The Good and Bad of In-Game Ads

Dyslexia writes "MLG takes a look at the emerging trend of in-game advertising and explores the ways in which it can prove to be both good and bad for the industry and consumers." From the article: "When done in a way that isn't consistent with the themes or purpose of a game, advertising can go terribly wrong--in extreme cases even crippling the gameplay, at which point it has gone too far. Advertising that draws the player out of the experience of their game rather than immerses them further into it walks a thin line and the benefits start to get outweighed by the detractions. The recent Counter-Strike debacle is an excellent example of in-game advertising going terribly wrong."

Comments

Re:Pepsiman!

[Psykechan]

Putting in a Pepsi machine in the office break room and having Pepsi products dump out when someone blasts the thing is probably far more effective.

I would say that using Pepsiman as a selectable character in your fighting game would be even more effective (and fun). Heck, maybe you could have an entire game devoted to Pepsiman... Now that would be amazing.

Nah, no one would ever do that...

Re:If game ads work, you'll be seeing more

[VitrosChemistryAnaly]

"Putting in a Pepsi machine in the office break room and having Pepsi products dump out when someone blasts the thing is probably far more effective."

Wow, I don't know about you, but I could really go for a cool refreshing Pepsi right about now.