In-game advertisements

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?op...=3028&Itemid=2

A new poll shows that most gamers don't mind in-game advertisements.

Personally, I'm kinda on the fence. If they aren't too distracting, I can live with it. If it gets to the point where it's basically like playing I, Robot vs. The Island: The Game, then they need to stop. I got sick of seeing ads for the same fucking EA games over and over again while playing Burnout 3, that's for sure.

What's unfortunate is that due to the rising cost of making games for 360 and PS3, developers are going to have no choice to resort to using ads to help pay for the game. It's sad. Games are going the way of blockbuster movies - shit-filled ad-ridden rehashes. How are you supposed to escape reality for a little while if you're seeing ads for real-life things in the game? My Guitar Hero experience would be dampened if I had to play at the MOUNTAIN DEW XXXTREEEME ARENA everytime I wanted to play a song.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

They are nothing short of disgraceful. Not that GRAW is a good game anyway, but the fact that it takes place like 8 years in the future and it has billboards advertising some Dodge car that is coming out this year is a joke. They don't add to realism, they only add to annoyance.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It depends. When I'm playing Pro Evolution soccer, I can't help but think that contemporary adverts would help the immersion. Same goes for racing games. It's something that has to be handled with delicacy, and only some games can take adverts.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Soluzar

It depends. When I'm playing Pro Evolution soccer, I can't help but think that contemporary adverts would help the immersion. Same goes for racing games. It's something that has to be handled with delicacy, and only some games can take adverts.

Yeah this is the fine like that I tread. I've never played Winning Eleven, but I can only assume a soccer simulator like that would have ads along the edge of the field like in real life. I don't mind ads like that because that caters to the experience.

Anything else is septic tank fodder if you ask me.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I like FAKE in-game advertisements. They are something that I enjoy having in some games when the game spoofs a company with their own world's version of the product.

As for the real advertisements by real companies, I don't really know. Of course, I don't play many games that actually have real company advertisements so I'm sure people like me can't really decide.

But some are suppose to make the game seem more real, right? Like a stadium with Mountain Dew ads in a realistic soccer game.

I was speaking idiomatically.

One of my favorite ads in a video game is Pizza Hut in old TMNT video games for Nintendo.

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I dont mind them as long as they arent completely detracting from teh gameplay (cant think of any examples of this either, just hope it never happens)

If i ever play a game, and it pauses and a McDonalds ad appears on screen; im throwing the game out immediately. If however, im in a driving game, and McDonalds is on a billboard or shop window or something, That's perfectly fine (common sight in many games).

FELIPE NO

I don't mind them for the most part, as long as it's somewhat appropiate for the setting. For example, in a sports game, I don't mind seeing ads in the game arena, cause it's like that in real life too, and it adds some realism.

However, it can get somewhat distracting too. I heard someone complain that on Planetside, there are about 700 places where ads are put up, and these are basically ads for stuff that have nothing to do with the game (I remember seeing a picture where the homebase had a picture for Deuce Bigalow: European Giggolo displayed prominently. It looked really retarded next to the guy standing with a gun lol).

I think that what they should do is be more creative with those ads. For example, if it's in a sci-fi shooter, instead of simply showing a current, real life modern day advertisement (like a picture of those fanta girls for example, in a fanta ad), they should replace it with characters from the game posing for the ad.

For example, lets say you're in a sci-fi FPS game, running through a ruined city. As you walk through, you'll see worn out (but still visible) posters for fanta, or a ruined billboard that looks like its a few decades into decay with a "current" brand name item, like a Lexus car or something.

Doing something like that, while it would take more work, would make it more acceptable overall, as it's a little more subtle, but adds to the realism, and probably won't ruin the game too much for most people.

On the other hand, if it's a fantasy setting, I don't think what I suggested would work too well (unless those ads pop up during a loading screen, although I'd imagine that'd get old after a while).

In short, I think it's probably inevitable that we'll start seeing ads in games. Again, I just hope that they make it subtle and try to fit those ads into the overall mood of the game, or gamers will probably be mad that the game companies are selling out (esp. if the game still costs an arm and a leg to buy).

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Originally Posted by sprouticus

Yeah this is the fine like that I tread. I've never played Winning Eleven, but I can only assume a soccer simulator like that would have ads along the edge of the field like in real life. I don't mind ads like that because that caters to the experience.

