I seem to remember they tried this.
Remember the "jeeter Clutch" shoes everybody is not wearing?
There was another ad or two out there, but it seemed to fall apart really early.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
|
Years ago, the Devs came on the forums and asked the community about the player's willingness to accept advertising in game. This lead to a LOT of discussion with most people OK with it, but a loud minority being firmly against it. The Devs put a flag in Options allowing anyone who opposed it to turn off the in-game advertising, and then we saw a few advertisements for a short time. The ads disappeared after a fairly short time, and we never heard about it again.
Personally, I liked it. It fit in with the City theme, and I've been tired of seeing the same billboards for 8 years.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Quote:
Me too, it somehow made the city feel more real, I guess it just didn't attracked enough business.|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
Personally, I liked it. It fit in with the City theme, and I've been tired of seeing the same billboards for 8 years.
|
The Kat
CITY OF HEROES NEEDS YOU !
Now more than ever
I think it would have worked best if it had been open to supergroups in game to buy ad space with Paragon Points. They would have monetised the technology that they already had, and it would have added another creative outlet to the game.
Ads for AE stories, supergroups, RP storylines (vote Communist Alien for a fourth glorious term) would all have fitted in game neatly.
�How do I like my MMOs? I like them the way Paragon Studios used to make them.� - a fitting tribute from kiasa.org
EU, Union mostly.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TerraShock
Maybe a little late for this to help? There are quite a few billboards in the city zones.
|
(Ghost Falcon here, on my personal account).
Ultimately, in-game advertising via billboards just didn't prove very successful. In a game where players can super speed, super jump, fly and teleport, players did not stay in front of an advertisement long enough to count as an advertisement "impression". (Note: "Impression" is defined as a player's character standing within a predefined area (and facing the ad) for a specified amount of time.)
Additionally, by providing players the option to turn off in-game advertising, those impressions were reduced even further.
Due to the metrics, the funnel of sponsored advertisers dried up, and the in-game advertising initiative/feature was quietly sun-setted. We had other options to implement in-game advertisements (i.e. loading screens), but it was believed that a loading screen with ads implementation would have had a very negative impact on our playerbase.
We did a light exploration in seeing if we could use in-game advertising for player use, but in the end, it just wasn't feasible (I won't bother to get into the details, but there were many, many reasons...so I'll just leave it at that.).
Best,
Jesse "Ghost Falcon" Caceres
FPAGn! 
-Hosun "Black Pebble" Lee
Help me beat Dr. Aeon! Follow me on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/hosunl
That's understandable, though I honestly think much of the fault was with the metrics being used (which I'm sure were imposed by the agency and the advertisers).
People may have supersped by them, but almost everyone I know in-game knew about the Jester Clutch and the Tony Hawk ads. Either by word of mouth, screenshots, or seeing them as they flew past.
Some of that is possibly because they were 'new', but the idea seemed to disappear before it really had a chance to mature. I bet the number of 'impressions' was way higher than the metrics indicated. Advertisers are so fickle. :-/
Quote:
Maybe you should have placed the billboards behind Wentworth vendors and store contacts. |
Originally Posted by EepEep
(Note: "Impression" is defined as a player's character standing within a predefined area (and facing the ad) for a specified amount of time.)
|
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Hey guys we miss you!!!
I know the forums are a fast a furious place now due to the announcements but this idea has been talked about in at least three other threads now. It was tried back in late 2008/early 2009, two NA ads (Jeter sneaker and Tony Hawk n-Gage) and one EU ad (movie Babylon AD) and then nothing. For ads to work, advertisers have to believe where they spend their money will end up in eventual sales. Advertisers aren't a case of "if we offer, they will come". They didn't and the tech was eventually pulled from the game.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Quote:
it was a stupid idea that failed spectacularly.|
Originally Posted by TerraShock
Maybe a little late for this to help? There are quite a few billboards in the city zones.
|
and good riddance.
/edit
although actually, in the brave new world of F2P it would be a valid revenue path.
subscribers = no ads, F2P = ads.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
At this stage I think everyone would be happy with load screen advertising and maybe in game advertising again if it keeps the game going ;D.
Quote:
Or around Trainers and Respec agents! |
Originally Posted by Sailboat
Maybe you should have placed the billboards behind Wentworth vendors and store contacts.
|
Too bad, I actually liked the idea. Had wondered what had come of it.
Yeah, yeah, I didn't always follow the Forums very closely!
I'll be honest...
I was tempted to buy the Sidekick when I saw ads for it. Never did, though.
The problem was the actualy advertised items...
They offered shoes most people wouldnt get...and pushed Tony Hawk....two things that a player of city of heroes isnt going top be interested in....becasue its simply not going to help them play or be relevant to game play.
