Dont Mind In Game Advertising?

In game ads should not take away from the realism of the game. Other then that they are fine. They help companies lower costs or pay for maintenance and update fees for online playing. If the ads are appropriate to the time period then it ads to the realism. However if the ads interrupt game play and ruin the realism then they should not be in the game. A good example is a game like BioShock. Ads from today should not be allowed in the game because they would detract from the realism of the game, the game takes place in the 60's so ads for products that were around in the 60's would be fine, like a Coke ad. Under Armor ads in Fight Night Round 3 are great though because it looks like sponsoring and it ads to the realism.

Gamespot UK did a survey about whether or not gamers mind in game advertising. Apparently 73% of gamers in the UK do not have a negative opinion of in game advertising. Also 40% of gamers thought that in game ads added to the realism. Another 30% said that they don't notice the ads and 14% said that it ruin the game experience. More and more companies now are signing up for in game advertising, Eidos and Codemasters are on board with the idea. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars recently announced plans to use in game ads to offset costs of maintaining online play. 86% of people said that they would welcome the ads if it meant cheaper games but 33% said that they would like it if it was contextual and realistic.

Money for Casual Gaming

A study done by Macrovision said that 83% of gamers would be willing to watch a 30 second spot in exchange for free gameplay. This does give new life to the span of 30 second spots, with the continuing advancement of DVR technology 30 second spots are losing their ability to be counted as persuasive. Also according to Shankar Gupta online advertisers are switching to shorter commercial attempting to not lose consumers attention.

More Problems? Maybe, Maybe Not

According to Shankar Gupta one of the main strengths of television as a medium for advertising is that people get emotionally invested in what happens to certain characters in shows and how well different sports teams perform and play. People get involved in it and become attached especially the more and more you watch. A consumers guard goes down while watching something they are emotionally invested in and they become easier to sell to.

Now Gupta believes that people who play video and computer games just play for thrills and like addicts, they do not get involved in the characters or the story. They just play for the rush and do not take anything back from the game.

From person experience I do not believe that this is true at all. People who play games and put the hours in to the game get very emotionally attached to their character because they put in the effort, it is almost a matter of pride how their character does in game. Now while it depends on the game, people do get into storyline and want to know what happens next. This would make gamers and game a great new place for marketers to tap into. There are some issues but most can be solved with some effort and a little bit of technology.

Problems

There are problems with Advertising in video games. Investors cannot be guaranteed a return in their investment also it is a hard thing to assess how many people actually were affected by the ads in the game. Games also take a long time to develop, some take years and that is a long time for investors to wait for a return on investments especially when most advertising campaigns are targeted for certain markets and short periods of time before they are changed. However according to this blog there is an answer. New console games will be attached to the internet and be able to update things like ads while in game and connected to internet. This could solve some problems and let advertisers buy media for a certain amount of time. The technology to track the ads and the view is already being developed and together it could be very effective.

new technology to track when gamers look at in game ads

With advertising in video games being a new place for advertisers to exploit they also now are trying to find a way to track how many gross impression they can get from each ad in game. According to Tom Loftus of MSNBC Nielsen Entertainment Media is working with the game developing company Activision Inc to develop technology to record how many times gamers run into a certain add while playing. Nielsen is the company that tries to track people television watching habits but are not really effective at it. While real world advertisements are fine for gaming I don't particularly want updates being send to how much I do something in a game back to a company for analysis. I bought the game and I want to play it but it is not your business how, when, and why I play. There had better be a DO NOT send information check mark I can click on for the game upon installation.

Podcasts as an industry resource

After listening to a podcast from both Across The Sound and the Marketer's Edge i found that I liked the podcast from Across The Sound more then the Marketer's Edge. However I do feel that podcasts are an ineffective way to get industry related information. They are first all audio and not visual making them lacking in stimuli. They also are hard to get access to not because it is difficult to find but you need to be in front of a computer to listen to one. If you are in front of a computer you might as well be watching something as well. Radio is effective because when you are in a car you have no other choice but when you are in front of a computer your media choices are limitless. Personally with having all those options I would not choose to listen to something when I could watch something. For me visual stimuli have a greater chance of being remember by me then any auditory stimuli would. The only way I could see these podcast being effective is they are used in passing and listened to while you are doing something else. I just don't find it to be an effective method of transferring information let alone industry related information.