In-Game Advertising Breaks Out

UID1000000 writes "MSNBC reports that companies like Nielsen are implementing tracked advertising in video games. Viacom is also considering in-game advertising. I can't wait until your first person shooter stops and drinks a nice cold refreshing soda."

Comments

consoles and freeware

[BoldAC]

I'm not quite sure how this is all that new. Many, many console games have ads throughout the game. I was playing Madden 2005 just a few minutes ago... and the billboards in the stadiums are pushing all sorts of EA-related stuff.

What has shocked me is the failure of freeware with embedded ads. For a while it seemed many freeware authors were trying to make money with this concept.

As a freeware author myself, it didn't work well for my product. People preferred the old, buggy ad-free version to the final version with small, tasteful ads. I ended up making more money off the google ads on the download page than I did from the product.

I finally killed the ads and the number of people using the program hit the roof.

AC

Re:consoles and freeware

[proj_2501]

Madden 2005? I remember the big hullaballoo over Pizza Hut ads all over the NES version of the Ninja Turtles arcade game!

Re:consoles and freeware

[stretch0611]

This is new because: "Gamers are tracked. New advertisements are delivered on the fly. It's both a game publisher and ad exec's dream."

I will not pay for a game that tracks me or downloads ads. I am not even sure I would play it for free under thsoe conditions.

Re:consoles and freeware

[Nos.]

You and I may not, but millions will, especially if it means less expensive (free?) games. Targetted and tracked advertising is the way things are moving. Pushing a commercial to thousands or millions is going by by, which is why were seeing thigs like Google's Adwords/AdSense becoming very popular. Its targetted advertising.

Re:consoles and freeware

[Anonymous Coward]

The only people that will see the ads are people watching someone play. When you're "in game" you have other things attended to. Since so many games are now "1 person per console" I expect it to be less than successful.

I was in a company that attempted this 4 years ago. it was a stupid idea then, too.

Re:consoles and freeware

[heir2chaos]

And one can't forget the blatent advertisements for "Space Quest X: Latex Babes of Estros" in "Space Quest IV", or was that "Space Quest XII"... hmmm, damned timelines screw me up.

Re:consoles and freeware

[stretch0611]

I forgot to mention:

It may be a game publisher/ad-exec's dream, but it is not a player's dream.

Also I suppose it is possible to circumvent the ads in single player mode if your pull your dsl/cable/dial-up line out of your computer before you play.

Re:consoles and freeware

[Xofer D]

You and I may not, but millions will, especially if it means less expensive (free?) games.

No they won't. They'll simply download a version which has been cracked to remove the ad misfeatures. You can be certain that such features will be removed along with copy protection, because any feature which downloads ads from the vendor would also be "phoning home", and what cracker would want that? Once they're merely copying the game already, there is a lot less incentive for consumers to purchase the game.

This probably will not mean less expensive games, and it certainly will not mean free games (giving it away for free makes it less valuable as an advertising medium; free things don't always get used). The game companies will want to maintain the perceived value of their games by not positioning it as a cheap, second-rate game. Of course, we know that it'd just be cheap spyware, so you can count me out too. That's my internet connection, thanks, and just like spam I don't want them using it for their benefit and not mine.

Re:consoles and freeware

[Croaker]

You and I may not, but millions will, especially if it means less expensive (free?) games.

The thing is, it won't result in cheaper games. As an example, take a look at the movies. Back in the 80's, it was unheard of to have advertisements for products (other than the coming attractions, that is, which had been established almost as early as the movie theater itself). Now, we have 10 minutes of so of ads for all sorts of crap, reducing a trip to the movies to being TV you pay $10 or more for.

And has your ticket price gone down at all since they started showing ads? Concessions gotten any cheaper? No. Prices still continue to climb. The theaters and Hollywood just pocket the extra revinue.

Re:consoles and freeware

[_Sprocket_]

Targetted and tracked advertising is the way things are moving. Pushing a commercial to thousands or millions is going by by, which is why were seeing thigs like Google's Adwords/AdSense becoming very popular. Its targetted advertising.

