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?"

Comments

Interesting Idea

[davidmcn]

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.

Re:Interesting Idea

[zanerock]

Ha! I think you're correct, there is really not much rational for "protesting" per se. It's not really a moral issue... well, maybe in a round about way.

There is something interesting happenning, though. By encouraging people to act a certain way and getting a reward, even if it is in an fake world, it does have consequences in the real world. Here, it's not *so* bad. It might encourage people to get fat (in the real world).

The problem is that a reward is a reward. While buying a virtual hamburger is not the same as buying a rela hamburger, the actions are related. The cause-effect is not direct, but it is real. Studies have shown as much (which I should cite, but I'm at work now and shouldn't take too much of my employer's time... maybe after I get home). McDonald's certainly thinks there's a link, or they would not have made the deal.

What happens is that people get desensitized to the concern's about bad fast food. While this case is rather innocuous, as online games like this get bigger, and attract more people and interest, one must be more aware of the effect. What if they made a deal with the Republicans where you got a better rating by voting Republican? Or, more subtley, whenever a Republican ruled the virtual world, things were great, and when a Democrat was in charge, your pretent economy tanked. Likely few would even notice, and the ones that did would be discounted, but the effects could be very real.

A thousand votes either way...

Uhm...

[Jennifer Ever]

Don't buy the fucking game?

Re:Uhm...

[unicron]

I think the better solution would be to just not give a shit. If you like the game, you can overlook this. I pity the fuckers that think this is the cause for them, like it's some travesty against their fellow man. Choose your battles, indeed.

Goddamn, if this really bothers you, get a life

[stratjakt]

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.

3 Words

[serutan]

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.

Re:Sell out with me oh yeah

[futuresheep]

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.

The game is already out

[DunbarTheInept]

Protesting by not purchasing fails when you can't find out about the thing you object to until after the purchase.

does it work though?

[ryochiji]

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.

Re:Big picture

[NineNine]

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.

We need to put things into perspective here.

[antis0c]

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.

Missing the point.

[RatBastard]

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?