In-Game Ads Toe A Fine Line
from the this-kill-brought-to-you-by-fruit-loops dept
While the in-game ad market is attracting a lot of interest, companies are still trying to figure out the best way to handle it. Some players say that ads in games can make them more realistic, but there's a fine line between enhancing realism and being obnoxious. Early this year, a company inserted some ads for Subway restaurants into the online game Counter-strike, without the game publisher's permission. The publisher, Valve, turned it into a legal matter, but the two companies quickly settled. Apparently, they've become quite good friends, as a Valve exec says that in early 2007, it will begin running ads in Counter-strike, with IGA serving them up. The original Subway ads didn't really seem to fit well into the game, but many server operators chose to run them to generate some revenues. However, the new Valve plan sees it controlling all the ad sales and revenues, which could rub some server operators the wrong way. The point is also being raised that the version of Counter-strike that will get the ads is over three years old, so deciding now to start running ads could raise the hackles of many players. Valve isn't the only online gaming company that's trying to adjust as gamers pick holes in its business model, and it's also got previous history of acting aggressively to boost its revenues. But acting too aggressively and alienating gamers will cut its own legs out from underneath it -- and adding ads into a three-year-old game may be a step too far.
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I misread the title and got happy...
For a second, I pondered having the fruit of the loom girls show up and dance/cheer for me when I killed a boss in wow...
Now THAT would be awesome advertising!
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also, i remember the matrix game for GC. it had poweraid ads in it, like the movie.
but, wasn't CS a mod off of the HL engine? but then they became successful and either bought CS rights, or work with valve directly now? and aren't CS users/servers encouraged to make maps and whatnot?
i guess the line is drawn when private servers make money off of the work of valve and CS developers
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Re:
Yes, it would be lame if it was the wrong KIND of ad. But I don't think it would bother me if my BFG was a Smith & Wesson. In order for in-game advertisements to be realistic and not annoy the shit out of me they'll have to be subtle and fit whatever it is they're plastered to - a Subway BFG would definitely suck.
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Hoenstly, if they're going to put ads in games then games should be cheaper ... make your $ off of the advertisers, not by forcing a consumer to pay for advertising. Have two versions of the game: One with ads for $35 and one without for $45.
Anyone else remember when cable TV had little/no ads because you PAID for it?
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Re: Ads in Games
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Re: Re: Ads in Games
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Got to agree with #4...
If they're done about like the product placement in movies what does it hurt? I don't care if I see coke or pepsi machines in a game I'm playing.
Now on the flip side if the ad itself takes away from or interferes with the game experience, then I can see problems, but chances are the company will pay in the long run by losing players.
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I don't mind that most gaming companies have splash screens that I have to sit or click through before starting to play a game, but throw in a Coke/Pepsi commercial or a Band-Aid commercial before I can play F.E.A.R. online and I'm not likely to come back ... unless it can be hacked ... ; )
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In Game Pop-ups
but seriously.. I'm all for ad based games (if done right). I remember when Adware like shareware was a good thing. It usually meant you'd get 75%-90% of the functionality of the full version for free (with the addition of ads). Now most adware is spyware type crap...
If they plan to use ads in their game and charge the same price i'm not buying, but if they reduce the price (or make it free) i'd give it a short. hopefully you will have the option to pay the remaining retail amount for the ad free version
on a side note.. some pod casts i listen to are now putting ads in their audio, i still listen because of two reasons: 1. the ads are short and relevant to the content and 2. the content is worth annoyance of the ads. If games follow this model it might work
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Reality Schmeality
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Subway is ok!
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I find it funny
Most of my small purchases are driven by need (hmm, flashlight no worky, buy batteries) or lots of research (gonna buy me a new car). I doubt that 1/10th of 1% of my purchases are impulse driven. Even when I do need something like batteries that decision is usually based on past experience and price.
Meh, it doesn't matter anyway. I've long since stopped being in the target demographics.
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Re: I find it funny
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RE: I find it funny
Trust me. If you have money, you're in one of their target demographics.
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Valve are just another greedy corp now
Valve screwed it all up for me with HL2, the authentication circus that made it impossible for me to play a game I had looked forward to for months and spent a load of money I couldn't afford on, only to have it fail and not get a refund. One way or another I'm going to get my $40 back from those twunts if it's the last thing I ever do.
Before that I was a dedicated and loyal follower who encouraged all my friends to buy a copy and join in the fun. I don't think the suits at these companies have any idea how much their behaviour alienates their oldest and most important players. Fuck Valve.