A key part of this is the tracking. Google Adwords goes to certain pains to maintain a privacy barrier between users of Adwords (via site visits, searches, etc.) and those who establish a business relationship based on an Adwords ad (that is - someone who clicks on an ad... and even then the information is limited). This, among other user-favorable approaches to advertising, is what has made Google's system a success.

The grandparent doesn't say what ad tech they used. But the problem is that by this time, the well has been poisoned. Any app that admits to being "advertising supported" will be viewed as a likely carrier for untold amounts of scumware (spyware, et al). Even if it isn't. The perception is there - and for good reason. Scumware companies have soured our view of that model.

The interesting thing is that Google entered a poisoned market. Advertising ilk such as Doubleclick polluted online advertising with inappropriate expectations (why is just seeing an ad on TV acceptable but an online campaign a failure if it doesn't generate click-throughs) and playing games with tracking cookies, pop-ups/unders, java, and flash. It's a wonder anyone loads ad banners at all (and an increasing number of users don't). Yet Google has flourished in this wasteland. And a large part of this has to do with their behavior. At the least, they don't behave in a manner that makes it worth the effort to block them. And that only makes an already effective system more effective.

Purveyors of "tracking" and "targeted" ad technology should be very careful as to what limits their targets will accept.

Re:consoles and freeware

[plover]

I wish I had mod points to give you, this is very insightful.

And I guess I've surprised even myself with this. I'm an ad-blocker. I'm sorry to anyone's web page I visit that's paid for with advertising-sponsored links, but there is only so much flashy blinky sh!t that I can take. I run the Proxomitron and have a huge ruleset. On top of this I use Mozilla with the popup blocker, and use adblock constantly. I have the flashblocker plugin that simply does not display flash until it's clicked on. It's been so long that I surfed without all this armor that I find myself shocked by the crap people put up with. Pop ups, pop unders, flashy DHTML blocks that fly around their screens, it's like a carnival leaping up to disguise the fact that they are serving information. Hell, I already find the "games.slashdot.org" color scheme to be distatefully distracting enough, without the clutter of banners.

I do have a few exceptions: I don't deliberately block ads on the sites that I frequent (fark, UF, etc.) in hopes that they get some stipend simply for the traffic. I even buy from the banner ads on some of those sites just to give the business their way.

I also don't mind SOME OF the banner ads I've found in certain products. For example, XFire is completely sponsored by one small banner ad located at the top center of the screen. It's not PUNCH THE MONKEY BLINKING, it's not spyware sponsored, it's just a small billboard. I appreciated the effort so much I've purchased a couple of games through them just to say "hey, well done guys, this is the right thing to do."

My other exception is Google's advertising. It's always been text based, so it's never been the visual distraction that causes me to want to block it. I don't always read them, but sometimes I do. Certainly, it gets much more of my attention than the blinky "turn away from the flashing lights" ads. Plus, I've always considered Google to be "the good guys" for all the reasons you mentioned.

I once evem wrote a proxomitron filter to strip the google ads, but removed it when I realized it was advertising that didn't drive me off, and that might benefit the sites hosting it. So, you're absolutely right -- Google's ads aren't worth the trouble to block.

Demo versions...

[hot_Karls_bad_cavern]

...should soon be rife with this sort of thing. Want to play the game? For free? Well, here's some ads to enjoy in the mean time. Might bug some folks, but if the game is really that good, hell, i'll buy...if the ads are taken out of the pay-version.

Re:Demo versions...

[LostCluster]

Funny, I don't see you posting with the "subscriber star" in your header. Guess you don't consider this Slashdot game very good at all... :)

Who else?

[ack154]

I can see it now:

• Healthpacks - sponsored by Johnson & Johnson
• Ammo Reloads - sponsored by Remmington
• etc

Cat fight!

[PIPBoy3000]

Forget the Coke ads. I want the Budweiser girls!

Blatant ad

[Monkeyman334]

Yeah, I was playing Evil Dead the other day and saw a blatant ad for S-Mart. It was terrible because it wasn't a billboard or anything, it was actually part of the storyline.

Well...

[CountBrass]

If it's unobtrusive or, even better, adds to the game then all well and good. If it jars or is too blatant then back goes the game to the store.

I would compare the appearance of Omega watches and Aston-Martins in James Bond and Starbucks in Shrek (which I think was all well done) with the appearance of Audi in I,Robot and BMW in James Bond: both of which I felt jarred and reduced my enjoyment of the film.

