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Inauro
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
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| The Matrix Online: In-Game Advertising Coming to The Matrix |
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As <a href="http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=62126" target="_blank">reported</a> in a <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/press_release.php?aid=13050" target="_blank">number</a> of <a href="http://www.gamespress.com" target="_blank">places</a> around the web, in-game advertising appears to be coming to The Matrix Online.<blockquote><em>An exciting new addition is coming to the world of The Matrix Online. As part of Update 38 we will be introducing Massive in-game advertising to The Matrix Online. For long-time community members, and those of you who play Planetside, it will be a familiar part of the game.
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<br>Real-world advertisements will begin appearing on billboards around the Mega City after Update 38 goes live. Just like real-world billboards, they'll change to feature new advertisements over time. (Don't worry: Your favorite ads for Slumberil, The Sentinel, etc., will remain a part of the game.) These static advertisements will not affect game performance in any way.
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<br>The inclusion of Massive in-game advertising opens up the possibility of something many community members have been asking for, player advertising around Mega City. We will be looking into the idea of running contests for selecting player-generated ads in the future as a way of incorporating these ads into the game. Once we have confirmed we can do this, we will make an announcement on Data Node One. Stay tuned and we will keep you updated on our progress over the next few weeks.</em></blockquote> |
Fri Nov 18, 2005 3:20 am |
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Guest
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"An exciting new addition is coming to the world of The Matrix Online."
LOL! Way to put a positive "spin" on what amounts to subscribing for online commercials... |
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Fri Nov 18, 2005 3:21 am |
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Inauro
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
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After initially thinking that in-game advertising was one of the worst concepts i'd ever encountered, i've eventually come to think that in certain types of MMO it's not entirely out of character. For example, the worlds of Anarchy Online, The Matrix Online, Neocron and, to a lesser extent, Planetside seem ideally geared towards in-game advertising.
This is probably because all of these games are set in near or speculative futures in which we'd expect the media to be even more all-pervasive than it currently is. On the other hand, the last thing i want to see is Bilbo Baggins advertising [insert popular soda brand here] on a gigantic billboard suspended from the Party Tree.
That said, if in-game advertising is used wisely and well and is in keeping with the themes of the game in which it appears, i have no real problem with it. In fact, i'd go as far as to say that in the aforementioned games it might actually add to the immersion. That is, making the world seem more real by helping to reduce the threshold necessary for suspension of disbelief. Adding real-world elements to the game world might make the virtual seem more actual, if you see what i mean.
The benefit of seeing great games like Anarchy Online become subscription free is just an added bonus.
Inauro |
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Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:04 am |
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Kepler
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 109
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Yes it does fit well within the Matrix theme. Similar to the advertising in Minority Report that uses individuals names. "How about a new pair of Levi's, Steven James?"
But...
The Matrix Online is a terrible game that nobody subscribes too. SOE bought it for lunch money from a thankful Monolith and is trying to rescue it. This in game advertising will have to make it free of fees like Anarchy Online for anyone to even touch it again.
As has been proven time and again, MMOGs do not recover from bad first impressions. |
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Sat Nov 19, 2005 11:17 pm |
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