The on-line gaming industry is quickly becoming as socio-culturally relevant as television, music videos and the silver screen. Here's a glimpse into the ways this industry markets to their end user. Many salient points to be had.

Remember - this market is ripe for cross-promotion and partnerships. As an exercise, think about how your business initiatives can be enhanced by syncing up with this exceedingly hot industry. If you can't think of one - go get another cup of coffee and try again!

·Word of mouth is more important than ever: The reality of multiplayer gaming is that community is paramount in the world of word-of-mouth rules. Kids will play the games their friends play and, conversely, have little time for those that don't grab a lot of attention. A game will now either fizzle or explode into a 'scene', commanding the attention of others because of its own popularity. This means more emphasis on quality than ever - so it may be a mistake adhering strictly to that Christmas deadline if it means shipping a buggy, lacklustre product. Kids won't give it a second thought.

·Audience savvy: Don't underestimate the skill or sophistication of your players - especially given the fact that a good game will be used or re-used well beyond the teen years. You need a professional game development team - a marketing department cannot do it. Videogames of the early 1980s had a joystick and maybe two or three buttons for control. In any LAN centre today you'll see crowds of teenagers mastering games such as Quake, Counterstrike, and Starcraft that have as many as 30 keys to command during play, spread out over a keyboard- as well as a mouse.

Furthermore, most AAA game titles are now shipped with tutorials or training levels just to bring 'newbie' (novice) players up to par. And this is just to attain a minimum standard: we aren't even taking into account the learning of game strategy. Players are demanding this kind of sophistication now, which is bringing these games into the realm of sport.

·The box: There has been a lot of talk of marketing games exclusively over the Internet, but the good old on-the-shelf box still retains tremendous drawing power. Naturally, you'll need to put pizzazz on the packaging: superior art; a substantial glossy box (with a thick spine - visible if it is sitting on the shelf sideways); an attractive booklet (though it's fine for the interior to be black-and-white). An advantage with 3D graphics is the ability to generate box art using your game's internal graphics (thereby cutting the need for a painter or illustrator).

·Cross-platforming: As games move into mainstream culture they are being treated more and more as franchises. You can look at selling a game as a movie platform; or look at turning a movie or TV show into a game. Beware: just because a game is a hit doesn't mean it will be a hit movie, and vice-versa: both versions need to stand on their own.

·Internet presence: It is mandatory to develop Internet presence. With most multiplayer computer games a web-site goes live coinciding with shipment of the boxed product, to foster the all-important community aspect. The Internet presence of a game will also serve as a community forum, a support base, and a source for add-on and development tool downloads. It remains to be seen what kind of Internet support presence and multiplayer community development console titles will move toward; suffice to say it is par for serious PC game releases.

·Technical standards: Be clear about the technical platform of your game: integrate your release with hardware will be coming while not exceeding the capabilities of what exists, for at least a substantial portion of the audience. For computer games this is mainly about video card capabilities - the latest games are intensely 3D affairs, often allowing players to explore vast worlds in all dimensions. This may be a simpler question with consoles, but again, if you're about to drop a four million dollar budget on a game that will take two years to develop, make sure you're developing it for a foreseeable technical standard two years into the future.