In-game adverstising

[Devyn]

It's getting really popular. I remember when I was a little kid, and I rented Biker Mice from Mars on the SNES. It was a pretty fun game that played like RC ProAm and Rock and Roll Racing, if you remember those (isometric overhead view, pick up items on the track and use then in the race).

It was a fun game, but there was one major problem: There were Snickers candy bar advertisements on the tracks and one of the actual items was a Snickers candy bar. It mad me mad. I felt violated, because I was buying an advertisement. Many of you could care less. The truth is, I don't care if you don't care. I only want to hear from other people who are annoyed with it. It's a bunch of crap. It's getting too popular.

Sometimes I go to a friends house and play Rock Band on his X-Box 360. It's a lot fun (that's an understatement), but sometimes I leave wanting to buy a Fender guitar. I really don't like that with the truth being that I have a metallic blue Jackson Flying V that stomps on everything. Ignore that part please. An executive from EA argues that in-game advertisements help to make the gaming experience more real.

That's bullshit. It makes the gaming experience more corporate and crappy - That is what it does. It makes them free money because you are paying for the advertisement. You aren't paying for commercials that come on the air (not cable or satellite). You aren't paying for those billboards on the street. You are paying for in-game ads. That's right people - we're coining in money to pay for advertisements.

Here come the counter-arguments. "But in-game adds can help cover for development costs and they help us find things they like". Yeah, development costs that come out of your own pocket, let alone the $50 bucks you are paying. "The gaming industry doesn't make any more money then they did before." They were making way too much back then. It's finally evened out now.

Getting screwed in the ass doesn't hurt as much for people that enjoy getting screwed there, but I'm not really into that. Anyway, those ads get in the way of the story and the feel of the game. They pull me back into the shopping mall abyss that I dwell through in the real world, and I don't like it at all. I know which evil corporation I want to give my money to, and those evil corporations are making video games. I don't need references to other evil corporations, especially when I already have two bags of doritos in my kitchen.

The golden rule: If a businessperson has the opportunity to screw someone over, buisnesseprson will. It took them a while to realize the amount of butts they could screw through the medium of video games, and now they've done it. Here's to playing a Mario game in ten years and all of a sudden having the urge to buy some Levis overalls (which will be popular again in ten years). Have a nice day, and remember to hate advertising like I do.

[starla]

Guitars in game or snickers bars don't really make me want to buy anything to be honest. The only ads that ever work for me are big juicy carls jr or taco bell ads.

I do agree, but would you rather have a fender guitar in game or some made up one? You have games like forza and need for speed with real cars that you actually want irl, and then games like burnout with fake cars that you really have no passion for because they don't exist. There are ads everywhere you look and as unfortunate as it is to be infiltrating games, that seems to be the norm sometimes.

Just be glad it's in games like racing games and not Elder Scrolls.

[Overflow]

What I think is funny is the issue of realism in games. If a game is supposed to look realistic, then there should be advertisements. But it wouldn't make sense to see a mars bar billboard in gears of war, even though that game is trying to be realistic. It's hard to explain, but it's like people want games to be realistic and non realistic at the same time. People don't consider mario games to be realistic, but they do conisder games about fighting evil aliens on giant rings in space that can blow up planets and mind controlling bugs realistic as long as everything looks properly proportioned.

As far as advertisements, it does bug me to see the ads for sony lining the rink in NHL games.

[Bleck]

I do agree, but would you rather have a fender guitar in game or some made up one?

Doesn't really matter if you're playing GH4.

But yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say that advertisements don't bother me anywhere, anytime, because only silly people fall for advertisements.

[Devyn]

A made-up guitar? Yes, count me in. You have a point injury. A lot of people would rather play a Fender or drive a Ferrari. I'd rather play a giant mutant guitar that comes alive to eat the flesh of emo musicians. Just me, personally.

Okay, let me be honest. Those situations are quite okay. It's the 'Fender' displays that are annoying. The guitar is cool, and Ferraris are pretty cool too. But the display of logos and billboards is quite annoying, and I don't like paying for it. I also don't watching a movie with a real Applebees commercial in the middle (Taledega Nights). Also, I am glad that we don't have said advertisements in fantasy games. If I were to see an advertisment in a Legend of Zelda game, I would be pressed to organize a boycott.

[kitty]

I quit CS 1.6 because of the advertisements that were integrated into the game. Spawning as a CT on de_dust2 annoyed the hell out of me. Then I decided to grow up and just not give a shit anymore. And honestly, I don't even really notice advertisements anymore.

