Advertisement in gaming.

[RADiator]

Ok, since it’s been basically all around the web lately I would like to hear what you guys have to say about the issue. So the question is, what do you think about advertisement in gaming? What is the degree of advertising appropriate for a computer game? What kind of advertising is fit? And if advertising means price drop would it be justified? Let the debates begin.

[RAY16]

I don't mind as long as it doesn't interrupt my game playing, isn't on the loading screen, and fits the mood of the game.

Like it would be cool to see real ads in Splinter Cell since it takes place in a modern times and there are missions were you are in a city. I wouldn't mind seeing some real billboards and soda machines.

[Chimera[NL]]

Yeah but the minute they have my game connect to a server who reads my cookies and gives me ads with info from those cookies I think they crossed a line. Not saying this is happening but I'm just saying I wouldn't want it that way.


OMGWTFBBQ_03o_O_cracked__Linkage.rar (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3727044.stm)

[RADiator]

That’s what I was thinking as well RAY, but my guess is that they will be using the menus/loading screens as the main advertisement target. In-game you have to find advertisement (as if you really would be looking for it), on the loading screen the advertisement finds you.

[Chimera[NL]]

Originally posted by RADiator on the loading screen the advertisement finds you.

In Mother Russia, advertisement finds you!



hihi, sorry.

[RADiator]

Sorry for what? My post was made in such a way intentionally. Yakov Smirnoff is great.

[Phobo]

I'm with RAY here.

[Downfall]

im thinkin that it would work well im games like GTA..they could use real advertizing on the in game bilboards and such and code it so that it changes ocasionaly. And I would guess that missions that have to go by certain areas those advertizers would pay a bit more to get their ads placed so that the person o nthe mission would have a hard time not noticing it.

[NiteX]

I think it would be very fucking stupid. Unless its only in sports games, which I usually never play so therefore I would never see them and wouldnt be bothered.

[Yian]

It would be a great marketing strategy. Imagine Coca-Cola bought the advertisement rights to a game, and all the soda machine in the game sells only Coca-cola products. Game character can also wear certain brands of clothes, and game companies can make a buck out of them!

Just like How The 5th Element has MacDonalds in it. It was actually very fun. But if the advertisement is just a poster slap to the wall like fucking Enter the Matrix, that is lame.

[fatBastard();]

Well, I for one hate advertisement/commercials with a passion. In fact I've stopped watching television all together and have started taping the few programs I wish to see so that I can fast forward past the commercials (Tivo like products have only just recently become available/affordable where I live so I haven't acquired one yet).

If they could limit the use of advertisement to situations where they made sense (like a real brand beverage machine instead of an imaginary one) or posters/billboards then I guess I COULD tolerate it ... but knowing how capitalism works I would say that the odds of that is somewhere around a trilion:1 and if gaming advertisement becomes a success we can expect to see concrete vehicle barriers plastered with posters advertising for cell phones next time we try to make landfall on Omaha beach and similar nightmares.

I have yet to see a single example of anything related to advertisement be able to maintain a low profile if it becomes a success. Product placement in movies has indeed been around for a while but they are becoming more and more obvious and if it wasn't because I needed to kill some time that night I would have walked out on "I, Robot" due to the disgustingly forced product placement (that was a friggin' disgrace and will forever make me think less of Will Smith for participating in such crap).

Oh well, as long a people are stupid enough to respond to the moronic commecials, we'll continue to see more of them everywhere we look and I really don't believe the shopping arcade scene in "Minority Report" is far away ... *sigh* Curse the stupidity of Man :(

[WhoGivesARatsAss]

I love EA adds of EA games in EA games.

[amirin]

ads in games is another one of corporate bullshit.
I dont care cos does it affect the game's price?

[LynX]

if u only need to pay $5 for a game with some advertising in it, i won't really mind.

[RADiator]

Originally posted by LynX
if u only need to pay $5 for a game with some advertising in it, i won't really mind. I hope that day never comes. Why? Under a cost of 5$, a little advertising would be a terrible understatement.

[Chimera[NL]]

Originally posted by RADiator
I hope that day never comes. Why? Under a cost of 5$, a little advertising would be a terrible understatement.

Ok, the 25 bucks and ads. I wouldn't mind. I think. Maybe it would persuade me to stop doing the ISO thing and actually buy titles. I mean nowadays, noway I'm paying like 80E for a game I usually finish within a week.

[LynX]

Some, not little. ;) Or $25 and just a little ads like Chim said.

Games like GTA would be good for that sort of thing, or anything that has city environments.

