Games In Ads Still Work

from the sneaky,-sneaky... dept

Back in 1996 or 1997 when banner ads were first becoming popular online, I (like so many folks) quickly learned to ignore them. Then, one day, I came across the banner ad that got me hooked. I was ashamed to admit it, but there was a banner ad from HP for a product called the mopier (yes, I still remember), and within the banner ad, you could play the game pong. Yes, it's a very simple game, and there were probably other places online I could have found pong, but I got hooked for at least half an hour playing pong in a banner ad. Afterwards, I was a little ashamed, but later spent time trying to search out the same ad. The HP mopier product never went anywhere, but that ad has stayed in my head ever since. Of course, since then, there have been plenty of other ads that have involved games, and I've learned to ignore all of them as well. However, I'm reminded of that story in reading this article from an editor at PC Mag who basically went through an identical game-in-ad playing experience recently - but in a pop up ad. It seems that no matter how much you dislike ads, sometimes you just can't ignore a little game.