[Asaudan]

"The gaming industry doesn't make any more money then they did before." They were making way too much back then. It's finally evened out now.

I didn't think there was such a thing as someone making 'too much money' in a market society when he's got a legitimate product to sell that people want. As for the ads themselves, you're not paying for them. You're paying for the game, and the companies being advertised pay for the ads. If the ads are too irritating, you can vote against that practice by spending your money on games that don't advertise.

[Halt]

When you played the old Tony Hawk games as much as i did when i was younger, you get used to it. I learn to deal with it cause advertisements are everywhere these days, movies, stores, buses, magazines. Before you know it, someone will be bitching about being to many in a city..

None the less, Its an Industry. Advertisement is a big deal when you own a company. Anywhere you can advertise that will get you some more hits on your products, is a greenlight.

[Shadow Wolf]

Count yourself lucky they don't read your computer to advertise based on what you look at.

Oh, and if you let a Snickers bar ruin one of the best racing games on the SNES for you, then it's your loss.

[Ransom]

I remember when I was a kid, playing my NES in the late 80s and early 90s, and I'd see the occasional real company or product put in a game. For instance, Pizza Hut in the Ninja Turtles, or the Mitsubishi signs in Renegade. I thought it was kind of cool, because it wasn't common back then, and made the games feel more authentically real.

Nowadays, advertising is pretty common, and I don't appreciate it so much. I can handle it when it's done tastefully, but it sometimes isn't. The key to accepting or condemning it is whether it suits the atmosphere, or sticks out like a sore thumb. Some examples will paint the picture.

DOIN' IT RITE:

• Rock Band. Yes, it does technically have some advertisement by its instrument selection, but it doesn't plaster signs all over the stages, or throw it in your face. In a game about simulated rock stardom, the authentic guitars feel right in place.
  
• Shenmue. That game had some real product placement too. Remember your wristwatch? Timex with indiglo. However, considering how much detail that game had all around, it only gives off a vibe of realism rather than HAY BUY OUR STUFF.

YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG:

• Guitar Hero 3. The guitars aren't really the problem, as they're there with the same reason of Rock Band, but some of the stages were such obvious advertisements. Remember that Pontiac music video level? It seemed so forced-in, out-of-place.
  
• Need For Speed Underground 2. Suffers from one of the worst plagues of advertisement I've ever seen in a game. I don't have a problem with it using real cars, as that's more than reasonable in a racing game. It was an enjoyable racer, but it was just irritating to have to stare at that damn Cingular logo throughout the entire game. The world was also littered with Best Buy stores and billboards. While it might sound like some real stores would help authenticity, there was just no variety to them. Some of those billboards seemed especially shoveled in there. When's the last time you saw a billboard in a dingy back alley? It's kind of patronizing.

As long as it's done tastefully, it's fine by me, but in the case of those latter two and others like them, I hate feeling like I've paid for a commercial. It's really off-putting. In fact, that's part of the reason I stopped subscribing to an Xbox Live Gold Account. I didn't like paying them money and still getting car ads and crap on my dashboard.

[glasfen]

To me, video games are a way of putting reality aside for a moment (or a few hours, depending on the game). I do not want to see blatant advertising of real-world products because I am not interested in reality at that point. Really, all that does for me is cheapen the gaming experience.

I don't find subtle advertising (minimal logos, for example) to be as much of a problem. Even advertising that fits with the game universe is okay (TMNT as Ransom mentioned, or even the Yo Noid game, which can be viewed as one giant advertisement for Domino's). In contrast, fake advertising (Mario Kart tracks) actually makes sense and seems realistic for the game.

Advertising real-world products is just not appropriate (as far as design, ethics, etc.) in most games.

[Halt]

To me, video games are a way of putting reality aside for a moment (or a few hours, depending on the game). I do not want to see blatant advertising of real-world products because I am not interested in reality at that point. Really, all that does for me is cheapen the gaming experience.

I don't find subtle advertising (minimal logos, for example) to be as much of a problem. Even advertising that fits with the game universe is okay (TMNT as Ransom mentioned, or even the Yo Noid game, which can be viewed as one giant advertisement for Domino's). In contrast, fake advertising (Mario Kart tracks) actually makes sense and seems realistic for the game.

Advertising real-world products is just not appropriate (as far as design, ethics, etc.) in most games.

Theres alot of things we dont want in life, or in our games. We deal with it. Ive learned to deal with in-game advertisements, doesnt bother me none, because i focus on the games main story, Surroundings, Graphics. if it has an add. Big deal its the way of the industrys.