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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?
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!!!!
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.
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
It won't defray the cost of the game though. You'll pay $49.95 for the game at Electronics Boutique, and then the standard recurring monthly fee to play the game. Just like ticket prices for movies don't change according to product placement in the film, there's no defrayal of cost here either.
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'
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.
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.