[amirin]

yeah, the GTA series have alot of potential in term of advertising, but i still dont see any benefit exept 2:
1: Realism (i dont give a shit)
2: Pricing ( Hell yeah i give some shit, i care >.<)

[RADiator]

Originally posted by LynX
Games like GTA would be good for that sort of thing, or anything that has city environments. The whole "in-game immersement" thing. Though it is a sound idea, it will hardly ever happen. Just not beneficial enough for advertiser to make his money worth.

[future man]

Originally posted by fatBastard();
Oh well, as long a people are stupid enough to respond to the moronic commecials, we'll continue to see more of them everywhere we look and I really don't believe the shopping arcade scene in "Minority Report" is far away ... *sigh* Curse the stupidity of Man :(

The day that happens is they day I drop everything and move into the woods.

[TheBob]

What if there were two versions of the game? A free version with ads galore and a not-free version with no ads.

[Bigolli]

Originally posted by TheBob
What if there were two versions of the game? A free version with ads galore and a not-free version with no ads.

I don't think anyone would buy the advertisement copy.

[Chimera[NL]]

Originally posted by Bigolli
I don't think anyone would buy the advertisement copy.

I think they would, and download a crack to remove the ads later on. Haha, good stuff!

[xenophage]

Any one noticed the ads in Nfsu2? (best buy & old spice)

[nineball16]

i say that if it helps in the production of a quality finished product, in order to bring realism to the game (ie. sports), it's better.

imagine a soccer game, NBA, sports or motorracing game without billboards positioned on the field, or with just blank billboards. It would be so boring, dull and unrealistic. The rally games are effectively a means of advertising. without it, you'd be left with stupid team names created by the imagination of what could possibly by a bodgy programmer

[RADiator]

NFS:U2 is not the best game to choose for advertising in my opinion. When you’re going at 150/200 it’s becoming somewhat of a challenge to notice such details of the environment. But I am happy however to see that the advertising is going in the right direction.

[fatBastard();]

Originally posted by nineball16
i say that if it helps in the production of a quality finished product, in order to bring realism to the game (ie. sports), it's better.

imagine a soccer game, NBA, sports or motorracing game without billboards positioned on the field, or with just blank billboards. It would be so boring, dull and unrealistic. The rally games are effectively a means of advertising. without it, you'd be left with stupid team names created by the imagination of what could possibly by a bodgy programmer
Okay, this just makes me want to cry :(

If you wanted proof that the shopping arcade in "Minority Report" is fast approaching then look no further. When sport is no longer "realistic" without being almost drowned in billboards (rolling or stationary/fixed) and artificial product placement (when skiers hurries to take off their skis so they can hold the underside up to the camera before they even know what ranking their run will give them) then you know it has gone too far.

I know all the slick "suits" will tell you that advertisement will give the consumers better and cheaper products but in my experience it NEVER results in cheaper products (and only rarely in better products). Never before has there been so much advertisement in major sport events (e.g. The World Championship in Soccer or the Olympic Games) and never before has television rights to said events been as expensive as they are now. Cheaper my derriere

If advertisement/product placement does indeed gain momentum in the gaming industry there will only be one winner: The publisher (with the developers as potential runner ups if the publishers deign to hand their slaves a little morsel here and there) and one clear cut loser: The consumer. There will be NO price reduction of games whatsoever. That is simply not how Capitalism works.

Mr. Negativity has spoken ;)

[Trustkill]

I dont know, anything to make the game come alive and look more and more like the real world then the more immersive it is.

Then again, I do like when I see developers make their own funny parody products in games.

[TheBob]

Originally posted by Bigolli
I don't think anyone would buy the advertisement copy.

Thats the point. They wouldn't have to. It would be FREE. The one with no ads would cost money.

[Rhenna]

I don't think that many corporations would want to have their logos used in a "violent" video game. While it would add realism, I can't imagine the CEO of Pepsi-Cola, for example, would be too enamored with a bullet-ridden soda machine with their logo on it, in the middle of a blood-stained room filled with dead bodies in, say, Max Payne 3, to use a hypothetical example. I suppose if someone could determine what young males like to munch on and drink while playing games, there might be some benefit to these companies. I would need a Jack Daniels advertisement in my game. (Actually, that hasn't proven to be really necessary.)

True enough, there has been a lot of "advertising" of sorts in the more recent James Bond movies, but I'll bet the house that a corporate attorney had to sign-off on the script as to how that product was used or portrayed.

Most game editors will accept most any graphic that has been converted to that game's texture format. I have several UT maps I put together that have all sorts of "real-life" ads, posters, signs, etc. I wouldn't dare release them on the Web, though, just for that very reason.

[AVataRR]

lawl. those guys are uptight! it's good to know the scourge of commercialism will only be confined to gay games like The Sims, although they're probably going to change their minds just to screw me. those assholes.