[aldo_14]

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000217053546/

[Tieowbeijas]

On a somewhat similiar topic, they've decided to add ads to Planetside (a MMOFPS for those who doesn't know about it, ). You pay 13$ a month to play which makes it even more insane.

[Fineus]

I suppose this kind of thing had to happen. It's in television, radio and film so it's really no suprise that gaming would follow as well.

[aldo_14]

Yeah, but we pay for games already, it's not like radio or TV.  Movies are maybe closer, except even in their case you a) pay a lot less (for something that costs more to make) and b) placement is static.

[MatthewPapa]

AOL does the same thing, they advertise to their customers (while they are online) who pay for their service. Pretty messed up.

[EtherShock]

Whee, we're one step closer to dream advertising!

This screams privacy issues. I wonder if someone has come up with a hack yet for it.

[StratComm]

Read the link on the page aldo linked to (the "detailed write-up") for instructions on how to prevent it from connecting.  I'm more dismayed that they listed it as a feature.

[karajorma]

If it's not a MMORPG your firewall should be enough to prevent it. Just don't play online

[Anaz]

I, for one, think that this would be a nice idea for MMOG-type games, as long as the ad profits were used to reduce the cost/month of the game. I, for one, would not mind drinking pepsi to restore my health (and give some stat boosts ) if it meant paying a few bucks less per month on something. Of course, you don't want to break suspension of disbelief, so it'd only work well in futuristic/modern type games, unless you can find a way to tailor the ad to the environment, which might make reaching the widest market a bit difficult, since half my WoW guild plays MMOGs for the social bit AND the fantasy setting.

[aldo_14]

I would probably be willing to play an ad-heavy MMORPG if it was free or very cheap, myself (being reluctant to pay subscription fees in any case).  But that would only be under the understanding that those adverts were paying for my play, and if those adverts were in keeping with the game as a whole.  I would also need to have full disclosure of what info was being taken.... albeit if I decided to accept that sort of vision monitoring, I'd probably try and use it to screw up the advertisers data.....

In the SWAT example they give, the ads seem entirely incongruous to the setting, though (are there really Battlestar Galactica posters for next week in the offices of dingy garages?).  Unfortunately, adverts are designed to be as intrusive as possible - when given a place in digital media, that means they can be far, far more annoying than they could ever be in real life.

Not to mention in reality ad posters get a bit tattered, worn, etc, which advertisers probably wouldn't accept in a game because it would compromise their 'mipact'.

[Anaz]

Perhaps they should have the posters be destroyable in the game world, and use that to determine what ads work, and what are just annoying

[CP5670]

I think Splinter Cell Chaos Theory may have this also. I have seen ads that change over time in that game, although I don't know how far it goes with this. (quite a few AMD64 ones in there)

[EtherShock]

Originally posted by Anaz
I, for one, think that this would be a nice idea for MMOG-type games, as long as the ad profits were used to reduce the cost/month of the game. I, for one, would not mind drinking pepsi to restore my health (and give some stat boosts ) if it meant paying a few bucks less per month on something. Of course, you don't want to break suspension of disbelief, so it'd only work well in futuristic/modern type games, unless you can find a way to tailor the ad to the environment, which might make reaching the widest market a bit difficult, since half my WoW guild plays MMOGs for the social bit AND the fantasy setting.

In theory, this is a good idea. However, there is far too much room for abuse. Look at cable TV. They wanted to make more money by selling adtime, and it ruined the allure of cable, and they're not getting nearly as detailed information as these people are. Another example would be product placement. It just ruins everything, because they can't resist shoving the product in your face. I wouldn't put trust in them to be doing this to "serve the public."

[Tieowbeijas]

As I see it, ads can still be somewhat fitting, having ads for Fanta in Planetside just smashes all immersion and the feeling you had of participating in a huge conflict long away from earth 1500+ years in the future, where no major corporations exists thanks to the Terran Republic. On the other hand, having a Fanta billboard in for example a GTA game set during anytime when Fanta existed could perhaps even be somewhat positive to the games setting, making it even the tiniest bit more believeable.

[aldo_14]

I would be a great loss if GTA had real adverts........

[Tieowbeijas]

I was only using that as an example (and I don't play the GTA games anyway ). Was just trying to say that properly used they may add a tiny but of atmosphere to the game, problem is that some moneygrabbing bastard (say, EA), could decide that about 50% of the used textures in the game should contain ads.

On the other hand, faked ads work pretty well for adding some atmosphere, and they don't make the game look "cheap", like the Coughin' Nails ad in Deus Ex.

[StratComm]

Or all of the Mixom/Moxim things in Doom3.  There for immersion, but funny if you take the time to look at them.  Real ads always annoy me, because they are not in a place that they should be (really, what watch company puts up 10,000 billboards along a raceway in the far future?) and tend to occupy a disproportonate amount of visible space.  Real ads are ineffective if they are that redundant.  Faked ads were part of GTA though, and the fact that you heard them intersperced with music in a car, which is really the only ads I think about when I think about GTA, added to the immersion while providing some nice socially unacceptable commentary to the mix.

[Tieowbeijas]

Or the Martian Buddy thing in Doom 3, with the promotional cabinet containing a chain gun, that was quite cool, seeing how you needed to go to "their" website to get the code.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]I think it's too late to speculate on if ads are going to be increasingly used in games. Game creation is either run by money grabbing sequal machines like EA or by struggling, smaller companies who need to cover the possibility that their game isn't going to become a mainstream success.

Ad revinue works for both scenarios.
[/color]

[achtung]

The day I see real ads in an ID game, I will probably stop playin games altogether and go on an advertiser killing spree, with my shotgun

(brought to you by Big Johns gun shack)