Excuse me for, first, assuming unfairly that public relations is a sketchy field; second, for seeing its practitioners as snake oil salespeople; third, for naively thinking my connection to others needs no science—but who has not? Throughout its history, public relations has had its storied ups and downs. President Nixon's terrible Watergate scandal, after all, fielded an army of propagandists up in arms to defend him. Yet, it was Ivy Lee's successful counsel to the wealthy Rockefeller that changed my perspective. Through his guidance, the business baron became sincerely agreeable to his workers and, eventually, to the public's eyes. What differentiates the two outcomes, it turns out, revolves around honesty and candor, not publicity stunts, press agentry, or extensive advertising. I now fully realize that in a world where human interaction has become freer (read: intricate), the study of public relations cannot be an afterthought.
For example, have you ever heard of Palworld? Well, hardly anyone does until it charts itself as the No. 1 game on Stream, transitioning itself from obscurity. Its astronomical rise demonstrates that mass behavior can be engineered.
Palworld's success must be shrewdly calculated. The same thing happened a long time ago when Edward Bernays ingeniously planted the "torches of freedom" image in cigarettes, igniting women to defy social norms just so they could smoke publicly. Bernays, drawing insights from his uncle Sigmund Freud, introduced consent engineering as a means to guide and control the masses through comprehension of their patterns. Indeed, gamers do exhibit some patterns, too. Nintendo gamers appreciate fun gameplay, whereas PlayStation gamers favor narrative-driven games. So, what do Steam gamers like? One may think "everything," but that's not true. Statistics reveal Steam players gravitate toward combat, survival, or craft-building games.
That's just the beginning. Think about how we've lived in a world characterized by wars, layoffs, and lockdowns. For that, players can take refuge in Palworld, which offers a vibrant world of whimsical creatures. Here, they can engage monsters, nurture lives, and build civilizations, essentially combining Steam's top-ranking gameplays into one. Learning that 96% of millennials recognize Pikachu more than President Biden and that The Pokémon Company has been slow to innovate, Palworld features Pokémon-esque aesthetics that further kindle one's subconscious desire to play it. Indeed, upon playing the game, gamers have voiced their longing to play Pokémon à la Palworld.
Figure 1. Palworld's ads resonate with gamers' subconscious longings.
Palworld gamers may believe it's their free will that leads them to play it, while not knowing that the engineering of such consent is a studied field. Palworld's ascent is another example highlighting the importance of mastering strategic communication.