I understand advertising now. I used to think that the point of adverts was to inform, to provoke a 'Hmm. That looks interesting/novel/useful/tasty. I might give that a go.' type of reaction. Now I know better. Advertising is designed to provoke a 'OKAY! HERE! JUST TAKE ALL MY MONEY! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEEEASE, GOD, LEAVE ME ALONE!' response. A sort of nervous breakdown, in fact. Nothing less than psychological torture.
The pop-up window is a good example. No-one in their right mind would think that a pop-up window does anything but irritate, obscure, distract and generally annoy. Therefore, this effect is deliberate, and desired. It's a harsh world I guess, but most people, given the choice of paying a subscription, or ignoring some adverts, will take option B, so we've only ourselves to blame. (UK TV License is a prime example of this; imagine no BBC, and two more ITVs instead.) In turn, the advert people, who know we're trying to ignore their precious adverts, have to continually turn up the pressure. Where will it end?
Here, perhaps: F13: IGN Whores In-Game Advertising Too!
This is sinister in a number of ways. Certainly advertising in games is already happening, with Anarchy Online's much ridiculed Motley Crue billboards, and more subtle ways too, ('NVIDIA' splash screens, Pentium IV logos everywhere, '/pizza', etc.) but this cynical use of technology effectively presents an off the shelf 'drop-in' advertising system outside of the developer's control, and presumably, a rich cash incentive that a beleaguered game development company could probably use during the pre-launch stages. It's too difficult not to use it.
I wonder when a game will incorporate this system, AND charge a fee. Surely it's only a matter of time, and it'll be down to us to say 'no' when it does happen. I'd like to think we will be strong enough when the time comes.
'"IGN Entertainment's In-Game Marketing Service allows publishers and advertisers to reach the elusive target audience of young males where they are: online and in the game," said David Tokheim, vice president of marketing, IGN Entertainment.'
You see, our asbsenteeism from Real Life has been noticed, and now they're coming to find us and our money...