Advertising in AO?

[Tristalyn]

I CERTAINLY don't want to see it in a game I pay for every month.

Since you pay for it, you won't!

[epiphonic]

yeah, i can see why that fooking gets your goat now, saint,

here's MY peice.

I think this game would ultimately be the ONLY compatible game for ads. or at least it would be the most likely to make it work.
Think about it. If we were playing everquest I/II or ultima online (eeeww) or any other fantasy game, it would be SO FRIGGIN outta place it would kill the game. Im sorry, pepsi doesnt ring a bell on kunark and FFS these were mideval timelines and asheron's call or ultima online isn't a format for modern merchandise.
I dont think it would work in WOW or SWG either, mostly because of the lack of EARTH anywhere in the story.

But THIS game, omg, is a different story. This is really a Cyberia, and its wide open for all sorts of venues, and advertisement potential doesnt suprise me in the least.
We dance here, live here (sorta), we meet here, we sell and buy here, there is a huge market on RK, which has a community that is more aware of itself than any game I've witnessed. Some people spend all their time playing with just that aspect of the game sometimes leveling to get that tradeskill up, or by accident on a clothing quest.

The walls and structures of the cities are NAKED!!! omg!!
Sure, we have some billboards here and there. But its almost puritan, how bland the cities are.
I mean look at F**king Time Square!! That place has more juice running through it than a solar flare and its all advertisements and huge screens playing advertisements.
I think Omni cities, Borealis and ICC were BUILT to have that kind of effect, seriously, they are the main arteries of commerce and grid/wompa transportation on RK, and anywhere you go, imaginary or real, places like that are BRIMMING with advertisement.

I cant for once imagine that their gonna put up some un-interesting, 2 color NIKE logos on the billboards, it has to be something that relates to the world and has a bit of humor to it or place. They have a creative team the last time i checked so Im not too worried. I rather like the idea because i think funcom can pull it off, and the cities are rather bare.

and i agree with the ON/OFF feature, so at least we can check it out now and then.

Ultimately Im tired of the bland, and as long as the coke is in a can that looks like it came from the year 29470-ish and pepsi comes in cubes, Im ok with the stock numbers flying by in borealis or Trojan condom ads gracing the foggy skies over old athens. ICC should be lit up like an LA airport, Nanomages in Hot-topic shirts and Atroxes in calvin klein ads.


These are cities, y'all!! i honestly dont think your favorite spot in camelot will be spoilt or the waterfall in aegean tainted. And the notum tree wont be decorated for Bon Macey's christmas blowout sale.

CMON! who doesnt want ROME to look like Bladerunner Ville?!?
ok I'll sit down now.

[Draynam]

Epiphonic raises a good point. Why are the towns in Rubi-Ka so freakin' dark?

[Tarryk]

Wowzah, Boo. Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel!

Personally, when all is said and done, I wouldn't even mind if the ads were on the paid accounts too. It's a refreshing dynamic, and very interesting. I'll probably end up playing my extra froob account a bit more just to check them out.

It's amusing that so long as something fits into the neat little world of simulation and simulacrum, everyone's happy playing pretend. The moment it becomes the REAL aspect of what it embodies, people go up in arms and lose their freakin' minds over it.

The GridStream billboard is a make-believe advertisement for a make-believe business in a make-believe world. Yet we are real, we are a non-profit organization, and we certainly don't pretend. The billboard is most certainly there for the very real purpose of drawing attention to us. That makes that billboard a real advertisement for something quite tangible. Why does no-one complain? Because of the honor of it, that we're so noble as to offer our services for free to the public?

Sure, I can buy that, but how is that ADVERTISEMENT any less distracting from the game than an Alienware billboard? I see Alienware billboards, I see an aspect of a futuristic world. How do WE know there wouldn't be a company called Alienware on Rubi-Ka that sells home entertainment accessories? It fits just fine to me, because I don't let myself have a cow over something that can easily be assimilated into the fictional world with a little something that seems to be lacking in a majority of MMORPG players these days: Imagination.

Why WOULDN'T Pepsi, Coke, Trojan, or any other company exist on Rubi-Ka? It's a futuristic world, and we are in no position to dictate what companies would or would not exist in one form or another in the distant future. The only thing that keeps that stuff from being used anyway is the fact that they are trademark names.

Hell, look at all the references! "Hit The Floor Jack". Yeah, that's because they can't use the name "Jack Daniels", but are there any morons out there (save for non-americans who wouldn't otherwise know) who DIDN'T make that connection?

How about Yalmaha? Add a letter to remove liability for using a trademark, people. It means YAMAHA. No-one seems to be disappointed about this use of a major company in their make-believe world. Now what if Yamaha actually bought some ad space, and a billboard was thrown up advertising the company, and all the Yalms were now called Yamahas? Oh for mercy of everything, some people would throw a FIT.

People would complain, for no good reason whatsoever, and I would laugh. It seems human nature nowadays. Simulate it because it's fun, but the moment the simulation gives way to something that crosses into both worlds, have a cow over it.

"I want to pretend that there is a futuristic business and pretend that I am a futuristic consumer and pretend to ignore that pretend billboard."

If you're able to immerse yourself using the above statement, you're able to keep using that imagination to see the in-game advertisement campaign in WHATEVER light you like. So don't throw a fit that you're being told to Drink Coke. You're drinking one right now. So take a swig, smile, and stfu.

