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

Ad Supported Games

[Anonymous Coward]

If I have to pay for the game and I find out it has advertising within the game, it gets returned, simple as that. If the game is free, then fine advertise all you want.

If game ads work, you'll be seeing more

[Kawolski]

If they do more studies that conclude that ads in games work, we'll be seeing a lot more of them.

In my personal experience, the more subtle the ad, the more effective I believe it is. Advertising a big out-of-place SUBWAY COUNTER-STRIKE SPECIAL on the side of an office building in my mind ruins the gaming experience. 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.

Good side? WTF!

[lupine]

I already wasted karma on this discussion, but I need to reply since the marketroids and clones are dominating this discussion.

In game advertising is fucking evil. Why the fuck would anyone want to see ads in a game. Urban setting - need billboards to give it that gritty hopeless edge? Racing game player needs something to look at while turning left? You dont need fucking bullshit advertising to make a game. Games are played for entertainment, for relaxation, to get away from all of the bullshit in real life. Advertising is all about generating and cultivating desire, turning simple gimmicks into wants and wants into needs. You dont need some ad to suddenly popup and tell you that your life is shit because you dont have some shiny new fucking product, you are too fat and smelly, you have too much hair or not enough, maybe you need a date or a mail order bride. Graphics card too slow to move at all when this 500MB texture is loaded - time for an upgrade.

Anything portrayed as advertising in games should be value added content. Show me something original, something enjoyable, a satirical billboard ala the onion or like the 50's style government propaganda in fallout or doom3's Super Turbo Turkey Puncher.

Anyone who says that real advertisements make a game more enjoyable are probably the same people who pay for fucking cable tv and watch the home shopping network.

I wont play any fucking games with ads. I wont play if you give the game away for free. My spare time is worth way too much.

Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.