A Gameful Organizational Assimilation Process: Insights from World of Warcraft for Gamification Design

A central process of virtual organization design relates to how newcomers are assimilated into organizational dynamics. Research on organizational assimilation has traditionally investigated “serious” organizational contexts. Nonetheless, video games can offer insights on how such assimilation can be effectively supported. In this article, I propose to look at World of Warcraft (WoW) to understand how individuals can be successfully integrated into online organizations. Through an ethnographic research, made up of participant observation and 36 semi-structured interviews, I explore the role that specific game design elements have in supporting organizational assimilation into WoW raiding guilds. This role is particularly relevant because it shows how designers can elicit extremely engaging organizational dynamics, which encourage players to identify with their organizations. On the basis of the study findings, I also propose some design considerations, as practical implications of the research, to gamify virtual organizations that may present similarities with WoW raiding guilds.