Re:Well...

[kfg]

I'll bet you believed the clerk at the store when he told you that it was against the law to take back underwear too.

It isn't. It's against the law to resell returned underwear not in the original package. It is simply company policy to not accept the return.

Notice that you too used the word "policy"? If there were such a law as you suggest that word would not appear on the sign. The word "law" would replace it. When the sign says "policy" that's exactly what it means.

They are perfectly free to give you a refund, they just don't want to. Same as the underwear.

Only in the case of computer/video games the store is also free to resell the title.

KFG

Adverts in games?

[derrith]

Something like this?

discount?

[bodrell]

They damn-well better give a discount, for subjecting paying customers to unsolicited ads.

Ads on TV I can mute, but I can't stand ads in the movies, when you've already paid high dollar for a ticket, then while you're a captive audience they blast Coke/Blockbuster/Body Fantasies ads at you.

Arrgh.

Here comes... the Ad Cannon!

[spookymonster]

Get hit with the Ad Cannon and you'll be incapacitated for several seconds while your avatar stops and conspicuously consumes:
- a bag of Doritos
- a can of Red Bull
- a bottle of Tums
- a tube of Preperation-H

Re:Duke Nukem

[Jefe (Not Satanic)]

I came here to kick ass and chew Watermelon Bubblicious... and i'm all out of Watermelon Bubblicious

We already there

[Jarnis]

Anarchy Online already has billboards advertising Alienware computers :)

(This is a tie-in to a marketing campaing related to the launch of AO expansion titled 'Alien Invasion')

I doubt any gamer would mind much for (paid) advertising in the form of (animated) billboards or 'holograms' in first person shooter levels, but the stuff should *fit the theme*. Futuristic shooter such as Unreal Tournament would be easy - just stick in some billboards to suitable levels, but if someone would start selling McDonalds stuff by planting ingame ads into something like Everquest, gamers would go berserk over it...

It all depends how it's done. I think Sims Online and The Sims 2 also have somekinda marketing/product placement deals already set up.

Let me get this straight..

[d_jedi]

They want *me* to pay for games.. so that I can see advertisements??!

I absolutely do not see how this benefits gamers in any way.. game prices will NOT go down (exclusive scoop.. you heard it here, folks!), and game quality will suffer (progammers will be forced to change their mindset from "what will make this a good game?" to "how can we maximize the ad space?")

I prefer the "fake" ads in many games s/a GTA.. they're funny (I want a Mibatsu Monstrosity :-> )

Re:Billboards are fine with me.

[fatcatman]

Nothing. Nothing in the whole freaking world, makes me madder than being forced to sit through an advertisement.

I can think of something. "I, Robot": "Don't you just love these shoes? They're great. They're from the year 2004. Can you zoom in on them? Cool shoes, aren't they? Grandma, make sure you ask me about my shoes later in the film, so I can show them to the crowd yet again. Buy these shoes, guys. Come on, you know you want to."

This sort of blatent product placement is a load of, excuse my language, pure fucking bullshit. It distracts from the movie and makes me feel like I just paid $10 to see a 2 hour commercial. Next time this shit shows up in a film, I'm walking out and demanding my money back.

This was as bad as the Subway stuff in Happy Gilmore. Except when Adam Sandler did it, it was a big joke and setup for laughs. He didn't try to take it seriously.

You want product placement? Stick a coke in a fridge. Have Neo use a Nokia phone. He's going to need a phone anyway, so it might as well be a slick new model that I can go out and buy if I want to. That's realistic and appropriate. Don't stop the whole movie so you can show me your fucking shoes.

Let's put it this way: Put the item there but don't make a single reference to it. If you have to zoom in on it and talk about it, you're going to piss people off.

Almost had one in Quake

[John Carmack]

We had a pretty good money offer to put a sponsored add in the Quake 1 entry level. We decided not to just on the basis of it being tacky, which was for the best, considering the company (some random early internet company) dissapeared into obscurity.

I don't have any fundamental problem with product placement in games, but it isn't something we pursue. I would just as soon have real brands in realistic settings instead of made up ones.

John Carmack