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...

Re:Interesting Idea

[travdaddy]

What if they made a game where you got a better score by shooting people? What happens is that people get densensitized to the concerns about murder. Oh wait, that already happened.

Nevermind.

Re:Interesting Idea

[teamhasnoi]

Or if you elected a Republican, the virtual world would get in SimWW3, you would be SimDrafted and SimKilled. SimWheee!

Uhm...

[Jennifer Ever]

Don't buy the fucking game?

Re:Uhm...

[grub]

WARNING: Your comment "Don't buy the fucking game?" brings common sense into a slashdot discussion. Common sense on slashdot goes against several RFCs.Your karma will be appropriately decimated.

Thank you,

The Editors

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.

Re:Uhm...

[startled]

If you played Everquest, you'd be well aware that half the fun of playing a persistent online game is paying them money while simultaneously complaining about how bad it is.

In fact, some people buy second or third accounts for the sole purpose of being able to say "I'm going to cancel any day now, watch out!" twice or three times as often.

Watch for upcoming world-shattering Sims Online events, such as the mass threatened cancellation following the first anchovie pizza nerf, or the mass threatened pizza making work slowdown when a customer service rep says something that isn't very nice.

Problem Solved.

[cioxx]

A simple workaround would be to go "dine" at the particular McDonalds restaurant, spill virtual coffee on player's lap and sue Maxis for damages.

So?

[onShore_Jake]

I am outraged that they have found a way to keep themselves profitable without charging more. If we don't all get in our comfortable shoes and make protest signs out of recycled cardboard,then the next thing you know we will start seeing animated banners and huge blocky ads on slashdot!

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.

Could we pay to reverse the effects?

[ekrout]

Hear me out.

So, McDonald's wants people to think their food is tasty and fulfilling. We all know that's not true (especially 60 minutes later when you're in the bathroom trying to get their filth out of your digestive system).

I say we organize anti-ad movements to pay the maker of The Sims to add the following code:

if(character.justAte(McDonalds)) {
wait(60, minutes);
character.CrapBrainsOut();
}

They forgot a couple protests...

[Tebriel]

Virtual women burning their virtual bras....oh...wait...it's a family game.

Maybe letting people die of heart attacks in at the kiosks and haunting them?

Alright!

[UncleOzzy]

Just what we need - SimHippies stinking of SimPatchouli with hygeine meters redder than a baboon's ass sitting around in a SimDrumCircle outside SimMcDonald's because it's SimEvil. Please. Get me some SimTearGas and a SimTaser and I'll have them working the SimFry-o-Lator by SimTomorrowMorning.

Anyway, there are two problems with The Sims Online, given experience with the current play test: you can't fucking connect; and, when you can connect, it's boring as hell.

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.

Easy Enough

[daeley]

Just build a swimming pool around your local McDonald's, then include a diving board, but no ladder to get out. Problem solved! :)

Off-topic note: This is my 500th comment. I asked in my journal what I should do to mark my 500th comment, and somebody (can't imagine who) said I should say this: 'Not few enough to claim I have a life, and not enough to be super cool like gmhowell (who is currently typing number 2694).' So this message is dedicated to gmhowell, poster extraordinaire, to whose lofty heights (up to 2712 comments as of this writing) I can but dream to aspire.

Besides, he's got FortKnox beat by at least 400. ;)

sims can't get fat

[mr_gerbik]

Ironically, there are no fat Sims. Veterans of the original game will know this, and the same is true of the online game. There are various head and body skins that simulate different sexes, ethnic types .. even species.. but there are no various body sizes.

Maxis (EA) should really turn this into a profitable venture by allowing the Sims to gain weight from eating at the SimMcDonalds.. They could strike a deal with Ballys so that people can work their fat Sims out to loose weight at a virtual Ballys.

-gerbik

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.

Not satisfied with killing Roy Rogers, huh?

[JThaddeus]

A pox on Ronald MacDonald!!

Actually, my kids have been boycotting MacDonald's since they were in elementary school (they are in high school now). A few years back, MacDonald's bought the failing Hardee's chain in the Washington, DC area. Hardee's also owned the Roy Rogers chain, about the finest fastfood burger joint in town (I fondly remember their "Fixin's Bar" and their fried chicken). MacDonald's then closed both Roy Rogers in our town and would not negotiate with other fastfood franchise for their old buildings. Boston Market tried and failed. Both buildings finally went to sit-down places.

Anyway, for closing Roys and for denying Boston Market, my kids decided--quite on their own--that they prefered Wendy's and Burger King. We haven't been in a MacDonald's since. This nonesense with Sims tells me that we're not ready to go back.

Maybe we should add Electronic Arts to our boycott as well!

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.

Sims as propaganda

[dpbsmith]

This brings up an issue I have with simulation games such as The Sims. It does, of course, apply to other games as well, and to many other situations where the viewer or player must distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Nevertheless: simulation games convey a certain impression of verisimilitude. As you play them, you cannot avoid gaining skill in dealing with the simulated universe, and learning "lessons."

To the extent that the player preceives the game as authentically realistic, these "lessons" may sneak in past the barriers we've built against other forms of propaganda

Some are of these lessons are semi-political. And some, it seems, may be product placements.

For example, in SimCity, as I recall, the citizens clamor for a sports stadium and it is very important to the success of your city that you build one (at the right time, of course).

Did the creators of the game base this on actual data about the economic effects of sports stadiums on cities? (Unlikely). Or were they just building in a plausible and entertaining set of game rules? (Probably). Or... were they carrying water for some group that was trying to get a stadium built? (No, I don't really think so--but the possibility exists). Similarly, is the behavior of SimCity residents with respect to tax rates an authentic simulation, artistic guesswork--or a political agenda?

