Reality Check

Consumer behaviorists have known for a while that we’re far from rational when it comes to buyer behavior.  It’s now a well-observed fact that emotional appeals affect our choices more than logical ones. That’s because we’re often not just buying a product- but instead we’re buying an idea.   A few classes into my fairly orthodox marketing education here at WFU, I learned to accept the occasionally counter-intuitive nature of consumer science.  I’ve embraced raising prices or inciting a scarcity mentality, and I can’t wait to exploit such irrationalities one day in my career.  But finally it had to happen- I met my Waterloo of reason a couple of years ago when I heard about Second Life.

Ever since I first heard about Second Life’s product, a fake virtual life that consumers are actually spending real money on, I was fascinated.   How could someone consume without benefitting or perceiving benefit for themselves?   Well, maybe they do find value in having a second life- real life can be underwhelming for us all at times.  There must be some reason why consumer demand for a fake life exists for a small percentage of individuals.  People buy drugs to escape real life, how is buying a fake life so different?  Well drugs incite real sensations and perceptions that add *perceived* value to one’s life.  So then logic led me to hesitantly decide that Second Life must similarly incite real value-adding perceptions.

So, if all laws of consumerism have maintained the same, Second Life offers customers value.  Users have to perceive that their happiness increases (even for just 2 hours) by using this product or they wouldn’t buy it- a hedonistic behavior, but reasonable to some.  But what if something has changed?  We could possibly trace such a change back to when virtual reality games like WoW rose to prevalence.  People began investing heavily, in time and money, to make choices dictating a life that wasn’t their own.  Sure, they could gain power, happiness, romance, or fulfill any other motivational drive, but for an avatar- not themselves.  This means people aren’t just hedonically consuming like Charlie Sheen on coke or me when I watch Cruel Intentions for the hundredth time.  But instead they are pursuing human drives vicariously, or in the context of the times, virtually.  Is this a new way to consume we hadn’t seen before?

Maybe, maybe not.  But creating value in a virtual world by consuming digital content is definitely a change from textbook buyer behavior norms.   Lines are being blurred between reality and virtual reality, setting the stage for very bizarre social change.  As marketers, we need to reassess human perception.  We understand the basics of why a buyer perceives value.  But can we truly apply these basics when humans are now engaged in a new reality- a virtual reality?  I assert that human psychology is the same and consumers are still influenced by the same psychological drives.  In that vein, consumer behavior is the same in nature, but takes a new course when a new channel presents itself.      

Emily McGraw is a BEM major with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Art History at Wake Forest University