In-game advertising

[malakian]

Augie along time ago made a topic highlighting how in-game advertising was much more of a reality than a liberal gamers nightmare. Yesterday as I was playing the multi platform game Enter the Matrix before I deleted its hulking mass from my hard drive, I was shocked and ashamed to discover three adverts in one room. One was for a samsung phone, used by the lead characters, another for a Nvidia graphics card and the last for a Pentium IV processor chip. I was especially peturbed as - as my mobile phone is very out dated - I found myself thinking "hey, I need a new phone".

So whats your opinion on this? Is it ok that the medium of video games is becoming laden with advertisments? Is it a terrible invasion of entertainment we're often transfixed upon for hours, or is it immersive and beneficial to games like spider man, or tony hawks?

 

[Grey]

If they cut out all advertising, I'd be out of a job, so I'm happy to see them.

 

[White_Rabbit]

The Matrix games are big on that especially. SOE announced that they were adding real life ads to The Matrix Online, their lackluster Matrix MMORPG. I'm sure they'r etrying to say that's their way of makin gthe game seem to be more real and plausible, when in reality it's just a quick way to make money.

Personally I don't care as much in video games. It does make the game more immersive sometimes. Others it takes away from the escapism.

I'm more annoyed with "Coke" being shoved down my throat in American Movie theaters, and advertisements for every other product on the Earth in theaters anywhere.

 

[steve_the_great]

:evil: I vote send the ads strait to the deep firery doom of Argentina!!!! :evil:

 

[Ted_Wolff]

I'd probably find it somewhat more of a nuisance if I played games that were more along the lines of pop-culture and not so esoteric, for the games I generally play don't include in-game advertisements. It can be tastefully done, witness the writing of Working Designs' games. They don't feature in-game ads, but the comedic writing pop-culture jabs could be applied.

The only time I furled a brow over ads in a game was when I played a game by Shiny, but that was more of a pretentious bombardment each time you started the game for each company that collaborated. Usually their games were nifty, so I can wave away such pretension.

 

[shadowcaster187]

I don't mind ads if they're built into the game, such as in Burnout or Tony Hawk, but if they started placing flash ads off to the side of the screen in video games, then the 187 in my screen name would become more than just a random number, as I originally intended it. :twisted:

 

[Mortel3]

Depends on how much...if its obvious that the game was built for advertising rather than immersing, then its gone too far. But if it is used to give a more real environment, then there is nothing wrong with that.