Poll: In-Game Ads, your thoughts

[clippen05]

One form of advertising I was okay with was in Burnout: Paradise. The in-game billboards displayed ads for real life companies, some of them were even promoting President Obama if I remember correctly. I think that's a pretty cool and unobtrusive method for advertising in games, but obviously it wouldn't work in all games.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Having commercials added to future installments of my favourite games would cause me to do two things: 1) not buy said games because I hate having ads shoved in my face and 2) not buy the advertised products because they would then be responsible for me not playing my favourite games. Seriously, fuck ads.

 

[Megahedron]

I think it could work well in sports games. The backstop of the baseball game I'm watching right now has an ad, so there's no reason "The Pete Holmes Show" or Progressive couldn't spend a little to show up in game (though I assume progressive already is, as they bought naming rights to the field).

... Go Tribe.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I think a very important question needs to be asked before one determines their dispositon on ads in a game. If the answer to the question "Did I just shell out money for the purchase of this game?" is no then it's a F2P and you deserve all the crappyness that comes with F2P games.

If the answer, however, is yes then grab your pitchfork and torch, and join the angry mob.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I'm gonna go with fuck no. I despise ads in things I've payed money for. It's one of the big reasons I don't watch very much TV. Putting loading screen ads or popups in your game is a sure-fire way to make me not want to buy that game. Even product placement, as a rule, is something that I hate, unless it's cars in a racing game or something equally non-obtrusive.

 

[antigodoflife]

Ads in games are fine, like Snake drinking Pepsi in Peace Walker or BOSS coffee (and everything else) in the Yakuza series, add your advertisements to your hearts content, there just needs to be two rules:
1.) It needs to make sense for this product to exist in this world.
2.) It needs to be in the same style of the game.

Imagine if you will, you're playing Fallout and you come across a billboard and on that billboard there was an old "Gillette Safety Razors" ad from 1940. Would you think that was cool or distracting? I personally think it'd be cool and a nice piece of history.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Passive ads are fine like say for example, if a billboard in GTA was advertising another game, I'd be fine with it.
Any ad that the game forces me to look at is unacceptable, be it loading screens or pop ups.

Realising I've been horribly ninja'd again, I'll do a dance to add something unique to my post and entertain you... too bad you can't see it.

 

[romxxii]

So long as it's for a F2P game, I understand. bought-and-paid-for games, on the other hand, should restrict it to an easily-avoidable incidental prop at most. Running an actual TV commercial in-game is just tasteless promotion, especially since we already paid good money for the product beforehand.

The only exception to this would be the "Robocop clause": if said advertisements are part of a satirical depiction of the soullessness of mass media.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Ads that are in the back round? I wouldn't mind too many of those. I don't have any strong opinions either way. Ads that get in the way of the game would be certainly dreadful.

 

[Mikejames]

Then I played Alan Wake.

Nothing was more jarring than collecting battery packs for my torch with a high-res 'ENERGIZER' logo shining out through the game. The branded cars I could manage. Then I turned on a television in a mental-care home that was being besieged by intangible 'darkness' and some guy started calmly informing me about the benefits of Verizon Mobile.

I'm gon' go with no.

Beat me to it. I hardly noticed the cars, and the batteries didn't really bother me, but a literal in-game television commercial verbally speaking to me during one of the dark atmospheric pieces?

Why?

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I play console games (handheld and console) almost exclusively so I can avoid advertisements. Yeah, yeah, I know Crazy Taxi, Bionic Commando Remake, Yo Noid, there is no escaping some adverts but at least those are mostly out of the way and passive. Another note about in-game adverts like the ones I describe, it makes the game world seem more...real. Granted, I don't understand why April O' Neil's apartment would have adverts for Pizza Hut at every corner and, stairway.

 

[Olas]

I don't want to bore anyone with my longwinded ramblings of how advertising is the greatest obstacle towards a flourishing economy, culturally rich society, or how it also erodes artistic integrity. I'll just say no because ads also simply annoy me.

 

[GAunderrated]

I don't want to bore anyone with my longwinded ramblings of how advertising is the greatest obstacle towards a flourishing economy, culturally rich society, or how it also erodes artistic integrity. I'll just say no because ads also simply annoy me.

Although you didn't go into detail I completely agree with you. Advertising was always thought as a "necessary evil" but in reality its not. It is just another parasite leeching onto hosts until said host dies. Then they move to another host.

 

[Something Amyss]

You know what ads piss me off? ALL OF THEM, but especially ones in video games.

Trying to play on a TF2 server yesterday as a pyro, charging at the enemy when all of a sudden the adverts pop up and I die because "lol buy my things pls".

I hope this does not become a habit for all to follow in the next gen.

Yeah, the ones that interrupt gameplay are especially annoying. I can tolerate a certain level of ads, though I'll never like 'em, but some levels are actually game-breaking. And I think we're headed more towards that, anyway. Companies are so scared of not getting your attention they practically reach through your screen and grab your shirt.

 

[Something Amyss]

Although you didn't go into detail I completely agree with you. Advertising was always thought as a "necessary evil" but in reality its not. It is just another parasite leeching onto hosts until said host dies. Then they move to another host.

So they're like the Goa'uld? I was wondering why so many ad execs fly around in pyramids.

 

[Fox12]

Completely unacceptable in any form. There's a very strong push to make video game more like television. That's the real reason that Microsoft is pushing t.v. so hard. This needs to be understood. If given their way, they would gladly interrupt gameplay in order to show you an add. It starts with the whole "watch t.v. while you play" bit, and then it expands. If they can blur the lined between the two mediums then they've achieved their goal. That's the direction Microsoft wants to move in, and they see nothing wrong with that. Sony would like to do the same, but they're a little more intelligent. They aren't going to risk a massive shit storm unless they hold all the cards. That's why it's good to have so much competition. Expect the adds to grow in prevalence, though.

 

[thsykea]

It depends on how its dealt with but if it becomes accepted I just think they will keep pushing to see how far they can get away with stuff and for that reason I dont support ads in games on any level I would rather not have the game at all than one with ads in for the most part.

That said there is nothing stopping them from funding games to be released for free that is nothing but advertisement for their product like the Pepsi man game on the PSX (think it was PSX anyway).

There was "Cool Spot" for the Sega Genesis(or that's what I played it on) which was you play as the red dot from the "7-UP" logo...

OT: But yeah, as most people said... if its billboards/posters/vending machine for ads for real world products is fine by me. But actual 15-45 second commercials? no...

 

[Callate]

A stray billboard in a game? Fine- so long as they aren't actively changing the architecture of the game to make room for more billboards or to make sure you pass them more often.

Actual, unskippable commercials? I don't even like being prevented from skipping the company's logo the third time I run a game. If I'm being prevented from accessing a game I paid for- if my processing cycles and/or bandwidth are being hijacked to use against me- for commercial gain- I am throwing a fit. I am writing angry e-mails. And I am probably not buying a game from that company until I hear that they've reversed their policy and apologized.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Fuck no. I HATE advertising. Product placement I can deal with as long as it's appropriate, but in-game advertising can fuck right off.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Fun fact: unless its really unobtrusive any sort of product placement makes me remember the brand, with a note to never buy said product.

The more intrusive and immersion breaking it is, the longer the boycott lasts.