Poll: Does labelled product placement in gaming bother you?

[Dragonlayer]

Incidentally, people keep talking about Energizer batteries in Alan Wake but I never saw any: did they censor the Australian version or something?

They must have because it'd be pretty damn hard to miss...

Spoiler

While Googling that, I also found out that...

Verizon has commercials in the game (I knew that but I forgot all about it). When you turn on a TV, if it's a random show or something, said show can have a Verizon commercial pop up

There is also a Ford commercial that can play as well

Wow, that looks almost badly photo-shopped in.

But I definitely did not see these batteries or those adverts on the TVs (come to think of it, there were no adverts whatsoever: it would just show that brilliant Twilight Zone style program and then revert to static). Must be for the American versions only....

 

[waj9876]

Depends if it's something people would actually use.

Like, I can totally ignore a character drinking a brand name soda, because it's a fucking soda. People use those every day.

But if a character start using bing or the kinect or something, well then it just starts being unbelievable.

 

[tippy2k2]

Wow, that looks almost badly photo-shopped in.

But I definitely did not see these batteries or those adverts on the TVs (come to think of it, there were no adverts whatsoever: it would just show that brilliant Twilight Zone style program and then revert to static). Must be for the American versions only....

I don't remember the batteries looking THAT bad but I saw a variety of screenshots on a few sites that had the same photoshoppy look.

The Verizon/Ford commercials I thought added almost a surreal comedic view. I just got done fighting a shadow demon that absolutely destroyed this house and killed a man...oh Hey! The TV is OK and a Verizon commercial is on

 

[CannibalCorpses]

If i pay for a product then i expect no advertising within it. If i pay nothing for a product then i expect lots of advertising in it. It's that simple really.

Don't ask me to pay for a product that someone else has already paid advertising rights on. I REFUSE TO PAY FOR ADVERTISING! Is that simple enough? Ok, let me go a little further. You only advertise shit that nobody really wants and charge your customers extra to cover the costs...*sigh*...i hate advertising but more the people who make it a viable option for drumming up sales.

 

[evenest]

Yes. Ads do bother me because they take away from the sense of immersion. For the record, I am having trouble distinguishing in the arguments presented in this thread whether people are ok with actual ads (say for real world sodas or batteries) and in-game world items that are used for world/mood building.

Someone mentioned Deus Ex: Human Revolution. There were ads and storefronts all over the place, but they were all in-game items (as I recall) and helped flesh out the aesthetic of the world that the creators of the game were making. The soda machines were not for Coke or Pepsi but a generic brand.

In Fallout 3 the billboards helped to give players some insight into the mindset of the populace (pre-bombs) and to give a sense of place. I can't imagine how jarring it would be if they were faded billboards of actual television shows or cars or items in our world.

I haven't played the Alan Wake yet, so I can't speak to the effect the verizon and energizer ads have, but I would argue that those placements took away game space (no matter how small) where the developers/writers could have spent valuable energy in world or mood building. Any conversation that dwells on the "hey, did you see that plug for product x in game y" is a conversation that isn't discussing something valuable to the game itself.

To turn the discussion to a place where product placements are more prevalent, I will mention three movies where it annoyed the hell out of me and broke the mood that the stories were trying to create:

Demolition Man had Sandra Bullock's character explaining to Sylvester Stallone's character that Taco Bell had won the fast-food wars. While the film had numerous self-referential moments (and there were plenty of films in the 80s/90s where Stallone's would reference Schwarzenegger's and vice versa), this particular one to explain why Taco Bell was featured prominently felt dishonest and out of place even in such a campy movie as Demolition Man.

In World War Z, in the middle of a not yet resolved zombie infested escape, Brad Pitt takes a moment (and it is not a short moment) to drink down a can of pepsi. Certainly what he later does with the machine seems organic to the story, but that long moment was uncalled for.

During a car chase in the Fifth Element, huge McDonald's sign. For this one, it isn't so much that they take a long moment to linger on the sign, it is that the product placement could have been accomplished in a smaller more organic way to the tale.

I've gone on too long. I don't like ads in games or movies. I get enough of them in real life that my escapes from reality don't need them as well.

 

[Dragonlayer]

Wow, that looks almost badly photo-shopped in.

But I definitely did not see these batteries or those adverts on the TVs (come to think of it, there were no adverts whatsoever: it would just show that brilliant Twilight Zone style program and then revert to static). Must be for the American versions only....

I don't remember the batteries looking THAT bad but I saw a variety of screenshots on a few sites that had the same photoshoppy look.

The Verizon/Ford commercials I thought added almost a surreal comedic view. I just got done fighting a shadow demon that absolutely destroyed this house and killed a man...oh Hey! The TV is OK and a Verizon commercial is on

Perhaps if the copy I had actually came with endorsements and commercials galore, I could have taken the piss out of them and gotten some enjoyment out of Alan Wake: worst twelve dollars I ever spent!

 

[CaptQuakers]

It helps my immersion as long as the product placement makes sense, I'd rather see real products than fake ones.

 

[XMark]

I don't mind product placement as long as there is a realistic assortment of different products being placed instead of just one advertiser all over the damn place.

I think one of the silliest was the PS2 game Run Like Hell, where there were tons of BAWLS energy drink machines all over the place.

 

[Uriain]

I normally am not paying attention to labelling unless its part of a collectable for that area (find "x" amount of things, etc). If its normal for that game's world to see a Coca Cola ad, then great! It fits the world, won't break my immersion and may actually make things seem more "real" while traversing that world.

