Stolen Pixels #248: HI MOM!

[Xerosch]

The scariest thing about 'Dead Space 2' was Isaac's voice. I know people complained about him not talking in the first one, but if I have to listen to him being tough and cursing all the time, I prefer him mute. And I usually tend to disliking mute heroes.

Why didn't they make Isaac a scared, traumatized person at first who has to accept that he's the only survivor who knows how to deal with the Marker. You know, character development!

 

[itf cho]

HE IS BACK!!!!!!!!
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
*ahem* excuse me. Anyway, good to see he's as hilarious as ever after his absence.

This is a slightly more exuberant version of my reaction when I saw the second strip. I kinda figured that this had gone of the way of Doraleous & Associates, and A Good Knight's Quest.

Great to see it back!

 

[DTWolfwood]

hah i agree about it not being scary. its scary the same way DOOM3 was scary. Initially its creepy. Then it became routine.

Best part of terror in Dead Space 2 is the start of the game when you had to run around defenseless.

 

[solidstatemind]

Oi. With the Dead Space 2 bashing again. I thought it was an excellent game overall. Yeah, that portion of the marketing campaign was obnoxious, but guess what? You remember it, don't you? Then the marketing worked, didn't it?

Problem: We remember the marketing campaign, NOT THE GAME.

Uhm, no. The game is directly associated with the marketing campaign: it's impossible to say that you don't think of Dead Space 2 when you think of the 'your mom hates this game' marketing campaign. The purpose of advertising isn't necessarily to always offer bullet points on why the product is desirable, it's to keep the product in the consumers' minds. This is what they were looking to accomplish.

It's like the 'real men of genius' commercials for Bud Light: the commercials said almost nothing about the beer itself, but they were funny and created an association and people remembered the product. Effective advertising.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Uhm, no. The game is directly associated with the marketing campaign: it's impossible to say that you don't think of Dead Space 2 when you think of the 'your mom hates this game' marketing campaign.

I think about it, sure. As a game with a retarded marketing campaign deliberately aimed at a demographic not allowed to have it. While I have no proof now, I'm sure in a few years I'll be able to tell you more about the campaign than the game.

Columbine made everyone think about Doom a lot more, but I don't see the current crop of shooters eager to have a school shooting blamed on them. There is such a thing as bad publicity, and trying to tap into a moral panic is akin to booting a sleeping dragon in the ass.

The purpose of advertising isn't necessarily to always offer bullet points on why the product is desirable, it's to keep the product in the consumers' minds. This is what they were looking to accomplish.

It's like the 'real men of genius' commercials for Bud Light: the commercials said almost nothing about the beer itself, but they were funny and created an association and people remembered the product. Effective advertising.

So if Bud Light had a campaign, "Your mom doesn't want you drinking this!", would it be considered good marketing? People would remember it, I'm sure.

 

[Misho-]

I hope I wasn't the only want that got the feeling that the Necromorph is a little bit into Milfs. :S Just saying.

 

[solidstatemind]

Uhm, no. The game is directly associated with the marketing campaign: it's impossible to say that you don't think of Dead Space 2 when you think of the 'your mom hates this game' marketing campaign.

I think about it, sure. As a game with a retarded marketing campaign deliberately aimed at a demographic not allowed to have it. While I have no proof now, I'm sure in a few years I'll be able to tell you more about the campaign than the game.

Columbine made everyone think about Doom a lot more, but I don't see the current crop of shooters eager to have a school shooting blamed on them. There is such a thing as bad publicity, and trying to tap into a moral panic is akin to booting a sleeping dragon in the ass.

Again, you're mistakenly thinking that your perspective is the definitive one. Was there anything in the campaign that said that the women involved were specifically the mothers of kids under 17, who would have to purchase the game for their kids? No, there wasn't: you just assumed it... because that's what the marketing team was aiming for: they knew that they would either get people laughing at it as being absurd (in a very superlative way), or they'd get people who thought it was outrageous. Regardless of how they incite reaction, they were successful.

You suffer from the same misconception that so many of the Escapist users do: You assume that you are smarter than professionals in their area. Be it marketing or game design, so many of you are like "They were intentionally doing that..." "...they were trying to make 13-16 year olds think it was cool because they're rebellious against their parents."

Really? You really think that nobody in a marketing firm with an established background of success (like the kind that a big company like EA would use) would have thought things through and realized what the backlash would be against an ad campaign that targeted a demographic outside of the ESRB ratings??? You seem like a smart person; can you really be that staggeringly foolish as to think you are so far beyond people who have are educated, trained, and experienced specifically in marketing?

Really? (and don't let your ego get in the way.)

I really worry about some of you guys. You seem to think that people just stumble into success. Pro-tip: top performers in virtually every single field out there are smart, well-educated, trained, and on top of their game. You see the 'aw-shucks-I-just-lucked-into-this' guy about once in a billion examples.

The purpose of advertising isn't necessarily to always offer bullet points on why the product is desirable, it's to keep the product in the consumers' minds. This is what they were looking to accomplish.

It's like the 'real men of genius' commercials for Bud Light: the commercials said almost nothing about the beer itself, but they were funny and created an association and people remembered the product. Effective advertising.

So if Bud Light had a campaign, "Your mom doesn't want you drinking this!", would it be considered good marketing? People would remember it, I'm sure.

That's entirely erroneous. You're confounding the issue with illogical hypotheticals. No, Bud Light would never do that, because to even suggest underage drinking would result in massive lawsuits. Again, you seem to assume that marketing people are retarded, for some reason.

The point of my making that reference had nothing to do with an juxtaposition of scenarios, it was an example of how advertising isn't necessarily always directly addressing the features of a product. I'm sorry if you didn't grasp that.

 

[Formica Archonis]

You seem like a smart person; can you really be that staggeringly foolish as to think you are so far beyond people who have are educated, trained, and experienced specifically in marketing?

Four words: "Windows Seven Launch Party". Not every idea is gold.

So if Bud Light had a campaign, "Your mom doesn't want you drinking this!", would it be considered good marketing? People would remember it, I'm sure.

That's entirely erroneous. You're confounding the issue with illogical hypotheticals.

I... What? What's illogical about comparing a large company selling a product not meant for minors with the ad "Your mom doesn't want you to have this!" to a large company selling a product not meant for minors with the ad "Your mom doesn't want you to have this!"?

You know what? We're never going to convince each other we're wrong. No sense in trying.

 

[solidstatemind]

You seem like a smart person; can you really be that staggeringly foolish as to think you are so far beyond people who have are educated, trained, and experienced specifically in marketing?

Four words: "Windows Seven Launch Party". Not every idea is gold.

So if Bud Light had a campaign, "Your mom doesn't want you drinking this!", would it be considered good marketing? People would remember it, I'm sure.

That's entirely erroneous. You're confounding the issue with illogical hypotheticals.

I... What? What's illogical about comparing a large company selling a product not meant for minors with the ad "Your mom doesn't want you to have this!" to a large company selling a product not meant for minors with the ad "Your mom doesn't want you to have this!"?

You know what? We're never going to convince each other we're wrong. No sense in trying.

Well guess what? I'm not the one who is going to question myself. I know that I don't know as much as professional marketing personnel, and I don't attempt to claim that I do.

Again, please find me one shred, one IOTA of proof that EA/Visceral specified that they were targeting kids younger than 17 with that campaign, and it wasn't tongue-and-cheek, and I will concede the point, but you can't, can you? I thought not.

That means you're wrong. It means you ASSUMED.

----

Look, I hate to make you look bad repeatedly, but your entire premise is fundamentally flawed. You're basing your assumption on the spurious fact that the marketers for EA are dumb, and they "didn't realize" the backlash that might occur. All I'm doing is pointing out the fact that professionals in the business take those kind of things into consideration.

Same with the whole really DUMB analogy with Bud Light: It would never, ever, EVER happen, because intelligent people who have been trained and are experienced in the industry would know what a bad idea it was. The Windows 7 party thing, while rather... pathetic and misguided, didn't suggest anything that was patently illegal or immoral. So, as miserable a failure as it was, it has no similarity to what EA did, or what you suggest the Anheuser-Busch folks might do.

Let's see if I can make this absolutely clear for you: You are creating a scenario that is patently BULLSHIT and would never happen. In fact, you're helping prove my point-- namely, that marketing firms and departments might actually be populated by intelligent people who wouldn't do something so stupid.

Why?

Because they wouldn't fucking be in business long if they didn't. Occam's Razor.


I will grant that you are correct about one thing: It seems we won't agree. As I mentioned before, you are one of the madding crowd of young adults today who seem to think that theirs is the only correct opinion, and that nobody else has a brain.

Do me a favor, when you take that attitude with your boss at your first job, and you get your arrogant ass fired? Post your apologies publicly here.