T.V. News Looks at in-Game Advertising

T.V. News Looks at in-Game Advertising

May 31, 2007
CBS-3 in Philadelphia looks at in-game advertising, a topic of concern to some gamers as well as parents.From the report:
Advertisers are spending 56 million dollars on videogame ads. Using real-time ads that are updated automatically whenever there's a connection to the web...

Experts worry that the ads are here today, gone tomorrow, with adults none the wiser.

"The ads change all the time, so parents have no idea what's being marketed to their kids," Dr. Susan Linn, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood said.

"Kids are going to be exposed to advertising wherever they go, but part of our role is not specifically to target children,"  [IGA Worldwide CEO Justin] Townsend said.

Click here for the video report. 

Comments

http://kiyone.blogspot.com/2006_05_21_archive.html

Product placement in M games doesn't appear to be new.
hmm wouldn't it be possible to simply run a packet sniffer play said game track down what server is being used to supply the ads then simply re-direced to localhost in the hosts file?

by redirecting all requests to adserver.gamecompany.com to 127.0.0.1 would render the server unavailable so no new ad content can be received.

a bit tech savy but it looks like it could work.

No matter what happens with technology people don't like someone will find a way around it.
Adds that are appropriate within the context of the game are fine. So games set in modern day can have them without to much trouble as long as they are not obtrusive. eg. My elite strike team shouldn't have Soda adverts on their uniforms. However if we see a few billboards as we fly over the city in the helicopter its fine.

Games set in the future... well brand awareness is all you can get without ruining the context of the game. Devs are going to have to realize that, publishers are going to have to realize that and ad agencies are going to have to work with developers to make that work.

If the story has civilization ending in 2007, im not going to have a problem with old dirty car billboards advertising a 2007 Honda or ford. I would have a problem if the billboard was in perfect shape all bright and shiny. It shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.

If I was moving through the city and I came across an abandoned car dealer ship with 1 or 2 cars in the showroom that were in moderate shape, then had to find a battery for them and some gas, no problem with that.

A good dev could do some advertising that the player would never notice, it would just be part of the game, and sometimes it could add to the game in the way of adding to the setting.

Its all about how its done.

Though it would be nice if PUBLISHERS would allow some of the add revenue to go towards making the games cheaper.

As for the head on commercials..... marketing genius. Every one hates the company, but they know the product, and when your desperate for good pain relief.... you might just grab head on despite the commercials... not that it does a damn thing for migraines.
In Tony Hawk and certain games I don't mind. Oblivion, Fallout, and BF2142 shouldn't have em though. Games cost a shitload of money, when I'm paying you money for content I shouldn't have to see an ad for Axe deoderant either. Let Axe know that I use Creasote oil instead.
"Who cares if this group of weirdos have nothing better to do than protest capitalism?"

And who cares if we're paying ever-increasing prices for games and downloadable content only to have advertising thrown on us as well? And who cares if eventually when these ads succeed, it's going to start affecting design choices and what genres of title get made because those decisions are going to be based around the best ways to display the ads? Oh but that's right, I disagree and therefore hate capitalism. Grow up.
Some comertcials though should be brought into legal concern. For Example:


HeadOn, Apply directly to the forehead.
HeadOn, Apply directly to the forehead.
HeadOn, Apply directly to the forehead.
HeadOn, Apply directly to the forehead.



Now that just makes me want to carbomb their corporation.
my god have they seen what run on TV? in game ads will be no different......sigh
Yeah, damn you advertisement!

Who cares if you are a fundamental part of our capitalist economic system!

Who cares if it doesn't affect the gameplay in anyway?

Who cares if this group of weirdos have nothing better to do than protest capitalism?
This is my first time posting, mostly because I think this concern is absolutely ridiculous.

"Advertisers are spending 56 million dollars on videogame ads. Using real-time ads that are updated automatically whenever there’s a connection to the web…"

And they spend even more on TV, should parents start cringing in fear every time their child turns on the television. After all, who knows what nefarious ad could show up. What if Little Jimmy sees a Victoria's Secret ad? He could be scarred for life!

"Experts worry that the ads are here today, gone tomorrow, with adults none the wiser."

The same could be said for television ads. Have you ever seen the same set of commercials run twice?

“The ads change all the time, so parents have no idea what’s being marketed to their kids”

Parents don't know what's being targetted to their kids while they're watching Spongebob, and they don't seem to care either.

I'm currently studying journalism in school, and we have a name for these kinds of news stories. They're called "fillers"
If advertising dollars will help the overall quality of a game, I have no problem with it. It's very different than TV, where your enjoyment of a program is completely halted by a commercial. In a game, you usually see the ad briefly, then continue on with whatever you're doing, right?

