Slashdot Mirror
Organizing Sim Protests
Shadow Wrought writes "Alternet has an article about how to go about protesting McDonald's in the Sims Online universe. According to the story "A deal struck between Sims publisher Electronic Arts and the fastfood mega-corporation allows Sims players to open up their own McDonald's kiosk and improve their game stats by consuming McD's greasy goodies." This then tells how to vent any rage that such may conjure. Mayhaps a venue to protest other issues as well?"
Like staying at home playing games.
To think, we've moved into a society that has a need to protest virtual issues online. Even more interesting is that sometimes people seem more interested in these virtual issues than the ones that actually plaque society.
Memories become legend, Legend fades to myth, and even myth is forgotten by the time that age comes again.-Robert Jordan
Don't buy the fucking game?
I for one, am willing to have a little bit of product placement in my video games to defray the cost. It's better than pop-up ads. Anyway, of course eating McDonalds is going to increase your stats. Anything that bad for you has to taste good, right?
Seriously.
"Giant megacoroprations are adversely affecting the quality of life for my imaginary computer friends!"
This aint no posterchild for mental health and social skills.
There are enough injustices in the world worthy of protest, we don't need virtual ones.
EA's selling, McD's buying. Get over it.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
But, if you are this concerned about your SIMS stats, maybe you need to quit watching simulated people with lives and get one yourself.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
It's.
A.
Game.
I agree 100% that this type of product placement is a sad sign. But it's EA's game, and if they want to ruin it by giving points for hitting yourself on the head with a duck, well, either get a duck or spend your gaming budget somewhere else.
Now Maxis can market a new expansion pack to add black-shirted anarchists and French nationalists to the Sims. Co-option ho!
- - - Patent applied for and deliver us from evil
This is probably only the beginning.
... so I gave up on the idea.
At one point in time, I was consdiering creating a "real world" game, similar to everquest in terms of graphics and game style, but using modern weapons instead of old style weapons. The ctach was this: I was hoping to drum up enough advertising revenue from companies, such as McDonalds, but placing their companies in the game. The hope was to defeat everquest by reducing or eliminating the monthly service fee for playing the game with advertsing dollars.
Of course, then I realized the McD's probably wouldn't like people blowing up their buildings with a rocket launcher
But give it a little more time. I'm sure a game, like the one I just vaguely described, will exist before soon.
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
Protesting by not purchasing fails when you can't find out about the thing you object to until after the purchase.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
I don't play games (much less Sims) so I don't know, but I wonder how effective "virtual protests" are. One of the things that makes a physical protest effective is that, well, it's physical. If you fill up downtown Washington with people, somebody's bound to notice (even politicians). But when people congregate online, who really notices?
I also wonder about the effectiveness of email campains (i.e. when we send email to our 'representatives'). I have a feeling that a fax machine spewing messages is a lot more noticeable than a full mailbox.
So, yeah, it is interesting. But what interests me more is whether or not it works at all.
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Open Source Shirts
I am constantly amazed by the stuff people will get their panties in a bunch over.
I've seen a lot of /.ers already talking about not buying the game, not playing the game, etc. The problem I have with this philosophy is that it's like wrapping your face in a towel, figuring that if the problem sees that you can't see it, it won't be able to see you, and will therefore go away. THIS DOESN'T WORK
Well, what does work, Mr. Wizard?
Call me nuts, but I'd think that a company seeing a significant drop in sales would take a step back and ask themselves, "Dear sweet christ on a pony!! Why has revenue dropped through the floor? We're all gonna get fired and live on the streets and forced to kill and eat each other! aaahh!". Well, maybe it wouldn't go quite like that, but what effects a company more than profits? Since companies exist to make profits, what could be more effective? Don't like it, don't buy it. If you want to go a step further and tell them why, even better.
It's been reported that eating virtual McDonald's hamburgers will positively affect your "Fun" and "Hunger" game stats. But what if you're a vegetarian? What if you're an eco-activist? What if you think it's more Fun dining at Biff's Family Restaurant? Although the game hasn't hit the stores yet, the free public beta is open. The time to act is now. Log in, Revolutionary, and fight the good fight:
What. The. Hell.
Seriously. What if you're a vegetarian? What?? Ok. I'm morally opposed to murdering people, but I don't have a problem with Quake 3, GTA3, Hitman 2, Dead to Rights. Heck I even enjoy playing those games. Why? It's a damn video game, and it's not real.
