Evaluating the Virtual Products for Online Games via the Grey Relational Analysis

Over the past years, researchers and practitioners in marketing fields have seen a dramatic growth of online games. This growth and development also influence players’ behavior and market change of hardware and software companies. This study proposes a model for selecting the optimal virtual products for online games by referring to the views of online players. The proposed model adopts the “modified Delphi method†to find suitable evaluative criteria for virtual products, and then applies the “grey relational analysis (GRA)†to rank the alternatives and select the best virtual products. In addition, the example of a renowned online game, MapleStory, is used to demonstrate the process of virtual products selection using this model. This model provides the online gamer an objective and effective way to select virtual products, and provides suggestions for the manufacturers of online games in regard to developing and improving the virtual products.