Sunday, March 28, 2004
Posted by Peggy
1:06 PM
STIFLING SELF-EXPRESSION:
SUCCESS FACTOR FOR AVATAR BUSINESS?
Colorful avatars are proving to be big business, if South Korea's numbers are anything to go by. Approximately 3.6 million Koreans regularly buy digital accessories for the little cartoon icons that serve as their proxies in the world of online gaming.
This popular way to online self-expression and escapism saw the Korean avatar game market grow ten-fold - from US$17.1 million in 2001 to US$171 million in 2003.
This begs the question: Why hasn't the attractiveness of virtual people taken off in other countries? Perhaps there are peculiarities of the Korean market that, when combined, are difficult to mimic?
For starters, South Korea is a very advanced nation in its use of technology. It is also a gadget-happy, if not 'consumerism-plagued', society. Finally it has a culture that limits self-expression in the real world.
But 'difficult to mimic' doesn't mean 'impossible to mimic'. Consider the above factors and what we have is a rather promising picture for those who want to get their hands on the China avatar market.
As Chinese citizens acquire more spending power (read: increased consumerism) and embrace IT as a way of life (read: technologically advanced), what's not going to change as quickly is the Confucian mindset that is so firmly entrenched in the Chinese culture. Unlike in the US, where individual expression offline is not an issue, Confucianism in China discourages self-expression.
Smacks of the combination of factors that make avatars popular in Korea? You bet!
(Avatar services: Hmmm... it may be time to look further north.)
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