How do you feel about sponsored content?
By
2short2care,
Posted on: 2011-08-05 23:47 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I would love it providing it was as presented in the op. You don't have to watch if you don't want the item. That way it doesn't affect those who don't want to watch the ad in any way what so ever.
And the sword of omens or similar item wouldn't wind up being prevalent in the game anyway. It would be just like every other new powerset or archetype that has popped up. For a couple weeks you would see it everywhere, and then it would become rare. When dual pistols came out you couldn't turn a corner without seeing firing their fancy pistols. Now look at it.
Don't count your weasels before they pop dink!
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You do realize that anytime the mods advertise to follow them on twitter to win a free costume code or game code or to like them on facebook to get a 100% exclusive emote in-game, that's advertising, right? So I guess they lost you as a paying customer, right?|
Originally Posted by DarkGob
My opposition is purely philosophical. I despise advertising because it is by its very nature insulting, and in fact as a consequence of that I am less likely to be swayed by it.
Doesn't matter how much you doll it up (lipstick on a pig anyone?), I will oppose in-game advertising in any form. The only reason I mostly ignored the previous failed attempt at it is because it was turned off by default. Start tying it to in-game items of any kind and you've lost me as a paying customer. This is City of Heroes, not City of Pepsi. Please keep it that way. |
And how would anything suggested in this thread be any less intrusive than billboards in the game, even if those billboards are turned off by default. A bi-monthly newsletter you can kindly delete or unsubscribe to in your email box or a link in the launcher you can kindly ignore does not make the game City of Pepsi.
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King of Electricity, Lead Inmate running the Carl and Sons asylum, the "Man" behind the Establishment, Given Honor in Hat Form By Paragon City (Favorite Forum Poster 2006!), Master of Ceremonies of the Fair Use Law podcast
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Maybe it's just a Virtue thing, but if you wouldn't care for those advertising Swords of Omens, Target T-shirts, drinking Coca-Cola or walking around displaying a Sony Robot, how do you feel about all those people advertising the fetish gear? |
Originally Posted by TonyV
I'm going to take a bit of a different tack here.
The problem I have with it isn't so much having to watch one commercial to get a shiny, it's the nature of the shiny--which is itself an advertisement. Using an example cited towards the beginning of the thread, I don't want to see a bunch of characters running around with Swords of Omens, sporting Target t-shirts, drinking Coca-Cola, with their pet Sony robot following them, etc. We are constantly bombarded with ads 24x7. I like that Paragon City is a reprieve away from it. I don't mind so much ads for their own products, or even a logo or two on the home screen, but the last thing I want is to be reminded of everyone trying to sell everything while actually in the game. And yes, I'm aware of the in-game advertising that they toyed around with a while back. It wasn't so bad because it was always optional. |
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The BrandX Collection
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I think the fake ads are more immersion breaking than ads for real products. Particularly, the comedic ones.
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Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
I dislike it, instinctively. And in-game prizes (typically of the "free t-shirt" variety) tend to break immersion. I'd much rather the devs come up with genuine CoH content than spend any time adapting so-called sponsored content for the game.
Besides, advertising means another business relationship for Paragon/NC Soft to worry about in addition to subscribers (i.e. us). That's proved tricky in the cases of tv and magazines, and there's no indication it wouldn't be similarly corrupting for games. |
Couldn't care less. Advertise away. Means more money for COH.
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Not intrested in ads , commercials in game.
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It's a horrible money-grubbing idea that seems too much like television. I also dislike the idea that you get some lame piece of "swag" as a result.|
Originally Posted by SlickRiptide
How do you feel about that kind of sponsored content?
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Everytime I have seen this type of in-game merchandising done, the time/money investment in the game has been too great, and the quality of the item has been sub-par. If both of those things are made a non-issue, and this game doesn't get any form of "commercials" added to it, or floating pop-up ads, or the like, I am fine. How the heck someone can satisfy those conditions, I am unsure... but that's kinda my point entirely.
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Originally Posted by TonyV
I'm going to take a bit of a different tack here.