And one of the posters above is correct - CS was a mod, built by ordinary contributers like you and I who crafted it in their own time. For Valve to hijack it as a vehicle for advertising by doing deals behind the backs of the community that built it is wrong, and I don't care who signed what.
Computer games have left me behind. Not because I've grown out of the fun, but because the industry has become a ruthless gravy train that has nothing but contempt for it's end users, much like the music business.
We all owe it to these greedy losers to make sure their products fail and they lose money by buying into Free/Open alternatives, even if they aren't as glossy and trendy as the latest titles.
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Re: Valve are just another greedy corp now
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Re: Valve are just another greedy corp now
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Silly Sheep
With regard to being exploited, let me point out a few things:
- Gaming is already being subject to McDonaldsification by consolers and greedy corporations are you going to help the ADVERTISERS get their 2 cents in as well?
- No change in the price, quite frankly ads=shareware=free.
- Even it it was free/cheaper what about the additional load on the consumers/end-users machine.
-- CPU cycles
-- Memory
-- HD Space
-- Network Traffic (once we lose net neutrality this my hurt a bit :P)
-- and the most compelling reason not to add a feature, especially one that has no benefit to the end user; YET ANOTHER FAILURE point
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i also think valve has it in the elua that you can't profit from mods to the game or whatever. meaning that yes you can mod, so long as you don't sell or profit directly from the game. what is being done is selling "in game" real-estate. i.e. taking what VALVE has worked hard to do, and turning a profit. so valve, although they are the "big bad ugly face of consumerisim/capitolism/industry" (or whatever) they have a right to profit from their work. i'm sure you'd be upset if someone took what you made, then changed it, and chargedpeople for the "added" feature that you could have done yourself. it's all about the $$$ so why should someone else profit off of your hard workings? hum....put yourself in valve's shoes for a sec.
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Re: by Anonymous Coward
Generally you dont do mods for the money, you do it cause you think its cool. If you do get any money out of it, i'd have to say it's more from drawing people to your community (ads on your website, or selling reserved slots on your server)
back on topic, it seems we've almost made full circle here. anyone remember the NES and early SNES era? Yo Noid? TMNT? A good number of those games were sponsored and contained ads, and the games were still fun. That's what needs to be done in todays games. Medeval/fantasy type games i think would be hardest though, cant really advertise for pepsi in the dark ages... hmm, or can you... (tasty witches brew that causes "charm" on target maybe?)
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I miss Halflife and my PC but...
1) I am in control of
2) I feel the creators have been adequately rewarded for (even if that reward is non financial)
3) Has some longivity and a real community around it, not some passing hype that will get dumped and burried as soon as the latest version comes along.
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Good. Now, once more with feeling...
To reiterate incase you missed my point, the article's not very clear. The game in question is the original Counter-Strike, which is over 6 YEARS OLD now. There have been MMOs that haven't lasted that long, even though they're supposed to by design. But you don't play a monthly fee for CS, do you...
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Age doesn't matter
I dare say if Valve went into liquidation tommorow there would still be CS servers running in 2 or 3 years time.
And your expectations are far too low imho, I would never pay a game that required a monthly fee, my baseline is far higher than that. The currency that is important to me in a game is quite different to flashy graphics and being with the in-crowd on the latest title. A bit like how when you're a teenager you listen to plastic disposable pop music and think Britney is the coolest, but when you grow up you develop a taste in music and seek out the *unpopular* fringes of the art. Most the other adult gamers I know are like that, popular appeal is actually the biggest turnoff, because then it's full of teenagers, cheats and parasites trying to throw a quick scam (like advertising junk food in the maps or something unsavoury).
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quake 2
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Subtlety
On the other hand, a pop-up would turn me right off a game ("Damn, he killed be from behind that pop-up which appered accross the doorway")
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I don't like in game ads that distract from the game, and face it, its easy to do so. However if you have some place that lends its self to ads then, ok, just dont' get in the way. Need for seed is one game tha tlends its self to it, but they have gotten close to over doing it.
The other side of the coin: I don't get any pay from it, I don't get any kind of price break for it. If I'm running a server and you can insert ads into my game, or even more previlant to day, if I type a message and you have ad text scower it and insert ad-links, why do I not get a taste of the pie? I'm serving up the game or the words thats going to bring your and the company revenue, I feel as though for at least hosters and posters that this is profiting off thier work or at least controbutions with zero pay off for them.
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