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The Matrix Media Movies Role Playing (Games)

Massive Ads In Matrix Online 64

Posted by Zonk from the because-they-make-the-game-better dept.
Gamespot has the word that ads from Massive, Inc. will now be incorporated into The Matrix Online. The ads, like those in sister-MMOG Planetside, will be in the form of billboards and signage. From the article: "One big difference that players will notice is that the Massive ads will be refreshed and updated with greater frequency. Sony notes that current ads in the game for fictional products and services will continue to remain a part of the game. Sony has also said that the ads will not be animated, and will not affect the game's performance. Another effect of the inclusion of Massive ads into The Matrix Online is that player advertising in Mega City will be possible, and Sony might run contests in the future to select player-generated ads and incorporate them in the game. "
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Massive Ads In Matrix Online More

Massive Ads In Matrix Online

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  • OK (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Deanasc ( 201050 )
    Note to self. One more reason to avoid Sony.

  • So there goes the monthly subscription costs... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by skankinny7 ( 448458 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @12:44PM (#14064159)
    ....right? Now that they have all this ad money they dont need to charge per month?

    Ok, back to reality I go....
  • Who would pay for a game with ads?

  • Effectiveness? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by HaymarketRiot ( 931189 )
    Does anyone actually have solid evidence that ingame ads like these work? I just really cant grasp the concept of someone running around ingame, seeing a billboard, and thinking, "Oh, I really want that product!"...To me, it seems like something that most players would just ignore. I would like to here the opinion of someone more knowledgeable on the subject.
    • Do billboards work? 'Nuff said.

    • Re:Effectiveness? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The purpose of any advertisement is not to really make people buy your product, but is instead to increase the awareness of your product and improve its image. Think about it this way, if World Of Warcraft started advertizing on TV they could, theoritically, have everyone in the world know what WoW was and could (at least in theory) make it a cool game to play. Would that actually improve sales? Probably not; think of Grand theft auto, when the advertizements started playing 100 Million people who don't pla

      • Think about it this way, if World Of Warcraft started advertizing on TV they could, theoritically, have everyone in the world know what WoW was and could (at least in theory) make it a cool game to play.

        Personally, I'd like to see World of Warcraft start advertising inside these MMOGs that have in-game advertising. Blizzard could flaunt their lack of in-game advertising.

        Then again, I've been playing City of Villains since the pre-order head start, so maybe I'm just thinking in-character.

    • Re:Effectiveness? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @02:03PM (#14065003) Journal
      Advertising works for two reasons:
      1. Brand recognition. If you see enough ads for a product, then go shopping, you may recognize the advertised brand and consider purchasing it over similar products.

      2. Repetition. When things get hyped over and over and over, people tend to try it out just because its something they've heard about so many times. Imagine being beaten over the head with adverts for some new drink, then when you go to a gas station or restaurant or wherever, you see another advertisement or the product itself. The odds are high that you will give it a try just to see what all the fuss is about.

      Hopefully you don't find the product disgusting (vanilla pepsi) and will buy again.

      • Well, it works on most people for those two reasons (and you're spot on about those).

        Regarding point 1 ... I've somehow managed to train myself to use "generic" terms for common products when I ask for or talk about them; I ask for a "tissue" or a "napkin" instead of a "Kleenex." I offer people "soda" when they visit, instead of a "Coke" (I don't like carbonated stuff, so all the soda branding in the world will never squeeze a dime out of me). My lifestyle already limits what advertising I'm exposed to (n

        • I ask for a "tissue" or a "napkin" instead of a "Kleenex."

          There you go. Changing the world, one word at a time.

          "A telemarketer who calls me once to sell me something gets an earful."

          People who do this are jackasses. You do realize (and I have worked in telemarketing), that the people making the calls are rarely personally interested in the product or service they're selling right? They took a job telemarketing *drumroll* to get paid. They read a script and you giving them an "earfull" is either ignore

          • You're kinda right about products and advertising, but that doesn't neccessarily mean the parent or I have to base our purchasing decisions on the adverts.

            Most people get buyers remorse because they didn't spend enough effort making sure they wanted what they were buying... instead of just buying something they 'wanted'.

            Nowadays you and I can find product reviews online for just about anything from restaurants to ladders to pillows and so on.

            Advertising works, but unlike the past, there's no reason people h

          • People who do this are jackasses. You do realize (and I have worked in telemarketing), that the people making the calls are rarely personally interested in the product or service they're selling right?

            "Duh, no, I never thought of that." People who make assumptions like you did are also jackasses. Telemarketers who pester me don't get an "earful" of insults and rants; they are interrogated, squeezed for information that is useful to legally stop the telemarketing company from bothering me further. I work

      • Regarding repetition, it would be interesting to see where these ads are placed. For example, would a potential advertiser pay more for placement near a particularly difficult task that a player may have to repeat a number of times? Going further, would in-game elements and tasks possibly be modified solely to increase ad visibility?
  • Sony might run contests in the future to select player-generated ads

    Like ads from lawyers seeking participants in class actions suits for rootkits?

    Or ads from apyware companies with sneaky payloads to piggyback on the Sony rootkits?