On a side note, an automatic sneer appears on my face whenever I see the CFCFC mentioned; those people are typically not much better than the PTC, from what I've seen. That little girl holding the stop sign on their website looks positively demonic.
She has a point. In game ads have no regulation or oversite. Sure most are based on your cookies, but if it's a family computer and "dad has been surfin' what he ought not to" then little Jimmy will likely be bombarded with Viagra and Enzyte ads.
Also, there is the curious conclusions that ad companies derive from their marketting polls. Little Jimmy could end up staring at cigarette ads simply because he surfs baseball and nascar.
There are advertising laws for standard television, but those laws are pre-videogame. Do you really think that advertisers won't exploit that loophole in the letter of law?
Advertising could never defray the cost of XBL.
I think the idea is to get parents to think "omg, they're in my kidz gamez, marketing their pronz"

seriously though, game companies seem to forget ads are a way of paying for things without actually paying. If Microsoft wants to send us ads for Best Buy while we're browsing the marketplace ,Xbox Live should be free.
IMO, I think in game advertising is distracting
I personally am against in game advertising. I understand the monetary gain aspect of doing it, but games are meant to be an escape from reality. Now they want to force reality back into it.

I also understand the concerns about what type of ads are being placed in games. I think that the publishers are making suret hat ads are appropriate for the rating the game recieves. So be assured that there iwll be no beer or tobaco ads in your kids Disney game. I even doubt there will be any such ads in M rated games. Right now ads seem to consist of Junk food and Fast food.
I think it's unavoidable since we have tivo and stuff, but I'm concerned whether there is any regulation on in-game advertising when there's too much ads or impede my enjoyment. For the moment, I guess they're fine.

As for the spyware thing, I guess having only the i.p. address is okay. I prefer seeing my own Canadian ads than Americans, just for familiarity sake.
It doesnt work in Need for Speed Carbon either. At least in the UK - i somehow doubt an obviously US city would have ads for the Royal Navy or the Goverments "Ask Frank" drugs helpline.....
people are way too paranoid these days.
Also how is this any different/more sinister than on TV.

I'm sure most (all) parents don't have the spare time to monitor the adverts that children are watching between programmes.

At least in games advertising doesn't (usually) intrude on your fun, and force you to watch some poorly concieved, cheaply produced, crap!
I only like ingame advertising if it is actually enhances the game. For instance, ingame advertising does not work in Crackdown.

It's a futuristic setting, yet it has todays advertising.
usually isnt it the ads are picked from your type of cookies? or do i have the ad selection thing wrong?

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/23/09 at 07:56am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yl2vfw6 Here's the link, good for conspiracy theories.
Posted 11/23/09 at 07:42am
JDKJ: Leaders never follow. Followers never lead.
Posted 11/23/09 at 06:48am
DarkSaber: Anyone been following this Hadley Climatic Research Centre server hack story?
Posted 11/22/09 at 11:48pm
ZippyDSMlee: AE:they feeding you well? I am enjoying win7 and heading to bed...uhg I need to get up early and start back to cleaning/painting blahg >< need tog et stuff done befor thanksgiving....
Posted 11/22/09 at 11:41pm
Andrew Eisen: Just got home from an eight hour recording session at Capitol Records. A lot of fun but damn exhausting.
Posted 11/22/09 at 08:44pm
BearDogg-X: 10 N. O. Who Dat?
Posted 11/22/09 at 09:45am
ZippyDSMlee: JD:I think doc phill is still sout about the break up with his wife he dose not fill holes as much as make them bigger these day
Posted 11/22/09 at 12:06am
JDKJ: You should get Phil McCraken to help you spackle those banisters.
Posted 11/21/09 at 11:57pm
ZippyDSMlee: Oh in the pirate hunter article I need my song ieda heckled DS,JD,Beemon sic im !!!
Posted 11/21/09 at 11:56pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:no I am tried from prepping the banisters for painting , worked on them from 12 to 4 and 6 to 8...after I got back from the store...got up early got ready...blah...been up all day..I need a nap...
Posted 11/21/09 at 11:42pm
JDKJ: No. You gonna stay up late tonight soldering?
Posted 11/21/09 at 11:41pm
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:Don't you mean Mctite?
Posted 11/21/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: @Zip: Neil, Bob, and Lik McTaint. The McTaint brothers. LOL!!!
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:44pm
Flamespeak: I still think military personell, killing other military personell, on a military complex should be handled by military courts.
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:43pm
Flamespeak: I could see this a mixture of the two charges rather than just one or the other.
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:43pm
Flamespeak: I think this was mainly a person who snapped, but evidence is showing he definitely had strong inlinations to islamic-extremism.
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:41pm
Flamespeak: People are trying to claim that Hasan's actions were not terrorism. I don't jump on the 'terror train' like others, however
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:38pm
mentor07825: Britain certainly does deserve it! And the French! God damn it, it was a hand ball!!!
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: mentor07825:Well Brittan dose deserve it....
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:33pm
ZippyDSMlee: Alyric:I don;t hasliburton having to pay back billoins... don;t you love it when the rich roll over the goverment without a care?
Login or register to post shouts