question, excessive emotionality, incorrect use of a professional term.

Thus, an effective method of organizing and conducting practical exercises is a business game that awakens the cognitive activity of students, contributes to the formation of independent thinking, forms a professional mentality, terminological culture of future specialists, helps to develop the communicative component of any professional field.

- co-founder of the website portal, associate professor, candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of the department of the Russian language and speech culture of the Academy of the State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia.

Material from the tutorial:

Ermolaeva Zh.E. Official business style of speech: effective communication M., 2014.