Of course these problems exist with all games, and to some extent it's an issue of developing antibodies against the newer games. There's no real danger that I will speculate in Atlantic City properties just Monopoly has given me the illusion that I understand how to do it.

Still...

Big picture

[felis_panthera]

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.

The problem is not the people worried about advertising in games. The problem is that this could open up a Pandora's Box of other companies buying advertising time inside games.

"You have cleard the 13th level of monsters, through this door is the Ultimate Evil, all you must do is cross this threshold and defeat him... But first, here's a word from our sponsors..."

I already do everything in my power to eliminate my exposure to mind numbing advertising. If it starts getting put into video games, I won't be able to go for popcorn until the previews start, or to go grab a snack until my show comes back on.

Of course, it's just my opinion.

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.

Oy!

[Thud457]

The dining Austrailian philosopher's problem : seven software developers at a table and only one bottle opener!

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.

Art Imitates Life...

[quakeslut]

The author of the article wants you to take a stance against the integration of games and advertising by protesting in the online world.

Can anything make less truth?

Let's be honest: it follows logically that there would be a plethera of McDonalds in a simulation of America, because America really is over-run with fast-food resturants, advertisements, endorsements and the associated garbage.

Do you really want to make a change? Then follow these rules:
1) Don't protest within the Sim World.
This won't get you anywhere. In fact, you may wind up wasting more of your time away playing...

2) Don't support this game.
This isn't the first game to include coroprate advertising, but it has reached a new (sickening) level. SPEAK WITH YOUR DOLLARS: don't buy this game!!

3) Boycot McDonalds.
The fast-food industry's move to tie fast-food to children at an early age is well known, (they even admit it theirselves), but you don't have to stand for it. Do you REALLY want to protest? Take it to the streets in front of a real McDonalds. Talk to families... educate them.

4) Begin a letter writing campaign to EA.
Write it out by hand. Sign your name. Tell them that you refuse to buy their games until they change their policies regarding advertising. They'll get the message.

5) Support Ad-Busters.
If you don't have the time or energy to do these things yourself, then support those individuals and organizations that do. I'm not affiliated with them, but Ad-Busters (aka: the Media Corporation [Canada]) is great. You should support them.

GTA3 + The Sims = SimActivist?

[omnipotus]

New from Rockstar Games: SimActivist

From the streets of the WTO riots in Seattle to the steps of World Bank in Washington, D.C., your job is to stop globalization where ever it raises its ugly capitalist head. Guide your SimActivist through multiple venues of anarchaic protests! Pickup adhoc weapons of the street like chain-link fences and road signs, or show up to rally with an arsenal of homemade fireworks.

Invoke your right to civil disobedience, buy SimActivist today!

Related News: Check out this EQ2 press release!

[Maul]

11/18/2002
Sony/Verant has announced their partnership with several companies to produce an extensive sponsorship program in their upcoming online RPG, EverQuest 2.

Players will now be able to interact with several name brands they can associate with in the World of Norrath.

Verant has released a preliminary list of the new features of EQ2 as follows:

All armor will be replaced with namebrand apparel. All towns in EQ2 will have an OLD NAVY store instead of local merchants, where players will be able to buy normal clothes. Additionally, apparel designed by several top fasion designers will appear in the game. Only the most uber players will be able to obtain Versace threads.

PEPSI products have replaced the mundane food and water of EQ1. Players will have to go to the in-game KFC, Taco Bell, or Pizza Hut locations to refill on rations. The in-game stores will also provide Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Mountain Dew rather than normal water.

Players can now earn extra experience by slaying monsters with brandname weapons.
There will be a distinct advantage using a CRAFTSMAN Power-Sword Deluxe, rather than a regular sword.

"We feel that these imrpovements add to the game," said a Verant spokesman. "In EQ1, players had a hard time identifing with the normal items in the game. In EQ2 we are bringing players into a world that is full of the brand names they can identify with. We hope to promote a lifestyle where players can consume high quality goods from companies like OLD NAVY, PEPSICO, and many others both online AND offline!"

EverQuest 2 is slated for release for fall of next year. Players will certainly be pleased to pay the full MSRP of $60.00 for the game on top of the monthy $17.99 fee with such improvements.

I can see where this is going...

[angst_ridden_hipster]

... it's going for Sim Realism.

Players who have Sim Protests will get their machines Sim Wiretapped.

Sim players who organize the protests of McVomit's will get slapped with Sim Product Libel suits.

Players who have too many Sim House Parties will be Sim Evicted from the Sim Neighborhood.

Players who set up affairs on Sim Hot Date will be Sim Sued for Sim Alienation of Affection.

Player who have too many Sim Vacations will be Sim Fired from their jobs for Sim Absenteeism.

Players who go on Sim Safari will get Sim Blood thrown on them by Sim PETA Protestors.

Then it'll get even worse:

The people who play "Crush, Crumble & Chomp" with their Sim world will get sent to the Sim Guantanamo Bay for Sim terrorism.

Players who allow the "incorrect" pairings on Sim Hot Date will be Sim Damned.

Virtual Sim Protest

[toby360]

Step One:
Create a lareg "sims" family and purchase a plot of sim land
Step Two:
Create a square house with no windows, no doors and a television facing a wall thats turned on so the family can never sleep. Contact EA and eplain that your holding a family hostage in your sim-house and are protesting their McDonalds add-in.
Step Three:
???????
Step Four:
Profit~!

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?