Well, first viral marketing.. now California Assemblywoman Lori Saldana (D-San Diego… why is it always D-California? why does California hate America?) is looking to try to ban in-game ads. While the blog republic may have some nasty remarks for in-game ads, the populace opinion doesn’t stack up. And what about those of us who LIKE advertising (if done right), and would appreciate the chance to weed out the good from the bad (the theoretical capitalist feedback loop).
Dovetailed to this is a new report by Forbes about costs of game creation that, while completely baseless and inaccurate, does mention that game profits can go up many times (making game production more feasible and less risky) if in-game ads are included. Give me more targeted, more interesting, more amusing, less spammy, less obtrusive ads that enable game developers to make more quality/risky games and less brainless franchises anyday. If more (online at least) games adopted something like the Anarchy Online model where you can pay less to get ads or pay more for no ads, publishers should be able to see how annoying their ads are by the amount of people paying more for no ads and adjust accordingly.
Oh, and I’d link the Forbes article, but I hate their site… too many spammy unrelated pointless popups, redirects and banner advertisements that get in the way of my browsing. It’s definitely no Sneak King.
Legislators, give up on this if you know what’s good for you. Oh, and footnote, where were you when the INTERNET become a pithole for obnoxious in-your-face advertising that gets in the way as a primary business model?
