Poll: Does labelled product placement in gaming bother you?

[Canadamus Prime]

It depends if it's appropriate or not. If the game takes place in New York and you wander into Times Square I'd expect to see those huge screens flashing with the Coca-Cola logo or if we're talking a game like Forza Motorsport (which I won't play) I'd expect to see product logos plastered all over everything. However if there was a huge banner for Pepsi in the middle of, let's say Skyrim, that wouldn't work for me because it conflicts with the aesthetic of the game.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Depends.

If a guy drinks a soda and it just "happens" to be mountain dew, then it's fine.

If you spot a convenience store on a road and it "happens" to be a Wal-Mart, then its fine.

If you use, say, a Coca-Cola Zero bottle as a powerup meter, then no, it's not fine.

 

[Senare]

To answer this I have to explain why I do not like advertising. I believe that advertising promotes products on a subconscious level with a biased agenda of selling the product regardless of its quality. Thus it subverts your consumer decisions (if you base them on quality), and therefore you will end up supporting different products with your money than you would if you made an idealized "completely informed and unbiased" decision. A complicating factor is that all advertising vying for your attention creates unnecessary information noise that I think can further cloud your judgement.

I voted "It depends..." because sometimes the product placement admittedly serves the game more than it serves the product/company's agenda. For example, use of outdated product and company names for authenticity in a WW2 setting rather than a bunch of suits paying the developers to put it in is fine by me. But to only go this route and monetize it in the Fallout example would make me miss out on fantastic satire (mirroring real companies and subverting their message). So the fake brands in many games can sometimes serve the games better than their real-life counterparts as well. Real-life product placement would ruin my Fallout experience.

 

[skywolfblue]

It depends.

1) Can you look away, is it forced on you, or is it merely a billboard on a building like real life?
2) Is it appropriate to the setting? Modern and near-future games sure, but if you have a game about World War 2, or Dinosaurs and all these modern-day adds are plastered over everything no.

 

[Shadow flame master]

Nope, I'm more preoccupied with my enemies trying to kill me than seeing a Pepsi Co. sign by a flaming car.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Well in some cases it can actually work, such as the NHL franchise where the side boards and ice are covered in ads by sponsors of the team. In those cases I don't mind because it actually makes me feel more at home playing the game than, say if the boards were just blank.

 

[Zhukov]

I'm yet to see an example of in-game product placement that bothered me.

In fact, I'm having trouble remembering any product placement at all.

So no, as of yet I guess it doesn't bother me. Although, if they were to stick a Coca-Cola ad in the middle of a fantasy game or something, then yeah, that would make my eyes roll clear our of my skull.

 

[Brian Tams]

My only problem with it is if the game is has product placements up the wazzoo, and yet still comes out at full price.

Its really the same logic I apply to download games still being sixty bucks.

 

[DRTJR]

If it's in GTA5 no I almost expect it. It would bug me if it were in Dragon Age Inquisition if we stumbled over Mountain Dew.

 

[DirgeNovak]

If you're going to charge me sixty cunting dollars for a game, you better not cram it with ads everywhere. If you get a sponsorship deal (that probably costs hundreds of thousands if not millions) and don't reduce the price for consumers, you are a crook. Yes, I'm looking at you, Bionic Commando!

 

[norashepard]

If it in a major part of the game it would bother me, like your example of the microsoft pip-boy. But in atmosphere, like billboards in the distance, storefronts, or other things like that, I'm not so annoyed.

But honestly, if a designer doesn't want to take the opportunity to make all sorts of silly new names for stores, I'm not sure they know what fun is.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

What are your thoughts on labeled product placement in gaming?

I consider my opinion to fall in the minority when I say that I'm perfectly find with it. This is true for all visual medium simply because it helps create a sense of immersion to the experience. If a scene involves a fridge opening and it contains generic unmarked bottles of liquids of various colours I can't help but laugh.