With EA touting such egalitarian rhetoric, it follows to reason that freedom of speech is as alive in The Sims Online as it is in the real world. Test this theory by standing up and shouting for what you believe in, my Revolutionaries! If the thought of being force-fed Big Macs makes you sick, you'd better start giving this advertising model a serious case of indigestion.
Alright. First off it says you have the option of opening up a McDonalds. Let me guess to, you also have the option of eating at said McDonalds. Seems like real life to me. No where does it say you have to open a McDonalds and have to eat at them. McDonalds just happens to be the only company EA made a deal with to use their image in the game. I wouldn't be surprised if in future Sim games we see Burger King, Chick-Fil-A, TGI Fridays, Bennigans, all those places. So what the hell is the problem?
And dare I say it, some people like McDonalds. I like the occastional French Fry from McDonalds or the occastional Quarter Pounder with cheese. I don't live off the stuff, I don't consider it high quality food. It's funny how these guys go on to say how we all hate McDonalds, and how we all 'know' McDonalds food is terrible, yet somehow, McDonalds continues to be the worlds largest fast food chain.
Then we get the people who believe McDonalds and other fast food places are the cause of obsesity in the world. I'm no underwear model myself, but seriously, Ronald McDonald didn't come to my house and force feed me Big Macs until I couldn't see my feet anymore. There are no bad foods, there are only food abuses. But I digress. The point is, it's a video game people. A video game simulating every day life. McDonalds for many people, is a part of every day life. So are other things. I don't think EA can afford to pay all the popular fast food places to use their likeness in the game, nor do they have the time to program the game to handle them all.
Seriously. Repeat after me. It's a video game, it's not real.
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
Would you like to play a nice game of chess?
It is to be noted that McDonald's profits have dropped from 12 billion pounds (24 billion American) to 7 billion pounds (14 billion american) worldwide this past year. Activists and protesters are considering this a good sign and it shows that "McFilth" is becoming less popular. I think MCDonalds is becoming concerned, thus the reason for advertising in this unusual way. Will it help McDonalds? Probobly not. But if the players of The Sims decide to raise a stink, then the developers will take a second look at what companies they want to be asociated with.
It was pointed out much earlier but basically ignored so I'll restate. This is not simply insertion of some McD visuals into the game. It's building in reward (and by lack of rewarded behaviour, punishment) in a game that simulates modern life. I'm glad the article was posted here because until then I didn't really get the objection. Yeah, more product placement. Whatever. I don't play that Sim stuff, myself. But consider the (probably) hundreds of hours spent in the game where players take seriously the rewards and punishments dished out within. Don't bother just dissing that expenditure of time. Instead -- try understanding the effects! If we get influenced by a brief flash of one brand or another in a film (and the stats say we do), then how much more real-world influence comes when you condition behaviours to those products over hundreds of hours? Also, the article's point about the absence of an ability to protest something that IS protested in the real world makes sense to me. Only because it's a virtual community -- real people interacting. All of you would get in an uproar if they started some heavy censorship on slashdot, yet it's not the "real world" by any stretch. But silencing dissent on another virtual community -- the Sims -- is ok? For a community (slashdot) devoted to stretching our brains a little, let's question a few assumptions, people! All you guys do is dis!
Despite the whining of the Naderites and the less-than-admirable ethics displayed by McDonalds, the primary cause of the injury was the plantiff's stupidity. IMHO, no matter what some other entity does to "help" an injury, if the "victim" does something idiotic, no compensation should be due.
Common sense tells me that coffee is hot, so I keep it away from my naughty bits, just as I keep gasoline away from the fireplace, or bleach away from my skin. I don't need a "keep accelerants away from the fire!" sign in 2 inch high orange letters on my fireplace to do the smart thing.
There should be no compensation for boneheaded actions.
Protesting by not purchasing fails when you can't find out about the thing you object to until after the purchase.
Yeah, well it's $10 a month for Sims Online, where the protests are supposed to be happening. These people could get a (real, not sim) life, and stop shelling out $10 a month.
"And like that
All you people who are saying, "If this bothers you then get a life." are missing a major point. Protesting in a virtual enviroment is fun! McDonalds has become a player in the game and players are treating it the same way they treat monsters in other games, as a villain.
I think this is a really significant case study in how people behave in virtual enviroments. There are people in the Sims Online who are protesting McDonalds who never would in real life. People are expressing their feelings about McDonalds that they never could in real life due to pesky laws about vandalism and such.
Many of you are missing the point. The point is that if this goes over and no one objects then soon all of our games will be stuffed with ads and product placements. Do yuo really want to be killing imps in Nike shoes? Nazi soldiers lobbing grenades painted like Pepsi cans? Imperial storm troopers in Tommy Hifliger (SP?) pants? Penguins in Victoria's Secret lingerie (wait, I retract that last one, some of you might!)?
At what point do we say enough is enough? Are we so inundated by advertisements that we can't even see them anymore?
Where I live billboards are banned. They do not exist. Every time I go to California I am reminded of the unholy blight those damned things are. Games have been one of teh few types of entertainment I've been able to get away from the pervasive flood of advertisements and I'm resentful that these people are trying to take that away from me.
To those of you willing to put up with ads to keep the cost down I ask this: How far are you willing to let them go? Do any of you rememebr the album bu Zig Zig Sputnik (sp?) with commercials between the tracks? Is that what you want the world to be reduced to: every possible medium to be exploited by advertising? How much spam would you be willing to put up with to keep the cost of your email down?
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
How is this insightfull??? Go ahead, read the document. It just says she was in a lot of pain and the lawyers at McDonalds still wouldn't admit it was their fault.... because it wasn't. What did she expect? Cold coffee? Did she want someone to say "watch it, the coffee is hot!". Of course it is! Its legal crap like this that makes the world so complicated.
People are getting upset because the game (which is supposed to simulate "real" life, sorta) is becoming more real by having corporate presences? Just imagine how up in arms people would be if some group wanted to protest the game because it depicted sex acts ("there is just no need for such things to be in a game, it cheapens it and you never know where it's going to lead. Next thing you know they'll be having Sim kids and worse Sim Abortions, STOP THE KILLING OF UNBORN SIMS") followed of course by ("My Bits, My Choice!")
Well thank the good Lord for that! Now that your kids are eating Whoppers and Big Bacon Cheeseburgers instead of Quarter Pounders and Big Macs, they've no doubt postponed their first heart attacks until well into their 30s! Congratulations!
Why shouldn't people voice their opinion -
you just voiced yours (about getting a job,
blablabla). Put up or shut up.
Considered harmful.
So people are protesting EA's "selling out" of The Sims by... playing The Sims. Sounds effective.
It's probably been mentioned, but the Pepsi machine, complete with Pepsi products is already in the game. Why are you getting all upset now?
No Zen is good zen
The Starbucks suits so far have been settled out of court. Given the damages that some juries hand out, this is definitely a good idea.
To the Chicken Littles on this issue, where were you when ads were placed in Pole Position? Where's the outrage in the fact that Gran Turismo is simply a advertising tool of auto manufacturers? Where are the boycotts of 7-Up for creating the Spot game? Should I stop buying Madden 2K3 because both John Madden and the NFL endorses the product? Should I protest that Tony Hawk 4 features brand name skateboards and products?
I don't see anyone complaining that some video games use cheat codes of brand name products. Has the gaming experience diminished from having "Winners don't do drugs" on arcade games? Seriously, has all this really tarnished your video game experience? The reality is that most of you don't even give all the product placements that are already inside the game a second thought.
Wrapping a towel around your head and hoping the problem goes away will not work, ever.
However, not purchasing a video game due to intrusive advertising will work. The ads alone won't pay the bills, so I doubt the company will go that route again. Besides, what advertiser would want to have their ad be the one that pops up and annoys the crap out of some poor gamer? Or, better yet, what advertiser will want to buy ad space once they see that no one buys a game loaded with ads?
Non-intrusive advertising is fine. "Oh, here's a McDonalds in The Sims Online, neato. BTW, your monthly subscription fee is so conviniently low now because McDonalds pays for part of it." If a game brought me to the last level and showed me an ad before allowing me to fight the final boss or what have you, I would return it to the store. If the store wouldnt take it, I'd mail it back the manufacturer with a note demanding a refund. (Well, I'd probably call them first...)
I dont' think that game developers themselves would like a game with intrusive ads like that in it, and therefore realize it wouldnt' entertain their customers much, either.
(Just you wait, Sims online will get rid of the McDonalds thing, and the price will climb up. And everyone will complain about the high price. Be careful what you wish, you just might get it.)
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Here's an idea... Don't play the game. Nothing speaks louder than your wallet.
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