Hey if at some point I can drive my car into a McDonald's in a video game, ill be happy. If at that same point I can then walk into Taco Bell and eat food to replenish my health i'd be just ever so more happy.
Advertising in Video Games: Please participate in my survey
- Thread starter MrGalactus
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No problem helping out, but I have a question on #5. What kind of ad's are we talking about? If I had to watch a 30 second ad for a product as soon as I started my game, but no more after that; absolutely I would take a free game for that. Now if I had to watch an infomercial in the middle of a boss fight...
Finished survey wished there were some options to explain your answer a bitArialType said:
OT: Advertising in games can be done both annoyingly or good.
The best in my opinion are when you can notice the product but it doesn't take away from the game or pop you out of your little "reality" for example Rainbow Six Las Vegas. You see advertising for other Tom Clancy games and it really takes you out of the game's setting. A good example would be Modern Warfare in my opinion they advertised Jeep and you never really get smacked by it and drawn out of the game. If the product placement makes sense in the world it is portrayed in then it is fine by me unless say you have a NPC come up every second talking about Coca Cola.
If I were going to play a free to play game but have to watch advertising I would be alright with it if I knew about it up front. I hate be scammed into watching them, and they need to be a reasonable length. Nothing over 5 mins (depending on length of gameplay), and make the ads just before you play, don't interrupt my gameplay to say something like "oh its been another 30 mins of free game play. It's time for an ad then you can get back to your free fun!" If that happens I'll get bored and stop playing after like a week or less.
As for paying more for a game with out ads the general answer is no i wouldn't pay more. But the other answers depends on how much more it costs, how invasive or prevalent are the ads, what is being advertised, what the game is and do the products or ads fit with the game universe. (ie I don't want to see a Ford commercial in a game like Skyrim etc)
All in all don't make it obvious you're trying to sell me something in a game such as Mass Effect or Skyrim. If you try to take away from my escape from reality and fun then I will hate your product with a passion and go out of my way not to buy it. (example if there are cut scenes don't focus the camera right on something for a few seconds hoping i'll notice the new iphone 8 or have blatant billboards that don't fit in game. But the type of game really deems what type of ad is appropriate. If I payed for the game I better have no advertising or less advertising, I better not have to watch an ad before I play, and not be harassed by ads. If I am playing a social game or free to play then I can tolerate one time ads each play through, and maybe the occasional banners but not with too many animations that take me away from what im doing.
Finally I don't really know of an in game ad or ad in general other than on tv that made me want to go out and buy something. So I could argue, from my standpoint, that in game ads don't really work.
Done =)
Question 7 I think? Has advertising influenced my experience? I answered yes, but its in a bad way. This is more specifically anime but if something like this happened in a game, well...
ads popping up, covering the subtitles while Im watching something? I literally dont care what its about, I'll never buy it if the ad annoyed me at the time. By annoy I mean interrupt the experience for the sake of advertising. If you have to throw ads into a game, make them rreeaaally subtle please? Sticking them on loading screens is most prominent its allowed to be without becoming a pain.
Question 7 I think? Has advertising influenced my experience? I answered yes, but its in a bad way. This is more specifically anime but if something like this happened in a game, well...
ads popping up, covering the subtitles while Im watching something? I literally dont care what its about, I'll never buy it if the ad annoyed me at the time. By annoy I mean interrupt the experience for the sake of advertising. If you have to throw ads into a game, make them rreeaaally subtle please? Sticking them on loading screens is most prominent its allowed to be without becoming a pain.
City of Heroes used to have ads for real products on in-game billboards. It worked in context as the game is set mostly in urban areas, the billboards were already there, and their artists would retouch the ads to ensure they fitted in with the rest of the environment (which I think mostly involved throwing dirt at them for the Rogue Isles.)
Being a subscription game (at that time) there was also an option to hide the ads.
All that said, I haven't seen any in CoH for a couple of years now - I think it was a test run that never really took off. The only other game I can think of with in-game ads was Wipeout 2097, with its trackside billboards for Red Bull. But that was Wipeout all over... so cutting edge and trendy in that 90s way.
I don't think I'd mind in-game ads if they fitted into the setting, if only because it'd add a little variety to the otherwise unchanging backdrop of most game environments. A billboard in Paragon City would be fine in a way that a billboard in Orgrimmar would definitely not be. As for pre-game, pre-loading or loading screen ads... no thank you. All that does is get between me and the game I want to play.
Being a subscription game (at that time) there was also an option to hide the ads.
All that said, I haven't seen any in CoH for a couple of years now - I think it was a test run that never really took off. The only other game I can think of with in-game ads was Wipeout 2097, with its trackside billboards for Red Bull. But that was Wipeout all over... so cutting edge and trendy in that 90s way.
I don't think I'd mind in-game ads if they fitted into the setting, if only because it'd add a little variety to the otherwise unchanging backdrop of most game environments. A billboard in Paragon City would be fine in a way that a billboard in Orgrimmar would definitely not be. As for pre-game, pre-loading or loading screen ads... no thank you. All that does is get between me and the game I want to play.