    I wonder wonder wonder but I don't know boo ....

  • Wow, talk about a misleading headline... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by spyrral ( 162842 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @12:53PM (#14064257) Journal
    The ads are provided by a company called Massive. The ads themselves may or may not be so large as to be considered massive.
    • It's called a Pun. It's not a very clever one (and puns are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to humour), but damn dude! Hope that humour bypass wasn't too expensive...
    • Ok, seriously.... whoever decided to call themselves "Massive Ads" must have been on some pretty potent drugs.

      I mean, that can't really be the best way to advertise *their* service. They could have just as well have called themselves "Really Obnoxious, Intrusive, and Invasive Ads, Inc."

      With a name like that, you can be sure I wouldn't be hiring them as *my* advertising company.
  • I just wouldn't care.

  • Having played Matrix Online (Score:5, Funny)

    by CrazyJim1 ( 809850 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @01:05PM (#14064386) Journal
    I think the addition of advertisements into the game would make it more entertaining.

  • Makes perfect sense (Score:3, Insightful)

    by orgelspieler ( 865795 ) <w0lfieNO@SPAMmac.com> on Friday November 18, 2005 @01:07PM (#14064410) Journal
    Think about it. These ads will show up in a virtual world (video game) about a virtual world (the Matrix). Consequently, it would make perfect sense that the virtual-virtual ads are indistinguishable from real world ads. (woah... too much coffee this morning) I'd go so far as to say they might enhance the gaming experience, rather than detract from it. And the fact that they're open to player ads might imply that they're willing to start a dialogue with their customers.

    Of course, that's another point. Now they have two sets of customers: gamers and advertisers. Hopefully they will see that without a sizeable group of the former, the latter won't pay them much at all. So one would think they will try to please the gamers first and the advertisers second. Of course that may be a little harder to remember once the big bucks start flowing in.

    • One small problem:

      We know that the company isn't doing this to enhance the gaming experience. They're doing it to make money and trying to pretend otherwise
      • Is this really a "problem". Is making money intrinsically wrong? Increasing shareholder value is the primary goal of any company.

        There's already been advertisements in MxO, even in the beta for the game, they had billboards for the movie Constantine. It's billboards, you don't need to stop and stare at them just because they're there. They've already been in the game.

        If they were to say, implement more billboards instead of swapping the billboards already in place, that would then be a problem since it'd ob
        • It's a problem if they're finagling weasels:

          "Ads will not affect the game's performance"

          Full-blown lie. Even if the ads are at the same resolution as a plain grey wall, they're being refreshed. That's a loss of performance because your machine has to do more work to update the ads. What they meant to say was "will not noticeably affect performance"
          • So...loading a texture on a wall, say on a weekly basis or whatever, when you enter an area will degrade your performance? By what? 0.00001 of a percent? Can you even calculate that?
      • Oh no! You mean people make these games for profit?! BASTARDS!

        How dare they!
        • But, they're not making a profit, that's why they're adding more ads. And that drives usercount down, and... OH SHIT, PARADOX!
          • I can't comment on how it affects subscribers, and really neighther can you. Unless you can provide data that directly links (or even correlates) the introduction of advertisements into a game with a drop in subscribers, I find it very difficult to accept that any but a very small portion are bothered by it. The percentage of players in an MMO who post online (and mostly complain) represent a very small portion of the community of any individual game and the online buzz is -never- representative of the over

    • I'd go so far as to say they might enhance the gaming experience, rather than detract from it. And the fact that they're open to player ads might imply that they're willing to start a dialogue with their customers.

      Player-funded advertisements would be an interesting new addition to the MMPORG economy as well. Imagine being able to post a want-ad, or promote your clan with in-game money, or real-money. That said, what is to stop these advertisement areas from becoming grafitti-like, libelous, or childi

      • Imagine being able to post a want-ad, or promote your clan

        Like those storm troopers in SWG? That was pretty funny/whacky/intense/bordering on psychotic stuff. Anybody know if they're still at it? The last I heard was that Darth Vader himself came to inspect the troops.

        I think you have some great suggestions. You shold send them to somebody (tech support? customer relations?) at MxO if you're a current subscriber.

  • Why should I be bothered by this? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by triptogn ( 932201 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @01:12PM (#14064459)
    The "One more reason to avoid Sony" comments throw me off a bit. I don't see how the real advertising in game versus the fake advertising in game on billboards is any worse. It has about the same impact and print on your brain when you glance at it while killing gangmember05 and AgentSmith09. If anything it would help with the idea that the game takes place in a modern american city somewhere. If you are trying to take a moral stance on advertising in your entertainment, you would have to avoid every tv show and movie you have ever watched because they are riddled with product placements if you actually look for them. The subscription argument doesn't really hold that well either. "I pay a subscription, so I shouldn't have to see advertisements". Paying for cable television isn't any different. Holes in my argument? Yup, but I'm only really playing devil's advocate here, as I could care less one way or the other. I play games to have fun, and I don't think seeing a coke ad on the wall in the Matrix is going to ruin my good time.
    • Agreed. Most players of Matrix Online (MxO), including myself agree that the Ad's will add to the environment. Seeing real ads on billboards, is better than "Read More Books". Now if this were WoW, then I could understand some of the complaints, but it only adds to the MxO environment.
    • Anarchy Online introduced this in game Ad system to pay for the free accounts. Sony did this to offset the cost of making more profit.

