Adverts in games (was RE: [MUD-Dev] Habbo Hotel...)

[Andrew Wilson]

F. Randall Farmer:

> Integrated/Banner Ads as a way for paying for _any_ type of
> multiuser game/MUD/world doesn't work. I've got the numbers and a
> dead company to back this up. :-)
 
> It's not hard to explain why this doesn't pay: User attention.
 
> We design worlds so as to be compelling for the user. Why in the
> world would anyone stop their compelling experience to follow up on
> an ad? In practice the ads become unwanted distractions that lead to
> customer animosity.

There may be several reasons why someone might choose to interrupt
their game-session, even momentarily.  For example, a trip to the
bathroom, a refreshing cup of coffee, the phone call from Jenny.
Consider also, the boring bit where the orks all attack one-by-one and
it's just a matter of time before you slay the lot of them, pick up
the golden sword and sell it at the shoppe.

Being shown an advert relating to something that is of interest may
also be just cause for pressing pause, or right-clicking on the banner
to display the details in a new window.  But to take your point, ads
can also be an unwelcome distraction, even going so far as to inhibit
a game's natural play-style.

I've got a 3500 user per day, 100Gb per month website that has used
adverts for a couple of years now.  The site's main content is simple
games, like chess or tic-tac-toe.  There's no person-to-person
interraction and every game is turn-based, you verses the computer.
If people want to take 30 seconds to examine the latest book from
Amazon or credit-card ad masquerading as something cool and wonderful,
then they can do so.  The interruption doesn't effect the game in any
way, it'll all be there waiting for them when they get back.

A more volatile and involving application, like a persistent,
real-time, multi-user world (did I miss anything out?) would present
the user with a simple choice - hang around playing the game, or visit
the nice credit card people and lose 3 levels when the Ork raiders
come around the corner.  Clearly no choice at all.

Is there a half-way house?  What about a game in which you have only a
passing infulence over your character's progression (keeping it simple
and talking about mud-like stuff for now).  An upcoming example of
this is Black&White, where you teach your main character new
behaviours by showing examples and praising/scolding depending on
their response.  Eventually the character takes on more-or-less the
manners you would use - and begins to run on autopilot.

With a game like that, what does it matter if you look away for a
minute?  If anything bad happens your character is already primed to
deal with the situation.  The risk associated with getting distracted
(something people do very well), is less than in a flight-sim or
racing game.  Under those conditions a banner ad might stand a better
chance of doing its job.

The design of banner ads, and the way their presentation integrates
with the parent application is interesting (ok, perhaps only a
*little* bit interesting).  And has parallels with the mixture of
features in a game's design.  You're building yet-another-widget on
the page, and it'll need the user's attention in order to make the
little cogs go round, and there's only so much attention to spare.

> You Don't Know Jack has an "interrupted play" model of ads which
> clearly follows TV's example: Stop playing/watching now and
> watch/interact with the advertisement. I don't know if this model is
> profitable, but at least the user can't be playing the game _during_
> the ad. And there is a precedent for the model that people understand
> (and accept?) The big downsides I do know about is huge ad production
> costs and bandwidth issues.

YDNJ's interstitial ads are still a mercifully rare adaptation,
and one which just can't be ignored from the player's point of
view.  But that alone doesn't make them wrong for the application.
Like you say, if people are already used to this kind of presentation
then perhaps they'll feel comfortable enough with it all to make
it pay.

The price of all this wondering about how to integrate ads is that
you end up distracting yourself from the real fun stuff - the game
design.  It seems that if you want to do *anything* with ads that
isn't the tried-and-tested (-and-failing) banner in the top inch,
then you have to throw a lot of time at the problem.  Considering
the returns, the time is probably better spent doing other things.

> So:
> 
>   If you're considering "in-world" ad placements -
>       Too expensive, poor results. Don't bother!
>   Banner Ads -
>       Not worth the overhead and distraction.
> 
> Sorry for the bad news.

There's no harm in the occasional reality-check.  If you've got other
clues regarding ads and games then please let us know.

Cheers,
Ay.
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