Interactive In-Game Billboards Coming

GameDaily is carrying the news that in-game advert company Massive, Inc. is planning to launch interactive in-game billboards. They cite free-but-for-ads MMOG Anarchy Online specifically, but one imagines this technology will be seen in other titles they're licensed for. From the article: "Last week, Funcom and Massive announced a new sort of billboard ad in Anarchy Online. Called 'interactive advertisement technology' this new feature will allow players to do more than just passively look at an ad. Instead, players can interact with the ad and see a more detailed model of the Toyota Yaris, for example."

Comments

let me wreck them.

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I hope they don't make them so you can't damage them, I think one of the highlights of ingame advertising is if they allowed you to defile it. Take the McDonald's logo and turn it into a giant pair of eyes of a guy peering over a wall for example. It'd be something intresting and would make me look at it to see what people did to trash it.

If companies make something untouchable we'll ignore it, if we can play around with it and have some fun then we'll do so and draw people's attenction to it. Yet I know they won't do this because companies will whine if the full advert isn't shown 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Maybe one day someone will release a Jet Set Radio MMORPG and they'll let us spray whatever we like and generally have fun just kicking around to cool music. That's the sort of game advertising would work for, but again as I said above companies don't care what works, they use the shotgun effect instead.

It gets worse...

[d3ac0n]

We have these ads in Planetside. Not only are they disruptive and annoying (They have included ads with SOUND! ARGH!) They are non-destructible. I have seen fights in buildings where an entire wall is COATED in bulletholes and blast marks, but the damn advert and it's frame are squeaky clean!

Fortunately, there is a way to block them, at least for now. You can modify your HOSTS file in Windows and blackhole the advert servers. This kills off the ad generating process that normally starts with the game, and the ad panels in-game will display a pre-fab neutral background.

You can find full blocking directions on my blog , http://wearyman.blogspot.com/

I think that we as gamers need to ensure that we block ads for any pay to play game. Freebie games like AO, ads are OK, it's how the company stays profitable. But for Pay2play games, As we are already paying a subscription fee so the company can make thier profits, there is no reason to subject ourselves to this type of insult.

Block the ads, and then MAKE SURE the game company KNOWS you are blocking the ads either via e-mail or the game forums. If enough of us make the small effort to prevent the ads, the companies will drop them as unprofitable, and we can get back to pure ad-free gaming.