Talk of in-game advertising is enough to get gamers frothing at the mouth. No one wants ads popping up unannounced and unwelcome when they’re in the midd…Frothing at the Mouth. You need Aunty-Biotics new Froth-Be-Gone Oral Sand Paste. Where was I? In-game advertising. It’s enough to get gamers manning the barricades with all the fervour of the ‘Friends of the ABC’ protesting budget cuts to their beloved public broadca…Tonight on The Bill, DC Nadir expresses doubts about whether this weeks storyline is original. Acting Superintendent Amanda Prosser assures him it’s just a bad case of déjà vu. Sorry, I keep losing my train of thought. A couple of weeks back, the second annual Advertising in Games conference in New York announced that in-game ad-spending could soon reach $US2 billion. This news was greeted with much enthusiasm by all the suits in the room, including the video game publishers, ever anxious to find new revenue streams, the advertising execs anxious to flog more ads, and the confused CEO’s still wondering what happened to all the people who used to watch advertising the old fashioned way; you remember, between breaks in the free-to-air TV shows.
So the bean counters are excited and the gamers are a little agitated, but frankly I don’t see what all the fuss is about. If one of the goals of video game design is a quest for greater realism, then the inclusion of real world advertising surely only adds to the immersion.
Carjacking's a dirty business, but Dove ensures your hands are always clean.
Game publishers won’t risk alienating gamers and actual game sales (their primary revenue stream) by placing in-game advertising that is not in keeping with the game world being depicted. Advertisers won’t waste money advertising a product that’s of no interest to the game’s audience. That would be like placing commercials for sheep drench on Canberra television… OK, that’s not such a great example. Canberra’s TV stations love to run sheep drench commercials around dinner time, which is odd being that we’re a city and all and we only have half a dozen sheep at most and at least 200,000 people. Either they’ve found a use for the stuff outside the farm gates that I didn’t know about, or we’re just a victim of regional television programming. But I digress.
As long as the video game advertising is passive, and in keeping with the video game’s universe - for example the advertising signage at the cricket ground, or on the livery of V8 cars running around Bathurst - then I see no harm in flogging product to the particular video gaming demographic in question. The advertising in Take-Two’s baseball game, Major League Baseball 2K6 being a case in point.
In-game advertising may be a relatively new frontier, but all the old advertising rules still apply. Hit gamers over the head with heavy-handed advertising and cynical jaded gamers will just tune out. Wipeout Pure downloadable content is a case in point. The Omega pack with the Puma themed circuits and vehicles where in keeping with the Wipeout Universe, but the heavy handed advertising plastered across almost every track surface with all the subtlety of Lara Croft in evening wear was not in keeping with Wipeout's design sensibility and aesthetic. Did it stop gamers downloading the track pack? No - it was free after all. Did it add or detract from the game? Look, I appreciated the free bonus content as much as the next man woman and child, but I’d have to say it detracted a little. Did it increase Puma’s sales or brand awareness in a positive fashion? Those are questions only Puma can answer, but you’d suspect not.
Will we see less passive, in your face, in-game advertising? Quite possibly. Ads that can’t be skipped? I hope not. We already suffer through intro and cut scenes that frustratingly can’t be skipped over, Black being one recent offender. Start doing the same with commercials and gamers will simply do something else until the game loads, or simply boycott the worst offending games in question.
The 12 Step Program
News just in from the University of the Bleeding Obvious and the Research School of Stuff We Already Know. Apparently gaming is addictive. This probably comes as no surprise to you as you sit reading today’s Wrap in your underwear, bleary eyed, smelly and unwashed, knocking back another Red Bull, and scraping the remainder of last night’s spaghetti dinner that you ate cold and straight from the tin during a forty-eight hour Oblivion marathon.
Not as addictive as the DS Lite but it still packs a punch.
Nick Yee, a PhD. student from Stanford University surveyed more than 35,000 MMORPG players since 1999. Look, I’m happy to see the study has a large sample size for once… But seriously Nick. 35,000 people in the last seven years. Just who’s suffering from obsessive behaviour here?
Of course addiction to anything is a serious problem, and there are a few signs you can look out for to determine whether you’re in an at-risk category. You’ve probably been at it too long if the last time you left the house the Labor Party was in power, if you only put the controller down and feed the dog when it actually starts chewing on your leg, or if, like Nick Lee, your into your 7th year of your thesis, have interviewed 35,000 people and still haven’t been awarded your PhD. Nick, you are either addicted to the university life or doing something seriously wrong. Stop interviewing the kids playing EverCrack and submit your thesis already.
We salute you
The US Army is at it again, utilising video game simulations to help ready the troops for battle. The army is now using a video game program to help the soldiers better understand the strangely unfamiliar body language and gestures of the Middle East. This presumably cuts down on the number of civilians being shot dead while making obscure gestures like raising their hands in the air, and stops the US committing embarrassing cultural taboos such as blowing up guests attending weddings?
Say what?
Sure we all thought that a lot of hand gestures and body language were universal, but the US Army sees great merit in the new program. Presumably there’s also a downside from this increased knowledge when the soldiers realise that what had seemed like an offer from the village chieftain that included a free goat and his daughters hand in marriage is in fact something else entirely. Or when heading out on patrol they can tell just from their CO’s body language that he doesn’t expect their unit will make it safely back to barracks.
It’s not all bad though. Soldiers can now pick a curve ball from a fast ball before it’s even thrown and the US Army is my pick to win the Armed Forces International Baseball Tournament in 2007.
Catch you next week on The Wrap.
Loading...