Wow, fantastic results! The survey finally reached the 100 answers barrier, which is a minimum for proper sampling. Can't tell you how grateful I am! And I didn't respect such detailed comments. The Escapist is the most active community of them all.
About question 7 (and probably 6) and the influence of ads: I tried to make questions as neutral as possible, because it's not acceptable to put negative messages in the question itself. But in case of #6 it is obvious that most of you were annoyed, and I will put all recieved comments to good use. I play games myself after all
About question 7 (and probably 6) and the influence of ads: I tried to make questions as neutral as possible, because it's not acceptable to put negative messages in the question itself. But in case of #6 it is obvious that most of you were annoyed, and I will put all recieved comments to good use. I play games myself after all
It's more of the both types. Those ads usually don't intrude your gaming process in such an untasteful way, but happen more often than once, so they may be annoying.feeback06 said:
Done! Although some of the questions were vaguely worded. Work on that in your second attempt! Have a great day.
-Zen Toombs
-Zen Toombs
Done. Nice survey.
When games have in-game advertisments, I think it's kind of cool and it gives the world you play in a more realistic feel to it. Like I said in your survey, the Gamestop ads in Prototype were funny, but they didn't really effect me too much. Everytime I see them, I giggle and move on.
When games have in-game advertisments, I think it's kind of cool and it gives the world you play in a more realistic feel to it. Like I said in your survey, the Gamestop ads in Prototype were funny, but they didn't really effect me too much. Everytime I see them, I giggle and move on.
Completed.
The only time ads have annoyed me in game is the banners at the top of the screen in angry birds meaning you cant see the damn game you're playing. Though that's easily fixed just by turning off the internet until you've finished.
I remember Tony Hawks games having a few actual brands in like Mcdonalds.
Like many others, I think having billboards and vending machines and stuff in games is fine as it actually helps with the immersion. Just if a character ever has any dialogue promoting a product then i think that is a negative and i will buy from their competitors purely because theyre ruining my fun.
On a side note, advertising fake products to satirise real ones is one of the main draws of games like GTA. They had a whole gameplay mechanic (ability to access the internet) purely for this purpose.
And thanks for the compliments about the community. Now repay the favour by hanging around for a while and making some interesting topics
The only time ads have annoyed me in game is the banners at the top of the screen in angry birds meaning you cant see the damn game you're playing. Though that's easily fixed just by turning off the internet until you've finished.
I remember Tony Hawks games having a few actual brands in like Mcdonalds.
Like many others, I think having billboards and vending machines and stuff in games is fine as it actually helps with the immersion. Just if a character ever has any dialogue promoting a product then i think that is a negative and i will buy from their competitors purely because theyre ruining my fun.
On a side note, advertising fake products to satirise real ones is one of the main draws of games like GTA. They had a whole gameplay mechanic (ability to access the internet) purely for this purpose.
And thanks for the compliments about the community. Now repay the favour by hanging around for a while and making some interesting topics
Thank you all again for the answers and comments!
I also enjoy reading articles on The Escapist. I just never visited the forums for some reason. They are indeed very friendly and cozy)
You are right, this is my first survey. Sorry if some questions seemed vague to you. As I said, I tried to make them more neutral, but I will use all the comments.Zen Toombs said:
I will! Actually, I've been hanging around on the site for quite a long time - well, since Yahtzee landed hereDerek_the_Dodo said:And thanks for the compliments about the community. Now repay the favour by hanging around for a while and making some interesting topics
I also enjoy reading articles on The Escapist. I just never visited the forums for some reason. They are indeed very friendly and cozy)
Advertisement has it's place in any media as long as it's done well and tastefully. If advertisement needed to be implemented into a game, one very smart design decision would be to place it on the loading screen for the game. Again, it has to be smart and tasteful in terms of the genre of the game. I wouldn't want to see an ad for an iPhone every time I go between floors in a dungeon in Dragon Age.
Everyone saying "I don't mind ads as long as they aren't excessive" or similar. That's the attitude that will make them excessive. TV didn't always have 20 minutes of ads every hour, it got that bad because people let it get that bad.
Games have done just fine without ads and they can continue doing just fine without ads. You let them put their foot in the door and before long, loading screens will be commercial breaks and loading times will increase to increase revenue. You'll still be paying full price for games too.
Games have done just fine without ads and they can continue doing just fine without ads. You let them put their foot in the door and before long, loading screens will be commercial breaks and loading times will increase to increase revenue. You'll still be paying full price for games too.
Thank you for all the help, guys! The survey has reached 200 answers. Those are great results and a lot of data to work with.
Nuka-Cola is more of a parody. But if you don't notice any ads in your games, that doesn't mean the marketers are doing poor job. Probably otherwiseSober Thal said:
The first in-game ads appeared back in 1970s. They developed with years, of course, but that's natural for a growing entertainment industry. If people are still not bothered by advertising today, that's a good sign, I think.Crono1973 said:
Answered all the questions hope they were helpful. I understand that necessity of quantifying the answers so you can better manipulate the data and although it would mean more work for you some more optional slots for extending or specifying answers would have been helpful for your studies I think. Anyway excellent idea coming to the escapist I hope we have all been very helpful and good luck with your studiesArialType said: