Boycott in-game advertising

[CptStern]

Acclaim is about to take product placement to another level with its free, ad-supported massively multiplayer online games next year. Game industry veteran Dave Perry, who's directing 2Moons for Acclaim and creating several additional MMO games, wants to open up the door for corporate-sponsored micro transactions.

"When you buy a virtual item, we're going to do a search to see if any advertiser in real-time is willing to pick up the cost of that item," said Perry. "If you want this sword, it would put up a message and ask if you would like Coca-Cola to buy this item for you."

**** you EA/acclaim/atari I'm not buying any of your shitty ad supported games (even the free ones, out of spite) ..if fact I'm making it a point to pirate those games as soon as they're released but I wont play them in protest

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/games/0,71899-0.html?tw=rss.index


at this point EA would have to set themselves on fire while whistling dixie before I purchase another of their games ..you're dead to me EA, DEEEEAD!!!


boycott Battlefield2142, Test Drive Unlimited, NBA Live 07

 

[Deadline]

But BF2142 looks cool...

 

[CptStern]

give your money to Splash damage, makers of Quake Wars: Enemy teritory ..which looks much better and doesnt have ingame advertising

 

[PvtRyan]

EA is Valve's publisher..

 

[CptStern]

BOYCOTT VALVE!!!!!!!

actually the logical most Valve friendly thing to do is order from steam ..you're not hitting a brick and mortar store for your Valve games are you?

/me prepares to scream bloody murder

 

[Korgoth]

In game advertising doesn't bother me as much if it lowers dev costs, and adds more money to production values as long as the ad is "fitting" and unintrusive... Meaning I don't want to be riding in, sword and shield in towe, on my faithfull steed, into the village of "insert cliche' fantasy town name here", and have a villiager tell me I can gain 50exp if I take the pepsi challenge...

Billboards, or coke machines in a modern setting, that don't look flashy and out of place wouldn't hurt me, they'd kind of add realism to the game, actual licensed cars are fine and dandy...

But I draw the line at jingles, commercials, or the posted scenario...

"do you want coca cola to buy you this sword???"
WTF?

 

[smwScott]

Pumping games full of ads is ridiculous ... although I don't see the problem with free games. I mean, that seems like a valid way to advertise.

But when it comes to games you paid full price for, unacceptable. And yeah, I would have no problem pirating a game full of ads. No sense paying for it twice. The only time it is acceptable is when it adds to the realism of the environment. Ie., it would be fine if there was a coke machine in one building as long as every soda machine in the entire city wasn't also coke, such as Pepsi or Gatorade or whatever else. For racing games, licensed parts and cars actually add to the experience.

Hell, I'll be even more lenient. When they put ads in the manual or on the startup screen ... it pisses me off but not that much. It's when the ad is in the actual game that just infuriates me. The same goes for movies.

 

[CptStern]

the article talks about how developers are creating content around products not the other way around ..it's like they skipped a few steps in making in game ads acceptable to gamers and jumped right into the mose intrusive aspect of in-game ads

..if gamers dont protest with their wallets in game ads will be the norm and we will be the only losers

 

[Direwolf]

You know...this is Acclaim. The company that offered money to anyone who would advertise on their tombstone? That named their child Turok? Those guys? They're not known for being rational or even sane.

 

[Solver]

I don't like most publishers. EA and Atari are two I hate the most. What's worse, the more I learn about the game development world, through experience and otherwise, the more I hate those publishers.

I'm not a big fan of EA being Valve's publisher... but at least we have a way around that. If you buy on Steam, not a dollar of your money goes to EA, which is a great thing.

 

[PvtRyan]

BOYCOTT VALVE!!!!!!!

actually the logical most Valve friendly thing to do is order from steam ..you're not hitting a brick and mortar store for your Valve games are you?

/me prepares to scream bloody murder

I won't once they start supporting Paypal for Steam. But until then, yes, I must purchase the old fashioned way.

 

[Asknoone]

I already boycott NBA Live, I'm not interested in Battlefield and the same goes for Test drive unlimited. Yup, I'm doing my part!

 

[CptStern]

credit card out of the question PvtRyan?


good for you Samon, spread the word ..boycott everything!!! muahahahaha

 

[Aenama]

I don't even care for NBA games....but it makes me mad that BF2142 has in-game advertising,but only time can tell if it's really going to be that annoying.

 

[Korgoth]

the article talks about how developers are creating content around products not the other way around ..it's like they skipped a few steps in making in game ads acceptable to gamers and jumped right into the mose intrusive aspect of in-game ads

..if gamers dont protest with their wallets in game ads will be the norm and we will be the only losers

We play videogames, by some peoples standards, we are already losers

 

[PvtRyan]

credit card out of the question PvtRyan?


good for you Samon, spread the word ..boycott everything!!! muahahahaha

As a student I don't have the income for a creditcard..

And my dad sees internet purchases still as unsafe, eventhough I bought millions of things online. Even big, trusted companies are out TO STEAL YOUR MONIES LOL.

 

[Asus]

Aye, I will be doing my part. Since I'm not interested in those games in the first place. Ads are the easy road for them. They know people will buy anyway. If only they made games better in order to sell more copies instead of depending on Ads to increase revenue.

Credit card spending is all up to you. If you have the money in hand or in the bank then you can use a credit card and just pay it off asap. I used my bank card (visa logo) to buy stuff online for a long time. Then I got an actual credit card since I didn't want my bank number online. Here in the US you can go to a convenience store and buy what I think is a temp credit card with so much money on it (pre paid).

 

[CptStern]

lol my wife is sometimes like that ..despite the fact that it doesnt seem to affect the websites she buys from

not sure how it is where you're from but you can buy credit card giftcards ...basically a card with a set amount that works like a regular credit card except there's no monthly payments ..you just fill the card and go

 

[Asus]

lol my wife is sometimes like that ..despite the fact that it doesnt seem to affect the websites she buys from

not sure how it is where you're from but you can buy credit card giftcards ...basically a card with a set amount that works like a regular credit card except there's no monthly payments ..you just fill the card and go

Yeah, I think that is what you can buy here too.

 

[PvtRyan]

lol my wife is sometimes like that ..despite the fact that it doesnt seem to affect the websites she buys from

not sure how it is where you're from but you can buy credit card giftcards ...basically a card with a set amount that works like a regular credit card except there's no monthly payments ..you just fill the card and go

Going to the store to buy a card to buy something on the internet kind of defeats the purpose

Unless it's really something that you can only buy on the internets.

Never heard of them though, do you even buy them in a store? Do you generally get those at the bank where you have an account?

 

[<RJMC>]

meh sure more people will buy it for the ads

"oh yeah this game is sponsored by converse I am going to buy it cuz I am a cool emo punk yeah!"

I will like to put a bomb in the EA offices

 

[CptStern]

Going to the store to buy a card to buy something on the internet kind of defeats the purpose

Unless it's really something that you can only buy on the internets.

Never heard of them though, do you even buy them in a store? Do you generally get those at the bank where you have an account?

I've seen them at stores (like a gift certificate that Asus mentioned) and I'm pretty sure banks have them as well ..and they're good for gift giving

 

[Asus]

Going to the store to buy a card to buy something on the internet kind of defeats the purpose

Unless it's really something that you can only buy on the internets.

Never heard of them though, do you even buy them in a store? Do you generally get those at the bank where you have an account?

I always see people get them at convenience stores or gas stations, whatever you like to call em.

 

[Ren.182]

Ad's in games generally dont annoy me. Usually I dont notice them at all. It did annoy me a tad when EA dicided to fill BF2142's maps with billboards and ad's etc, and not lower the games price at all. But I'm getting the game at a very nice price of £20, which is like £15-20 off the RRP so it's not realyl gonna bother me as long as they aint in the way.

Ad's in racing games? Don't bother me at all. Seems kinda more realistic anyway, as long as they suit the time period. And Lisenced cars = win.

Sports games... dont play them... They can put as many ad's in those as they like

 

[VictimOfScience]

I already boycott NBA Live, I'm not interested in Battlefield and the same goes for Test drive unlimited. Yup, I'm doing my part!

You and me both.

 

[StardogChampion]

That's only talking about MMOG's.

