Streaming Ads in Games - opinions | Forums

[Pest_AWC]

Will the next Rainbow Six game have realtime streaming and changing ads in the game?

This is a concept that started with the release of the movie Top Gun on VHS. They placed a Pepsi ad at the begining of the movie and this allowed them to release the movie at $20 instead of $60-$70 as was the norm back then. This was a win-win...more people bought the movie and Pepsi got a ton of exposure.

With Lockdown, they placed changing ads in the game where they do not make any sense. The game was also a modified console game. They still charged the full $50 for the game and didn't pass on the savings to the consumer and didn't help the advertisers by selling more games... a lose-lose situation.

My opinion on this is that if UBI wants to put ads in games they would be better off either reducing the price of the game or greatly increase the content of the game. The ads should be placed in locations that make sense and not ruin the immersion of people in the environment.

[Perseus_AWC]

if it's done right, I am ok with it.
If I see a real Coke can, or a poster on the side of the bus advertising Wil and Grace I am cool with that too, but if its a damn intro or when I log off it decides to show a fewpages of ads, well, then I would have to punch Chappy's monitor.

[MrVeLLu]

I don't mind seeing normal ads in games (R6 for example) on vending machines, walls, signs etc., where they usually are in real life. If I see a "powered by Ping Pong from Taiwan" sticker on someone's helmet, I'm not happy.

Also something like this is totally not acceptable: "PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO VIEW OUR PRODUCTS BEFORE ENTERING THE MISSION! 30 SECONDS LEFT... 29 SECONDS LEFT..."

Gives me the creeps.

[KungFu_CIA]

I think there is a fine line between immersion -- having real life brand names on things in the environment like Coke cans and billboards -- And blatant in-game advertising...

The latter I will not stand for simply because one of the reasons I play games is to get away from the corporate "sell! sell! sell!" mentality we are bombarded with every waking our of our 21st Century lives.

Also, in-game advertising is SPYWARE any way you cut it because you think the advertisers are going to just be content with showing you an ad? No. They want to know how LONG you looked at the ad and what KINDS of ads you look at longer.

Given the average demographic of video gamers -- or, rather, the assumed demographic -- This means we will see more and more Maxim, FHM, Axe, and Clearisil ads just "miraculously" appearing on billboards and other in-game props which again, is unacceptable because it is balatant advertising and not in-game immersion and the fact they are gathering statistical info. about me through my computer which is illegal (the loop hole of course is the licence agreement everyone has to agree to when we install the game, but that doesn't mean I have to like it).

[Relenquish]

Give me an awesome game I love playing, ill put up with a few ads, blatant or not.

[Brettzies]

I noticed both Lockdown and Swat4 doing this.

As it is implemented right now, I think it is grossly bad for the game from an Artistic standpoint. So far the ads of William Shatner on the Histroy Channel stick out like a soar thumb. They TOTALLY bring you out of the game world. At least the GR:AW ones fit with the overall asthetic. Looks weird in Swat4 as well.

It's kind of cool that they update, but if they do it, they have to implement it better so that they look like they are part of the game environment, and not some stuck on flat texture poster which is from "another world." In fact, I think they should have to get one of UBI's artists to approve that it keeps with the game design.

So far it looks really, really, really, ....really....BAD.

[Malleus.]

Originally posted by Brettzies:
So far it looks really, really, really, ....really....BAD.

Agreed. Maybe it would be possible to do this without breking the immersion, but what I've seen so far was ... bad. Not to mention that the companies don't use ads to lower the price of the game ... at least I haven't heard about such thing yet.
If the ads fit in the game world, and they make the game cheaper, it's okay. Any other combination is unacceptable (for me).

[Thump248th]

I'm fine with it as long as it fits within the enviornment and would be things that we run into daily. If anything this would add to the immersion because it wouldn't just be "super duper cocacola" adds but something we actually can relate to. HOWEVER, if it is horribly placed or in any way takes away from the immersion so that they could get one more buck from another company, then it's a nogo.

[SODsniper]

Since R6-5 is 10+ years in the future, a Minority Report style of advertising would look kewl..



BILLBOARD AD <after Retinal Scan>
"Hay Ding, want to get a nifty new silencer for your weapon!? Shop at Guns R Us!"

[FI_FlimFlam]

Currently it's easy to block them. But as soon as the majority of gamers start blocking them, then there will be another method of hooking into the servers.

Like it or not the advertising is here to stay. It's FREE EASY money for UBI. It's a recurring revenue stream after the inital sale of the game. They will continue to do it and perhaps refine in ways very similar to spyware/adware and some viri to keep users from blocking it. Then it will take a third party firewall or router based solution to block the known IP addresses for it. It will only get worse - just like those cheesy product placements in movies. It's easy money and UBI will take it (heck most developers/producers would).