In-game Advertising

I enjoy advertising so much, I always run like hell from it. Many years have passed since I watched any T.V. program. The reason is the annoyance of watching a hefty number of advertisements with each and every one of my favorite TV shows. Even HBO ? a paid TV channel ? unleashed a whole lot of advertising bombardments across the surface of my beloved eyeballs. I would pleasurably pay any amount of money just to be left alone by those crazy ladies that chew gum, wash clothes and drink sweet, brown, poisonous soda pop. I really miss those times when all Newsweek issues tempted their readers with heavenly shots depicting half-naked women next to cars, cigarettes and scotch bottles. Today, there is only stuff like McDonalds, bleach, instant soup and Coca-Cola. What is so hot about this? Why should one spend his hard-worked earnings on oil-derivates?

In the dawn of my riot against advertising, I used to go to expensive theaters. Today, even these places are not a safe haven from the advertising invasion. There are few advertising-free landscapes. Otherwise, wherever you turn your eyes there must be something that promises you a better life if you buy it.

Game or Movie CD/DVD, novels or mountain forests are probably the last places on earth where my eyes may find the break they long so much for. However, even these places/things are threatened by some crazy, disrespectful buddies who learned that people like me can become an advertising target.

Well, it isn?t exactly their fault. It is their business to haunt eyeballs and lay waste upon them with precise advertisement runs.

I already deliver a hefty amount of bucks in order to receive my chunk of happiness traditionally called ?computer game?. Why should I approve in-game advertisement? The price won?t change. Only the developer/publisher remuneration will. What?s in it for me? Better game projects, better visuals, better stories? None of these, because from what I have learned they will only receive between 1 to 3 U.S. dollars for each advertising-stuffed copy sold. They can?t even say that thanks to in-game advertisements, bankruptcy can be ? at last! ? avoided. Multiply those breathtaking 3 bucks with ten thousand copies sold. This humongous 30,000 $ would barely cover the janitor?s salary.

As for those VIP titles like Splinter Cell, GTA, Half Life, Doom, World of Warcraft or Unreal Tournament that already cost around fifty U.S.D. and sold above one million copies each, why should they be enchanted with advertisements as they already are gold mines?

I guess it is the same problem as it is with the security software that, instead of preventing piracy, prevents the costumers from receiving a quality game experience. There is no respect for the customer. And they have the nerve to accuse some of stealing their merchandise. How about we accused them of leaving us high and dry after buying some crap of theirs that promised to be an ?outstanding, state of the art, next-gen, so-forth, so-forth, and ending on the left foot in the audience?s ovations: the best of the best? game experience?

It looks to me like someone realized that there is no chance he would convince anyone to buy his junk so he decided to try his luck with promoters. I already feel sick thanks to the S.W.A.T 4 patch or the Splinter Cell?s (so out of context) Airwaves commercial. In case no one noticed, respectable gamers ? and I cannot believe one who is not ? hate in or out of context in-game advertising.

Even if one argued that advertising brought some notion of reality to the game experience, this would be something as despicable as advertising itself. Games are supposed to be fantasies. Why should one need that pinch of reality in a game? Except simulators (motor, sports or flying games which are indeed supposed to simulate something that actually exists) why should a gamer approve in-game advertising? Games won?t get cheaper, won?t look neater, nor feel better. It will only make some, few people, richer.

Is there something to be done about this? Things have always been like this. Some thrive one others' backs. We are all free to refuse buying crap. But can we live our lives happily without it? If not, we will continue to buy those games we believe to be enjoyable, with or without Coca-Cola or detergent advertisements. It makes no difference if we express our disapproval. From their point of view, few buyers make no difference. And some prizes lost will only disturb the way their product covers will look like.

I am an idealist, I like to see myself as some weird kind of utopist philosopher, and I believe I can buy myself the way of life I love. The problem is there's no one eager to sell me what I need. There won?t be +3 $ versions of a game advertisement-free as there aren?t any advertisement-free paid cable channels. So I?ll have to live with it.

I wonder how much time it will take for some screwball to realize the advertising potential of works of art? I can hardly wait to read a 100$ masterpiece signed by Dostoievsky with its pages covered in colorful advertisements and long phone numbers or to contemplate the Tintoretto?s ?The Man With The White Beard? holding a Gillette Mach X razor. I guess, until then, computer games will do.

In-game Advertising

The future of games: not just crappy, but also annoying.