Now if they had done energy drinks...maybe gaming gear..a new mouse or key board for example....that would reel in most players....but as it was....it just failed becasue no one was interested in that stuff being advertised.
The best sellers would have been for Food Places and food and drink items and possibly ways to get free stuff or free coupons....
I still recall in an other game...how they had a way to hit a control key and a specific other key and the take out web site for pizza hut would come up.
See that gets people.....they dont have to leave the game and can get sometihng to eat while they play....
Sorry but the shoes required too much effort and required non-game play..thus two strikes against it right off...
oh well....not my fault the marketing group failed to realize all this.
Hell, if I had known this, I would have made rounds to stand in front of every advertisement I could for as long as needed to get you guys more money. 
Shadowblaze - Lvl 50 Dark/Thermal Cor, Alexander Kalsoa - Lvl 50 BS/Regen Scrapper, and a whole bunch of other Alts. Global is @Shadowblaze.
Quote:
I'm pretty sure they would. And one day, in the distant future, when human beings evolve into a higher life form that understands complex concepts like "the future" that realization might actually be materially meaningful.|
Originally Posted by AllStar
At this stage I think everyone would be happy with load screen advertising and maybe in game advertising again if it keeps the game going ;D.
|
I'm kidding of course. Its going to be the bees that make that leap, not humans.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Quote:
And I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I'm kidding of course. Its going to be the bees that make that leap, not humans.
|
Quote:
FQARAFPAGn
|
Originally Posted by Black Pebble
FPAGn!
|
Originally Posted by Megajoule
We're being invaded. Again. This time, instead of aliens, zombies, or eyeballs with teeth, it's the marching band.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Black Pebble
FPAGn!
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Razia
FQARAFPAGn
|
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
Quote:
You know, I never really did buy this part of the reason why the experiment failed. |
Originally Posted by EepEep
Ultimately, in-game advertising via billboards just didn't prove very successful. In a game where players can super speed, super jump, fly and teleport, players did not stay in front of an advertisement long enough to count as an advertisement "impression". (Note: "Impression" is defined as a player's character standing within a predefined area (and facing the ad) for a specified amount of time.)
|
Right now Flight is capped at 58.63 mph. I just logged on a character with Super Jump who leaps at 78 mph, and it look like Super Speed caps at 92.5 mph. A well designed billboard shouldn't take more than a second or two to read, in either the virtual or real world. If we're flying and leaping past billboards too fast to read them, does that mean that the billboards that line the US freeways are a waste of time, too? Most cars in my state are moving along at close to the Super Jump speed, even though it's over the speed limit here.
According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, advertisers spent 6.38 BILLION DOLLARS on outdoor advertising in 2011! ( http://www.oaaa.org/marketingresourc...ndfigures.aspx ) It's hard to believe that they'd spend THAT kind of money if they thought that the cars on the freeway were going by too fast.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by PsychicKitty
The problem was the actualy advertised items...
They offered shoes most people wouldnt get...and pushed Tony Hawk....two things that a player of city of heroes isnt going top be interested in....becasue its simply not going to help them play or be relevant to game play. Now if they had done energy drinks...maybe gaming gear..a new mouse or key board for example....that would reel in most players....but as it was....it just failed becasue no one was interested in that stuff being advertised. The best sellers would have been for Food Places and food and drink items and possibly ways to get free stuff or free coupons.... I still recall in an other game...how they had a way to hit a control key and a specific other key and the take out web site for pizza hut would come up. See that gets people.....they dont have to leave the game and can get sometihng to eat while they play.... Sorry but the shoes required too much effort and required non-game play..thus two strikes against it right off... oh well....not my fault the marketing group failed to realize all this. |
(Okay, maybe some of us SHOULD get off the couch and get a little more exercise, but an in-game billboard for shoes isn't going to make us race out and buy their product.)Energy drinks, fast food, gaming mice and keyboards, bigger and better video cards, other computer gear -- THOSE would have been the types of things to try and sell to us, the target audience.
IMHO, they could have tried to sell twice as many ads for half as much and run them for half as long, because after a while the shoe ads DID start to blur into the scenery, but I recognized the second billboard the day it came out and stopped to read it. "Hey, cool! Uh -- what IS it?" And then before long, they became part of the scenery as well.
"But it wasn't anything some purples and oranges and lots of screaming in fear couldn't handle." -- Werner
30 level 50's: 12 scrappers, 7 other random melee types, 11 blaster/blapper/support squishies, two accounts, and a TON of altitis since 4/28/04
Quote:
In your opinion
|
Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it was a stupid idea that failed spectacularly.
|
I seem to remember Anarchy Online did this (maybe they still are) but if you played for free you got real ads, if you paid you got fake ones. They weren't just billboards but movies.
Catreena
"Why can't the villains ever hide out in the old abandon catnip factory?"
Maybe a little late for this to help? There are quite a few billboards in the city zones.