Anything else is septic tank fodder if you ask me.

Yep. I just don't see how you can fit adverts into anything with a fantasy/sci-fi/historical/etc setting without wrecking immersion. Unless it's Coke. You could probably advertise Coke in a futuristic game, because Coke will certainly be around forever.

Originally Posted by Gecko3

For example, lets say you're in a sci-fi FPS game, running through a ruined city. As you walk through, you'll see worn out (but still visible) posters for fanta, or a ruined billboard that looks like its a few decades into decay with a "current" brand name item, like a Lexus car or something.

Doing something like that, while it would take more work, would make it more acceptable overall, as it's a little more subtle, but adds to the realism, and probably won't ruin the game too much for most people.

That's not in the least bit acceptable to the company placing the advert though. They want their product to be promninently visible. Unless you're seeing that ruined billboard every 15 minutes, then how is it going to have any effect on you?

The whole concept of advertising in games is basically flawed for the simple reason that if some advert pops up in the middle of Final Fantasy XV (or whatever) then it would make me much less likely to buy the product. Even if it's something that I would otherwise buy, after that experience, I'd look for an alternative,

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Soluzar

Yep. I just don't see how you can fit adverts into anything with a fantasy/sci-fi/historical/etc setting without wrecking immersion. Unless it's Pepsi. You could probably advertise Coke in a futuristic game, because Pepsi will certainly be around forever.

Changed for correctness

The only way advertising is going to work is the same way it works in movies, TV, and real life - It has to be in our face and for the most part, piss us off.

How ya doing, buddy?

It depends for me as well. In sports games, yeah, I could see advertisements popping up in those and I wouldn't mind. Or if the game has subtle "advertisements" for other games made by the same company, I often find those amusing. It would, for me, depend on what was being advertised. I'm personally not a Pepsi fan nor a Coke fan. (Dr. Pepper FTW, baby. ) But I agree, just about any blatant advertisement that poses a big distraction can prove annoying.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Many sports games I've played had some advertising, but it seemed appropriate since real games on television show similar signs. If I remember correctly, one of the Metal Gear Solid games advertised FHM magazine.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I don't mind, sometimes it makes the world you play in more real, like the Japanese version of SHENMUE with those 7up and Coca-Cola drinks.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I honestly don't care. So long as it doesn't interfere with the game itself, it's fine.

I found it more hilarious than annoying driving by 6 Best Buys every couple of blocks in the city of Need for Speed Underground 2.

EA really has no excuse, but if a smaller game development company needed to put in ads to get their project off the ground, I'd actually encourage it. We all browse GFF even with the Google ad on the bottom of each page. If it's helping the cause and it's unobtrusive like the ads on this board, then go ahead.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I remember watching my friend boot up a PC game that showed random advertisements each time it was booted up. It was probably an EA game. These are the things I don't like. I think it's rather cool though when a game advertises another game made by the same developer. Like PSO was in the background of the first boss fight in Sonic Adventure 2.

FELIPE NO

Considering I mute the TV during commercials, use Adblock, and make every effort not to buy DVDs with forced ads tacked onto the beginning?

I hate ads. If a game has them too blatently, I don't want to play it. Simple as that.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

As Sketch said up there, in games like Shenmue, I wouldn't mind it since it brings a sense of realism to the environment. But if i'm playing Sonic Advance on the GBA, I don't want to pass a random billboard in the middle of the jungle showing off an ad for Nike. I don't mind them, but putting ads in games can only go SO far.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Ads are bullshit. There is a razor-thin area of games and genres where ads are tolerable (mind you that I do not say "acceptable" or "desirable"...tolerable), which consists of sports/racing titles, or FPS set in real-world locales (preferably with destructible environments a la Red Faction so I can take a fusion rocket to the billboards). Outside of that, ads are absolutely intolerable, unacceptable, and flat-out wrong. Imagine playing Shadow of the Colossus and seeing Wander wearing Reeboks. NO. Just NO.

If it's a PC game, the solution is easy: sniff packets, figure out where the ads are coming from, and block them at my firewall.

If it's a console game, the store's getting to deal with a pissed-off customer and the game publisher is going to get an earful about exactly why I'm never buying another one of their games again, unless they remove the ads.

Yes, these are asshole responses. But in a media-controlled society where everything is seen as a potential channel for ads, drastic responses are almost necessary.

There's nowhere I can't reach.