The problem I have with it isn't so much having to watch one commercial to get a shiny, it's the nature of the shiny--which is itself an advertisement. Using an example cited towards the beginning of the thread, I don't want to see a bunch of characters running around with Swords of Omens, sporting Target t-shirts, drinking Coca-Cola, with their pet Sony robot following them, etc. We are constantly bombarded with ads 24x7. I like that Paragon City is a reprieve away from it. I don't mind so much ads for their own products, or even a logo or two on the home screen, but the last thing I want is to be reminded of everyone trying to sell everything while actually in the game. And yes, I'm aware of the in-game advertising that they toyed around with a while back. It wasn't so bad because it was always optional. |
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I wasn't too fond of that, but that's not outside advertising. (By the way, many people, myself included, used fake Facebook accounts to get the facepalm emote, so I didn't even need to contribute to their advertising to get it.) I'm going to assume you were simply not reading what I was saying instead of deliberately ignoring it to make your own wrong point.
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Originally Posted by Friggin_Taser
You do realize that anytime the mods advertise to follow them on twitter to win a free costume code or game code or to like them on facebook to get a 100% exclusive emote in-game, that's advertising, right? So I guess they lost you as a paying customer, right?
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"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
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No, I was reading what you said anticipating you responding with some kind of loophole so you can get around the threat of cancellation you made.|
Originally Posted by DarkGob
I wasn't too fond of that, but that's not outside advertising. (By the way, many people, myself included, used fake Facebook accounts to get the facepalm emote, so I didn't even need to contribute to their advertising to get it.) I'm going to assume you were simply not reading what I was saying instead of deliberately ignoring it to make your own wrong point.
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And you came through with flying colors.
The fact remains: they offered an in-game item for advertising purposes. You can dress it up in whatever lies or half-truths you have to to make it seem like it wasn't advertising, but when you have a few thousand people suddenly liking your facebook page, it's 100% pure advertising. Even if you had to make a fake dummy account to do so, you still took time out of your in-game playing to do something not-game related involving advertising to get an in-game benefit. How a system like this would differ from a simple link in an emailed newsletter or a link on the Launcher I do not know, but apparently you drew this completely arbitrary line in the sand on just what level of shameless advertising you are willing to subject yourself to for in-game items and seem to be trying to cast it over everyone else.
So by your own stated ultimatum, NC Soft has lost you as a paying customer.
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The difference for me is that I'm already interested in CoH. So an advertising about CoH in CoH related places (the forum, website, ...) doesn't bother me.|
Originally Posted by Friggin_Taser
No, I was reading what you said anticipating you responding with some kind of loophole so you can get around the threat of cancellation you made.
And you came through with flying colors. The fact remains: they offered an in-game item for advertising purposes. You can dress it up in whatever lies or half-truths you have to to make it seem like it wasn't advertising, but when you have a few thousand people suddenly liking your facebook page, it's 100% pure advertising. Even if you had to make a fake dummy account to do so, you still took time out of your in-game playing to do something not-game related involving advertising to get an in-game benefit. How a system like this would differ from a simple link in an emailed newsletter or a link on the Launcher I do not know, but apparently you drew this completely arbitrary line in the sand on just what level of shameless advertising you are willing to subject yourself to for in-game items and seem to be trying to cast it over everyone else. So by your own stated ultimatum, NC Soft has lost you as a paying customer. |
I don't mind a Coca Cola logo on the Coca Cola bottle I just bought. I do mind the Coca Cola logo when it's put in game (or in the down loader or whatever) as a movie or window I need to click past, or during irritating breaks on a show I'm watching.
Also, in game swag is horribly tacky.
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
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Taser, see all of these things said here? Those. Sorry you're unable to grasp this.|
Originally Posted by TrueMetal
The difference for me is that I'm already interested in CoH. So an advertising about CoH in CoH related places (the forum, website, ...) doesn't bother me.
I don't mind a Coca Cola logo on the Coca Cola bottle I just bought. I do mind the Coca Cola logo when it's put in game (or in the down loader or whatever) as a movie or window I need to click past, or during irritating breaks on a show I'm watching. Also, in game swag is horribly tacky. |
Also, my fake Facebook account didn't help CoH advertise one bit since -- and you may find this somewhat shocking -- it doesn't have any friends on it. It's a fake account. That is the point. That's like arguing (to continue TrueMetal's analogy) that I become a billboard for Coca-Cola by carrying a labeled bottle around out in public. I guess I'd better rip the label off before I go out, wouldn't want to be labeled a hypocrite by the almighty FrigginTaser!
I don't need to justify my beliefs to you. If you want to sell yourself out that's your right, but I don't. That is why I participated in the Facepalm "contest" (still wondering what the contest was, by the way) in the manner that I did -- as an act of defiance to their shameless grab at Facebook Likes.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Dark Gob, If you drink Coke, but hate shopping at Wal-Mart, and Coke runs a promotion with Wal-Mart that gets you in their store, then it worked.
The Facepalm emote wasn't an advertisement for City of Heroes, since only people who go to this site knew about. It was an advertisement for Facebook. And no matter how smart you think you are, while you twirl your handlebar mustache, sip on your bourbon, and laugh gauntly but not so gauntly as to drop your monocle about how you totally stuck it to the "man" by making a fake dummy account... Facebook doesn't care. Just like if you walked into that Wal-Mart to buy the precious life giving Coke I can only assume you guzzle by the liter full through some IV contraption I made up in this analogy wearing a funny mask and trench coat, Wal-Mart still got to count you as a customer for the day. Just like how Facebook can now say they have one more member.
Your Rage Against The Machine here is more like Rage Against The Apple Genius Bar while you wait for your mom to finally figure out how to get her iPad to connect to the Facebook you despise while all you want to do is go to the other side of the mall and totally stick it to the man by buying some Paramore CDs.
Current Badge Hunter: Plot Device (Rad/Thermal/Dark) - 1,268 Xbox Live: Friggin Taser
King of Electricity, Lead Inmate running the Carl and Sons asylum, the "Man" behind the Establishment, Given Honor in Hat Form By Paragon City (Favorite Forum Poster 2006!), Master of Ceremonies of the Fair Use Law podcast
They could just use subliminal messaging, why when I am playing the game do I feel the need to GO HUNT KILL SKULLZ.
Cancel the kitchen scraps for widows and lepers, no more merciful beheadings and call off christmas!
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Or you just go somewhere else to buy coke and your whole analogy makes even less sense than it does now ...
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Originally Posted by Friggin_Taser
Dark Gob, If you drink Coke, but hate shopping at Wal-Mart, and Coke runs a promotion with Wal-Mart that gets you in their store, then it worked.
The Facepalm emote wasn't an advertisement for City of Heroes, since only people who go to this site knew about. It was an advertisement for Facebook. And no matter how smart you think you are, while you twirl your handlebar mustache, sip on your bourbon, and laugh gauntly but not so gauntly as to drop your monocle about how you totally stuck it to the "man" by making a fake dummy account... Facebook doesn't care. Just like if you walked into that Wal-Mart to buy the precious life giving Coke I can only assume you guzzle by the liter full through some IV contraption I made up in this analogy wearing a funny mask and trench coat, Wal-Mart still got to count you as a customer for the day. Just like how Facebook can now say they have one more member. Your Rage Against The Machine here is more like Rage Against The Apple Genius Bar while you wait for your mom to finally figure out how to get her iPad to connect to the Facebook you despise while all you want to do is go to the other side of the mall and totally stick it to the man by buying some Paramore CDs. |
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
Nope.
If I had to do something like that to get cool stuff I'd probably just quit playing.
Thelonious Monk
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I had made a decision to lie low on this and another thread for awhile, just on the policy that if one or two voices are dominating then it's not really a conversation.|
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
Nope.
If I had to do something like that to get cool stuff I'd probably just quit playing. |
However - I would like to explore the quoted statement a little.
Let me say up-front that I respect anyone's choice to avoid advertising and I am in no way judging that choice as something "bad".
That said, I don't really understand the decision to make that kind of choice quoted above. Standing on principle is one thing. Stating that you'd walk away from an activity you enjoy because it supplies a completely voluntary opportunity to obtain something cool (presumably cool, anyway) by partaking in a different activity, strikes me as nonsensical.
Someone brought up the facepalm emote upstream, which is a good illustration of this conundrum. I know people who are so anti-Facebook that they would prefer to do without the emote than click a "Like" button (and do the attendant facebook account creation) in order to get it. I know many more people who would say "what's the big deal? gimme my emote" and click it without thinking twice. I might expect those anti-FB people to live without a /em facepalm but I'd be raising an eyebrow if any of them quit playing City of Heroes over that being the only possible way to get a facepalm emote.
When you oppose something so strongly on principle that you're willing to dump the game over it, where do you draw the line? HeroCon was a pay-for-it venture (though I'm sure that the profit was negligible if there was any at all). Was it okay that it was the only way to get a particular costume code? Was that worth quitting the game over? What about costume codes given away at Pax? What about the Facebook promotion? What about codes given away on Twitter? What about people who hate the NCSoft launcher but really wanted the wisps aura? Would quitting the game be a reasonable response to that being the only way to get the wisps aura?
Which part is the objectionable part? The idea of some exclusive way to get something or the idea that it's a third party that's sponsoring the giveaway?
Qualitatively speaking, I don't see any difference between clicking a "Like" button, whose purpose is to increase the awareness of City of Heroes and/or Paragon Studios on Facebook, and clicking a "free soda bottle emote" button and watching a Coke commercial whose purpose is to increase awareness of the soft drink selections of the Coca Cola company in my household.
Maybe the difference is that the former feels "broad" while the latter feels "narrow" or "targeted" and the targeting and/or the submission to the targeting is what feels offensive?
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I find it insulting to my intelligence, personally. "Like us on FaceBook so we benefit, but we'll give you a prize for it!" I don't like FaceBook. I don't like advertisements. I don't like being bribed into partaking in either. The only reason the Wisp "incentive" aura for the new PlayNC Launcher didn't piss me off nearly as much is simply because the Launcher had to happen anyway. It's an update to the game's core functions, and getting as many people using it BEFORE the old shoddy updater was deprecated specifically so that those having technical issues could have those sorted while they could still play was essential. It's a promotion to help make the game better.|
Originally Posted by SlickRiptide
Someone brought up the facepalm emote upstream, which is a good illustration of this conundrum. I know people who are so anti-Facebook that they would prefer to do without the emote than click a "Like" button (and do the attendant facebook account creation) in order to get it. I know many more people who would say "what's the big deal? gimme my emote" and click it without thinking twice. I might expect those anti-FB people to live without a /em facepalm but I'd be raising an eyebrow if any of them quit playing City of Heroes over that being the only possible way to get a facepalm emote.
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The only time I'd quit the game over something like this is if I felt the development team were shifting focus to deliver the bulk of the new cool stuff through a method I don't like, which is where the biggest rub hit me with the Incarnate system. Luckily, as long as people like David Nakayama and Tunnel Rat keep communicating with the community, I'm not worried about that particular eventuality.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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STOP.
Before you punch that Hellion in the face, wouldn't you like a nice, ice cold can of Coca Cola Cherry? Ice. Cold. Why fight crime when you could be drinking a delicious, thirst-quenching Coca Cola Cherry?
So next time you're being held by that Death Mage, stop. Reach for a can of Coca Cola Cherry.
*game resumes*
"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these. It might have been."
Sam - If you both benefit, isn't that quid pro quo? Basic bartering?
They get your endorsement. You get a (presumably) fun emote. Everybody wins.
What's the qualitative difference between clicking a "like" button and handing them a dollar?
"Spend 100 Paragon Points so we benefit, but we'll give you a prize for it!"
If they make advertising optional; for example, if you could turn on whether you want a drink machine to be labeled with a generic "Cola" label or a Coca-Cola™ label, I don't care so much. Those who don't like it can turn it off, and those who don't care can help earn Paragon Studios some more cash. For products that I support (such, as it turns out, as Coca-Cola, since I live in Atlanta and they're a huge employer here), I might even leave them on.
But if I start seeing a bunch of heroes running around with Swords of Omens, yeah, I think that would be going too far and I would not like it much. And I don't see such a thing being optional, like, "watch a video to earn a Sword of Omens that only some people would see, and others would see as just a generic sword."
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)