Let's use Fallout 3 as a general example:
- Suppose the Super-Duper Mart was actually Walmart
- Suppose Nuka-Cola was Coca Cola
- Suppose empty soda bottles were Coke products
- Suppose the pip-boy were made by Microsoft and had that brand etched along the side
- Suppose the 10mm rounds were branded by Remington

Would this ruin your experience? Enhance it? Indifferent?

Except for the last one, all those would would ruin the fuck out of the immersion and feeling that I was in an alternate 50's styled universe. (Remington was founded in 1816 before the timeline diverged around 1945, while the others were all created after except for Coca Cola which was replaced by the now iconic Nuka-Cola).

For near present, present and near future settings it doesn't matter that much, in-fact your opinion is correct in those cases if it isn't too blatant and obstructing (ie you can damage the signs and use the drinking machines as weapons instead of them remaining static).

However Far future/science fiction, historical, fantasy and alternate reality settings nearly any sort of product placement would be highly inappropriate.

Besides, for the most part product placement tends to make me not but the products in question, especially if its blatant.

 

[WeepingAngels]

So many people who just never learn. People say "I don't mind it if it fits the setting" and "I don't mind it if it's subtle".

Take a look around people, advertisers never stop at subtle and your acceptance of their bullshit only encourages them to shove more ads in your face. People should be insulted to pay full price for a game or a service and then have their own eyes monetized. I guess it all comes back to conditioning though, people have become accustomed to ads everywhere.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Actually, if used correctly, product placement can ENHANCE the immersion in some games. Let's take Doom 3 for example. You see a couple soda vending machines around. Now, when I see a Robo-Cola machine, I'm thinking, oh, that's not a real brand of soda and then I'm reminded that I'm just playing a game. That's a big no-no for immersion. Now if I saw a Coca-Cola machine or a Sprite machine, I would subconsciously think, wow, that's an actual brand. You see, then it really feels like a possible future.

 

[uchytjes]

I'm perfectly fine with product placement in games, but only if it makes sense in game. If I notice the ads, you aren't doing your job right. They should fit into the world seamlessly, but still be noticeable if you look for them. For instance, haveing an ad for some modern product in a game that takes place in an alternate reality where aliens took over in 1962 doesn't make sense. But, having a slightly degraded ad of a product from 1962 that still sells today would do well.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Actually, if used correctly, product placement can ENHANCE the immersion in some games. Let's take Doom 3 for example. You see a couple soda vending machines around. Now, when I see a Robo-Cola machine, I'm thinking, oh, that's not a real brand of soda and then I'm reminded that I'm just playing a game. That's a big no-no for immersion. Now if I saw a Coca-Cola machine or a Sprite machine, I would subconsciously think, wow, that's an actual brand. It really feels like a possible future.

So when you see a real brand, you forget you are playing a game?

 

[Arnoxthe1]

So when you see a real brand, you forget you are playing a game?

For some games and when it's done right, yes.

 

[sXeth]

If its just the relevant item in a setting presumably based in our world, where it would normally be, it nots a big deal. Its more when it appears obnoxiously (if your loading screens just happened to constantly be giant pictures of the products for instance), or its completely at odds with the setting (I remember a free to play MMO on some alien world post-apocalypse that had real world ads on some billboards)

 

[Something Amyss]

If a scene involves a fridge opening and it contains generic unmarked bottles of liquids of various colours I can't help but laugh.

Those games must really suck if something that trivial takes you out of them. Perhaps it's not the product that's the issue.

Actually, if used correctly, product placement can ENHANCE the immersion in some games. Let's take Doom 3 for example. You see a couple soda vending machines around. Now, when I see a Robo-Cola machine, I'm thinking, oh, that's not a real brand of soda and then I'm reminded that I'm just playing a game. That's a big no-no for immersion. Now if I saw a Coca-Cola machine or a Sprite machine, I would subconsciously think, wow, that's an actual brand. You see, then it really feels like a possible future.

So wait...In a game set in the future with aliens from Hell, you need Coca-Cola to ground you?

The ONLY way you can see it is a plausible future is if the exact same product exist 140-ish years from now?

...I don't get it. I just don't get it.