[Aameul]

I find the RP complainers rather amusing, myself. If, because I'm in the middle of a roleplaying scene with my D&D group, I can't say "Oh, hold up guys... gotta go grab a coke," frankly, I don't want to play with that group. I'm not going to make up something like "Forsooth! I have great thirst and must quench it! I shall wander down to the river for a swift drink!" when I need a pause in the action.

Roleplaying is what you make of it. It requires imagination. If you can't conjure up enough extra imagination to ignore an ad or work it into the gameworld, you're not trying hard enough. I have enough practice ignoring ads in the real world that it's not a very big deal for an ad in a virtual one to be filtered right out of existance in my head.

[Tacz]

I would LOVE to see Yatamutchy and Yalmaha and Kalinkalov signs hung up in all the cities. It would give it more of a futuristic feel, and if you slip in an advertisement for Pepsi in there somewhere, it doesn't hurt anyone.

[Draynam]

If they changed Yalmaha to Yamaha, would people start calling them Yams? Because Yams = funny.

[Demongirl]

personally I think i'll have to check out the ads on my froob account as well, it would amuse me to see who other than Pizza Hut would buy advertising in a virtual world. I say Pizza Hut because recently I bought the piece to fix my old NES and my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles manual still has the free individual pizza coupon attached and there are signs for Pizza Hut in several places in the game, plus they've recently added /pizza so EQ'ers can order while playing.

All in all I don't really spend much time looking at the billboards and roadside signs in game so to change the Yalm, Alienware, GSP, etc. signs to another advertisement really wouldn't affect me at all. Like has already been said, I mostly ignore RL billboards so I can easily do the same online. Of course if they were to add more paid advertising to pay accounts I would expect for my monthly cost to go down as well. The Alienware ones kind of upset me when introduced but not too much because at the time Alienware was giving valuable items to FunCom which were given away as prizes to the players. I wouldn't want a free 2-L of Coke in return, so paid ads would have to benefit in another way.

I guess all I'm saying is: if FC can make enough money to provide a significant drop in monthly fees or even a no-cost atmosphere, I have no issues with seeing actual companies advertised on the signs on Rubi-Ka... just let me keep my SL wilderness clean and don't clutter the landscapes with billboards everywhere, keep them to the major cities.

[epiphonic]

I guess all I'm saying is: if FC can make enough money to provide a significant drop in monthly fees or even a no-cost atmosphere, I have no issues with seeing actual companies advertised on the signs on Rubi-Ka... just let me keep my SL wilderness clean and don't clutter the landscapes with billboards everywhere, keep them to the major cities.

omg EXACTLY!!

It would blow my mind to see the glowing backlit billboards and flashing lights
of the mega shopping district on the way to jobe then BOOM, im out in the open, no civilization in sight.

man that would be fekkin schweet!!

[Myers]

Why WOULDN'T Pepsi, Coke, Trojan, or any other company exist on Rubi-Ka? It's a futuristic world, and we are in no position to dictate what companies would or would not exist in one form or another in the distant future. The only thing that keeps that stuff from being used anyway is the fact that they are trademark names.

Have you read Prophet Without Honor? Civilization collapses completely, billions are killed, the human race is sent back to the stone age. Then the Omega come out of thier hole and take over doing whatever they want. Would they preseve thier favorite brands for more than a thousand years? Who knows. Would those same brands last several hundred thousand years? Doubtful. But in reality it does not matter because its for non paying accounts (and thats the way it should stay)
I'm just baffled by the attitudes here, would you guys support real life ads in World of Warcraft or Everquest? Is no one interested in the story anymore?

[Vallikat]

Myers, you do realize that none of this has actually happened right? The story is just that, a story. It's made up. It's make believe. It's pretend. Ignore the ads. Pretend they don't exist. Use your imagination. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

[Tarryk]

Have you read Prophet Without Honor? Civilization collapses completely, billions are killed, the human race is sent back to the stone age. Then the Omega come out of thier hole and take over doing whatever they want. Would they preseve thier favorite brands for more than a thousand years? Who knows.

You have a very good point, Myers, but you also rounded it off with my original point: Who knows? I didn't say that the example of Pepsi brand would definitely have survived, I simply said that we're in no position to dictate that it didn't.

[Tacz]

I simply said that we're in no position to dictate that it didn't.

Just like we're in no position to say that we'll have Nano-technology, or a planet called Rubi-Ka, but we pretend that they're there anyway

Just elaborating a little, connecting A to B and all that...

[Boinky]

The only problem I have with the "Playing D&D with buddies in my living room" defense of it is you don't hear the D&D GM say "You pick the lock on the door, open it and enter. To the left of you are 3 Ogres, on your right a sign asking you "Isn't Slice refreshing?"

[Dragonfruit]

well... at least there wouldnt be any advertising out in enigma forest, or WW... and its easier in AO to leave civilization than in RL so I'm fine

[epiphonic]

i REALLY think one of the billboards in omni and clanner land should have
"Make 7" on one side and "Up Yours" on the other

[Boinky]

or "Push your tokens" - "Up Yours"

[Dragonfruit]

haha! or make those items ingame items you can "wear" (wield) like a pizza box or a coke can hehe