In-Game ads

I don't see any problems with them if they were in 'natural' sitiations in the game, e.g. an advert for CocaCola on a bilboard within a city scape. I would find blatent advertising e.g. a banner going across the screen trying to sell CocaCola very annoying.

dylunio

Definitely, a banner going over the game is in no way what in game ads would be all about. In game really means *in* game, blending into the actual virtual environment.

It could work, although no doubt there would soon be an equivalent of Adblock. The number of people that will use the no-ads version of the game depends on how annoying the ads are, so the ads should fit in their environment, and there shouldn't be too many.

Of course, that's why advertising shouldn't be excessive. It should just nicely blend into the game. I don't like the use of adblocks when it is really uncalled for. Both sides, the users and the publisher (be it game or web) should have some consideration.

Way back in the day when I played WarCraft III, I remember there being ads on the top of the screen when you were in the chat channels. No one complained about it. Nexuiz could do this in the server browser.

dylunio's idea of inserting them in appropriate places in maps is good too.

Then again, there's also this (why can't supermike start topics for Libervis here instead of Nuxified...).

I wouldn't mind those kinds of ads in server list either, but I think much more effective and attractive are still real in-game ads. If it's a racing game, then boards could be on the side of the road displaying ads. If it's a shooter, well there's always a few empty walls which can house a futuristic looking display containing an ad. And so on.

About supermike, I agree. I think we've been mentioning that to him before, but he just seems to be more at home there for some reason. :\

I've found that most games which integrate advertisements do so in a tasteful way so as to avoid critical review, and generally it makes the game world feel more real and fluid. For example, if the Gran Turismo series of racing games lacked the in-game advertisements that are so prolific, it would detract from it's level of realism.

But a bad handling of ads would be to flash NetFlix banners all over your screen every time you get fragged. Not such a nuanced way of putting them in there.

Indeed, that's what I think as well. In some games ads can actually add to the experience, rather that ruin it, and why not use that opportunity then.

this was spam, post preserved because of amusing reply -- tbuitenh

EDIT: I edited this a bit to remove words we don't like to see on this site. Words between {} are my replacements. -- tbuitenh

And that ad will never work without {smurf pills}. Nikki must have the largest {birth canal} in the world but you failed to specify that. The plot is crap, a sentence isn't finished, and is Nikki a ghost or being with paranormal capacities who can pass through doors? Off to a bad start, do a writing course before you post here again.