I couldn't care less if they have in-game ads for that type of game, since there's not way I'm subscribing at £10+ a month to anything.

 

[CptStern]

3 of the games listed in the first post are sp/mp games not mmogs

 

[CyberPitz]

Honestly, it doesn't bother me too much, it will put more money in the pockets of the company, to create better games *hopefully*. Unelss every time you load a level you have to watch some Coke commercial that is trying to make you buy it....that would just piss me off. Much like going to the movies, and you see ****ing COMMERCIALS there. WTF is that? Assholes.

 

[dream431ca]

You should also boycott every gran turismo game as the entire game is a marketing tool.

 

[TheHamster22]

**** you EA/acclaim/atari I'm not buying any of your shitty ad supported games (even the free ones, out of spite) ..if fact I'm making it a point to pirate those games as soon as they're released but I wont play them in protest

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/games/0,71899-0.html?tw=rss.index


at this point EA would have to set themselves on fire while whistling dixie before I purchase another of their games ..you're dead to me EA, DEEEEAD!!!


boycott Battlefield2142, Test Drive Unlimited, NBA Live 07

Wait, wait! What about Spore? EA is publishing Spore aren't they? D: D: Planet Coca Cola, the Pepsi species, the horror! ;(

 

[CptStern]

You should also boycott every gran turismo game as the entire game is a marketing tool.

isnt that the game where in it's next iteration they're selling paired down version with minimal cars/tracks ...so that you could buy additional cars/tracks online? ...heard somewhere that if you wanted all of them it would cost in the $600 ball park range?

 

[dream431ca]

isnt that the game where in it's next iteration they're selling paired down version with minimal cars/tracks ...so that you could buy additional cars/tracks online? ...heard somewhere that if you wanted all of them it would cost in the $600 ball park range?

Link? I've heard of downloading new cars but 600 dollars??

 

[CptStern]

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/23/2029222

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153775

1up says upwards of $900 for everything

 

[Ren.182]

The Gran Turismo thing I hate. In fact I hate pretty much any microtransaction. If I buy a game I don't want to have to pay some extra cash to get some extra content which should be in the game anyway. So many companies using Microtransactions now too. >_<

 

[Beerdude26]

Reporter: "So, tell me, why do you love Coca-Cola so much?"
Coke Addict: "They bought me my Dreadnaught Breastplate in WoW."

 

[Jintor]

Am I foreseeing a "Save the world from the great Old One Pep-Si" in a Coca-Cola Sponsered game?

 

[MorganFreeman911]

You're not the only one.
*shudder*
Man that's a scary though Jintor.

 

[J_Tweedy]

Ads in video games? Build a bridge and get over it i say- its not as if advertising hasn't invaded every other form of entertainment we use, and gaming was no 'ad free haven' anyway. Bring it on, and test my powers of ignorance!

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Simply put, I don't care enough and do not see this as the downfall of gaming. Advertising has invaded every other media outlet and great works of art are still produced. EA gets trashed for shady ethics enough as it is, I expect this kind of thing. I am never going to be forced to buy a game in which the items consist of "Greater Cheez-It sword of Snacking" or "Nike's Sludgerunner Boots" so I wont, i'll stick to paying every month similar to HBO's model of business.

Think of it like HBO/Cinemax/Showtime VS regular Cable networks. In Capitalism you can pay to opt out of any kind of annoyance, advertising is just another way of getting money into the hands of developers and people who deserve it, I can actually see this as working to reduce the downward effects of piracy, so they hope we reinburse the ecnomy somehow, you do not have to listen, other options are always available, but do not panic over new business models in gaming, they can only help at this point.

 

[nutcrackr]

I'm all for ad supported games when the savings are passed to the consumer and the general game design isn't altered because of the ads. Trackmania Nations for example is free and has a few ads on the billboards around tracks, savings are passed onto the consumer and the game doesn't suffer (some say it might be enhanced by real world products)

BF2142 is an example where no savings are passed to the consumer but it probably isn't going to alter the gameplay or design too much. This MMORPG looks like it passes the savings onto the consumer but directly effects the game design by having in your face advertising crap.