If I see a Coca Cola ad in my next fantasy rpg though. . . .

 

[Raikas]

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?

This isn't quite the same as what he was saying, but I do think it gives the game a different story context. So it makes sense to see real places but not real brands in Fallout since it's an alternate history where we're aware of the diversion points, but in something like The Last of Us, which is designed to look more familiar, it's a little distracting to see the fake brands on the soft drink machines or the fake movie posters; I found myself wondering if it was meant as a sign of an alternate world or if it was just a desire to avoid product placement. And either way is fine, but it does distract from the game-world in a meta-sense.

 

[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?

This isn't quite the same as what he was saying, but I do think it gives the game a different story context. So it makes sense to see real places but not real brands in Fallout since it's an alternate history where we're aware of the diversion points, but in something like The Last of Us, which is designed to look more familiar, it's a little distracting to see the fake brands on the soft drink machines or the fake movie posters; I found myself wondering if it was meant as a sign of an alternate world or if it was just a desire to avoid product placement. And either way is fine, but it does distract from the game-world in a meta-sense.

I think putting real products in games is a slippery slope and for me, it only makes me think I got ripped off. I mean, I am not getting any savings on the price of the $60 game but I am being sold to advertisers.

I can't pretend it's something that it isn't. It is a cash grab and it is not an attempt to make the world more realistic. Most people want less ads in the real world, not to have them extended into their escapist time.

 

[Raikas]

I can't pretend it's something that it isn't. It is a cash grab and it is not an attempt to make the world more realistic. Most people want less ads in the real world, not to have them extended into their escapist time.

Yeah, I don't disagree with that feeling in principal, but it's also the truth that while I was playing The Last of Us for the first time over the weekend I did find myself noticing the fake-branded bits early on and later thinking "They're really talking about Twilight" instead of listening to the dialgue during a scene that took place in front of a fake movie poster. I suppose it's a lose-lose thing: if it's real it's an advert and if it's fake it's a distraction.

 

[Johnny Impact]

It can break the flow of the fiction. I tend to think fictional universes have their own products. When I see a bag of Dorito's placed deliberately, my immersion comes screeching to a halt as I think of marketing, corporations infiltrating every aspect of our lives in endless, soulless attempts to make us buy buy BUY, etc.

 

[DrOswald]

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

Would not bother me. If I see a Walmart in the next fallout, so long as it is done well, it would be fine with me. In fact, I see some good potential for jokes and the like in this. Maybe you could have a crazy cult whose headquarters is in the Walmart and everyone calls them "the Walmart suicide cult" or something like that. There is potential for good design there.

- Suppose Nuka-Cola was Coca Cola

Had they always been coca cola it would bother me a little. If the next fallout replaced nuka cola with coca cola it would bother me greatly.

- Suppose empty soda bottles were Coke products

This would not bother me so much, especially if they were just sprinkled in with the other bottles, like maybe 1/10 or something? Might actually be a minor value add, it could be fun to do a "crazy coke guy" run where I find a bunker and fill it to the brim with coke bottles.

- Suppose the pip-boy were made by Microsoft and had that brand etched along the side

This would annoy me a lot depending on the sublty of the placment. If it were just a faint, worn and barely noticeable detail it would not annoy me. If significant design space was given to the logo it would bother me a lot.

- Suppose the 10mm rounds were branded by Remington

This would not annoy me, so long as it was just a texture thing. If they were called "Remington 10mm rounds" it would bother me because the longer name causes some design problems and is annoying.

Would this ruin your experience? Enhance it? Indifferent?

As my responses above indicate, it can be everything from a major problem to a significant value add. It all depends on how it is done.
However, most advertisers will want their product placement to take up significant design space, be very noticeable, and portray their product in exactly the way their current marketing push specifies. This greatly limits the creativity of the designer when they are integrating the product into the game world and leads to the terrible type of product placement that we all are familiar with.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I can't pretend it's something that it isn't. It is a cash grab and it is not an attempt to make the world more realistic. Most people want less ads in the real world, not to have them extended into their escapist time.

Yeah, I don't disagree with that feeling in principal, but it's also the truth that while I was playing The Last of Us for the first time over the weekend I did find myself noticing the fake-branded bits early on and later thinking "They're really talking about Twilight" instead of listening to the dialgue during a scene that took place in front of a fake movie poster. I suppose it's a lose-lose thing: if it's real it's an advert and if it's fake it's a distraction.

Sometimes I think we (those of us who talk about games on boards like this) over analyze games and hurt their entertainment value.

 

[Raikas]

Sometimes I think we (those of us who talk about games on boards like this) over analyze games and hurt their entertainment value.

Heh, I think the discussion has some entertainment value in and of itself - sometimes at least.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Sometimes I think we (those of us who talk about games on boards like this) over analyze games and hurt their entertainment value.

Heh, I think the discussion has some entertainment value in and of itself - sometimes at least.

That's why we can't stop discussing games on these boards, sometimes the discussion is better than the games.

 

[Abe Mac]

I voted yes, and I definitely don't want to see this happen because the only game companies that will get these deals are the big AAA publishers who only want to squeeze every last drop of money from this industry as they can, and I don't want to see them getting any more money for doing basically nothing. Also, no one has brought up the point that a company can shit out a horrendous game, get a ton of advertising deals on it, and still make a profit from the few dullards who buy it and all the ad revenue. All motivation to make good games goes out the window.