      As far as the cable TV system we pay for the internet, that gives us access to almost anything, comedy central, FX ext.. You pay extra for premium services like HBO which do not have any commercial interruptions. So you see how the correlation between MMO and premium cable channels fit.

    • Re:Why should I be bothered by this? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by forkazoo ( 138186 ) <wrosecrans AT gmail DOT com> on Friday November 18, 2005 @02:32PM (#14065285) Homepage
      While your analogy to cable TV has some merit, I'm going to overextend it as a means of disagreeing with you. :) I think that paying for cable TV is basically just paying for access, sort of like ISP fees. I am okay with seeing ads on web pages because the web page doesn't get a cut of my ISP bill. Likewise, sci-fi channel doesn't get a cut of the cable bill, so they need ads to pay for battlestar galactica.

      Now, an MMORPG is a premium service. In this analogy, I'd compare it to HBO or Showtime. I have paid for basic access, but then I pay extra for a premium service, and the content creator gets a direct cut of the extra fee. Sony bills me directly for the MMORPG, HBO gets added to my cable bill, but it is still similar.

      So, if I actually played TmO, I'd be annoyed at the ads. Sony is double-dipping. They set a fee, where they thought they would turn a tidy profit. I play TmO because I'd rather avoid all the ads on television and whatnot. Now, Sony is making more money - I have to deal with more ads - and the fee I pay doesn't go down. If HBO started carrying ads, people would be pissed, and they wouldn't be likely to pay extra for it. Personally, I think real-ads in a matrix world would sort of hurt the illusion that it is a fantastic netherworld of the imagination. If the fantasy world is exactly like our world, why do I have to pay extra to be in it?

      Though, obviously, the Matrix is a much more appropriate setting for real ads than WoW or Everquest. "Dial Ye Olde Telephone ..." just wouldn't see quite right in a traditional fantasy setting. :)
    • The reason you should be bothered by this is simple. Advertising thrives on the slippery slope principle. I should give a disclaimer that I am an advertising executive who is familiar with this landscape.

      You see, in advertising, its all about getting noticed above your competition and above the "noise". Now, there are two main ways of doing this. Producing a SPECTACULAR ad which gains eyeballs merely because people want to see it and seek it out...and producing an ad that is more attention grabbing than

  • Viagra ads? (Score:5, Funny)

    by HTH NE1 ( 675604 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @01:47PM (#14064813)
    Ask your nearest Agent if the Blue Pill is right for you.
  • In City of Heroes and City of Villians they have billboard ads for things like huckster type lawyers, bail bondsman and such. They are pretty entertaining to me. Not sure if I'd like a real life ad....
  • Thoursands of players will be gunned down while gazing at a playboy billboard.
  • The billboards are already in-game. They have ads for fictional products, and on occasion have been used to provide storyline hints in combination with the in-game newspaper.

    In the original release (pre-SOE) they've occasionally been used to provide ads for WB movies.

    Those billboards will be there whether Coca-Cola or "Slumberil" is displayed on them. They'll also allow player-created billboards on occasion, so that the things are not just a bit of polygonal fluff but a bit of revenue, a bit of storyline,
    • I also play MxO, and have no problem with the billboards. The game takes place in a city, so billboards are a natural part of the environment. They've rotated enough to stay fresh and interesting, and are an unobtrusive bit of extra 'color' to the universe. (I personally liked the Alienware ads.)

      At times they've even been relevent to the plot of the game. There was story arc that included coded graffiti on the billboards. It didn't influence me to buy any particular products, but it was fun.

      Like most of Sla

  • Anarchy Online did this (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SkyFire360 ( 889512 ) on Friday November 18, 2005 @03:04PM (#14065602)
    AO did this, but there was one big difference between the two: you can play Anarchy Online for free. Instead of making revenue from monthly subscriptions, they make their money from advertisers. Last time I checked, The Matrix Online still had a monthly fee... which means SOE will be getting not one but two revenue streams.

    My personal view on this is: If you're going to make me pay for a game, don't subject me to advertisements I most likely don't want to see anyway.
  • SOE's Planetside was the first one to get ads. However, they don't fit in the game at all. Here you are fighting on a planet in a galaxy far, far away and adds for COKE pop up. Matrix Online is a different story. However, I imagine they will do the same thing for Matrix Online they did for Planetside, tell you that the extra money is going to be spent on the game and instead just pocket it. SOE is a bunch of scum bags. However, Massive implementation of this isn't hard and I wonder if someone with more prog
    • Why does it matter where the money is spent? SOE is a corporation, not a game developing charity org. They have to make a profit after production costs, maintaining servers, paying employees, ect.. If they are scumbags, then who is the benevolent game developer out there so I can go play their games? America's Army is one of the only "free" ones out there, and that's paid with our tax dollars.

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