Ads in games.. I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about this..

[mouser]

Talk about ads in games has been reaching a frenzy lately.. i have a really bad feeling we may all soon start to see adds in games and stuff constantly..

Here's one recent article:

RealNetworks to stream ads in casual games
It was only a matter of time before advertisers pursued the final frontier in gaming: women.

RealNetworks announced Tuesday that it will begin featuring streaming-video ads within casual games--a game market dominated by female players.

"Initially, the casual 30- to 55-year-old females--that is the demo that we sell. We have a family-friendly ad policy, and there will be no alcohol (ads) at all," said Chris Houtzer, a senior product manager of RealNetworks' Games Division. Houtzer spoke to CNET News.com from the floor of Casuality Seattle, a conference for the casual gaming community. Casual games refer to word and puzzle games like Scrabble, solitaire and mah-jongg, as well as classic arcade games.

RealNetworks has rolled out its in-game advertising initiative first at Gamehouse.com, and lists Hasbro and Honda among the advertisers featured in the first ads. RealArcade, another casual- game site owned by RealNetworks, already has streaming ads that are shown before game play.

"Our current policy for showing ads is one ad every 10 minutes in natural breaks within the game," said Houtzer. The ads will not disrupt play. If a player passes three levels within 10 minutes, she will not be shown three ads, but one ad at the end of the third level before moving on to the fourth, Houtzer explained. The streaming ads shown are between 15 and 30 seconds long.

http://news.com.com/...8640.html?tag=cd.top

[Carol Haynes]

One way to alienate people ...

[app103]

Are these in their online games? or in the ones you download & install and they make you pay for?

I, for one, do not feel like paying to see ads. Buying adware is crazy.

Now if they wanted to make it an online game and it be playable for free, this would be a much better approach to ads within games:

http://www.neopets.c...mes/trix/game1.phtml

Instead of interrupting a game to show you an ad, make the advertising part of the game, itself.

In a better quality game, the advertising can be for numerous products within the same game and be much more sophisticated and subtle, having an almost subliminal effect.

Almost like if Coke or Pepsi pays for a spot in a movie where a character will drink one and the label will be clearly shown and not just merely suggested. Do this a few times a within a game and after constant playing of that game, it will definitely have a suggestive effect.

[mouser]

i think we are going to see more and more of them both in free online games, and commercial boxed games, and commercial online rollplaying games.

[jgpaiva]

Actually, i don't find this as bad as you're seeing it.
There's a game called "trackmania", which was a great payed game. Recently, it went free for everyone, and got a representation in the wcg (world ciber games). It's a racing game, and just like in F1, there are adverts on parts of the tracks and on the walls of the stadium where the games run.

I think, like app mentioned, that this kind pf advertisement makes sense, as long as it isn't something that might interfeer with the game itself or bore us to death (i'd hate to have a 30seconds advertisement when i pass each level of a game, it'd drive me mad).