Wirehead Studios

I just read an interesting article about a new system for placing advertisements in our video games. You can see it at the following link:

http://nationalcheeseemporium.org/ (http://nationalcheeseemporium.org/)

This new system, which the author of the article found in the 1.1 patch of SWAT 4, places a specific set of ads in semi-random locations, and sends information back to the advertiser on what ads were shown, which ones were looked out, how long they were viewed, and from what angle/distance.

It also includes a 'gamerID' system, in which every client is tracked individually, across servers, similar to the way PunkBuster tracks client ID numbers for global banning purposes.

I find this whole thing incredibly annoying for several reaons, the chief among them is that I hate invasive advertising in any media. I don't watch TV because I hate my shows being interrupted every 8 minutes. I dislike the radio because there's a fifteen minute stretch of car ads after every ten songs or so. I cannot drive down the road without giant billboards blocking the beautiful scenery I have out here. Invasive advertising ruins a lot of simple pleasures for me, and I don't like it.

The other major issue I have is that this system is spyware in every sense of the word. It tracks you, relaying information on how long you play these games, which ads you saw, , how many times you saw them, and for what length of time. It'll be a cold day in hell before I willingly install spyware on my computer.

I totally agree with you Con, especially on the annoying invasiveness of the advertising. I hardly ever watch TV and every time I do I instantly remember why I shouldn't have. And people all around me are accepting it, as if it is not a gross insult, as if it's not a violation of their intelligence and respectability.

Anyone who's seen "I Robot" knows that, apparantly, incredibly bad movies can succesful, even though they're simply vehicles for advertisement, devoid of what the original author intended, empty shells of detailed CGI. 'Soulless' might be an appropriate word.

And now, they want this grotesque horror to afflict games aswell? Is it not bad enough that games depict boobs and skimpy outfits to sell? (mind you, I don't think the near pornographic aspect is bad, as long as it has depth or a purpose other than to sell)
Well, there's one thing that relaxes me every time I realize it: the old games will still be what they were: the results of pioneers, from before the time when games could 'cause people to kill',  make men into billionaires and be vehicles for mindless spam.
Generations at least is going to be one of those old behemoths, always there when we need it.. ;]

Pass the bucket.

Is that a real level Scal? I like urban maps.

I can't ssee how you can stop the ads. I don't watch telly, except for the bbc news 24 chanel. but ingoring it won't make it go away. Unless the whole world ingores it.

Ignoring it does make it go away for you :]
Ofcourse, that only works when there's nothing important you're missing because of it. When it comes to TV, hell, you can just stop watching TV without ever missing anything worthwhile.
With games however.. it might be a different story.. ;]

The problem I've seen is that advertisers run from the mistaken belief that they are entitled to cram advertisements down your throat whenever and wherever they please, and if you take measures to prevent it then you are somehow "denying them their rights".  Sorry, but the last I checked I own what I own, and I control what is mine.  What runs on my hardware I will govern, and anyone who takes issue can spork themselves.

What amazes me is the absolute cluelessness of the advertisers in regards to people's attitudes as well.  Their answer to Mozilla and other pop-up blocker equipped web browsers is to use clever java scripting to make things pop up that normally wouldn't, using scripts like window resizes to get around it.  Now maybe I'm just a little behind the times on this new way of thinking, being an old feather brain and all, but I would think that cramming an ad up the nose of someone who clearly does not want to see it is a sure way to get them to not buy your product.  Maybe, but the individual this happened to was not pleased and thought they had a spyware infection, which it turns out they had left their adblock turned off, for which I promptly scolded them.  The fact that people have to take such drastic measures as turning off every damned browsing feature and using complex filtering tools should bother people more than it does.  What amazes me is what the web looks like with Adblock, and what it looks like without it.  Now we have to block entire domains to keep advertising crap out of game programs as well?  Out go the rights of the individual, and in come the Corporate Rights™.  Welcome to Big Brother 2.0.

Ignoring this sort of thing won't make it go away because it's already there.  However, burying invasive and intrusive tracking software into games is going to result in backlash.  Let's give it a little kickstart.  Here (http://www.massiveincorporated.com/site_pubdev/pubdev_home.htm) is the list of publishers already signed up with this company.  Anyone with connections to some gaming sites might want to have someone write some fairly opinionated articles about this sort of thing.  The gaming community needs to know what crap is being shoved into their games, and I think any game publisher who participates in snoop-ware should be required to plaster it in bold colors on their box so we know not to buy their product.  I know I don't want a game that's going to hijack my bandwidth and monitor what I do.  Do you?

I think the same principle as with e-mail spam applies. Nobody on the planet can be found who will ever admit to liking or wanting e-mail spam. Anyone who mistakenly considers it to be useful input will quickly realize their mistake as the amount that pours in increases.

Ofcourse, that first time that some clueless reader clicks a link, buys a penile enlargement device is exactly where the problem lies. Some (read: 1 out of, say, every 6 million) of the people running adblock are only running it because prudent system administrators like you and me installed it, and may care about the product which is now blasting itself into their face because of a new Javascript trick.
All this adds up and makes those 0.00001% of the targeted viewers worth the advertisers' while. If e-mail would cost one $c per message, we probably wouldn't be seeing any spam.

If I cannot control an application in the sense that it uses my internet connection to receive or send stuff I do not want to waste my bandwidth, I will boycott it, that's for sure.

I just sent a news post over to [H]ardOCP.  I think it would be great if they print something about it.

part of the problem is that some people keep themselves in a job by thinking up new ways to get you ti see thier ads. they don't care whats right or wrong, they were 'just following instructions' how many times have we heard that?

I can just imagine one of these folks at thier yearly apprasal: 'I invented a new way to get our product to the attention of millions of people - wether they want it or not'

This won't go away - people will just get used to it, and except it as the norm. Thats whats so frightening. it will become the norm. then only 'radical nutters' will want to get rid of it.

Just like the volume in TV ads being much higher than the volume in TV programs. people just except it as normal.

I may be a pagan hippy, but as far as I can see, this will only get worse.  -_-

Yet another reason I seldom watch television, and when I do I use the "mute" button religiously.

i  normally video anything if i need to watch it, then run it back and fastforward the ads. In fact I realize now I havent watched telly for weeks. just star trek next gen series one on dvd.

Sham: It is a real level, it's called Chronic. You can get it here:

http://lvlworld.com/comments.php?id=343 (http://lvlworld.com/comments.php?id=343)

All advertising is BAD, and the methods these bastards are using will only becone more devious as time passes. Only the other week I saw Gene Kelly on TV trying to flog me a Golf GTi by breakdancing. How long has that guy been dead?

My television is predominantly used for two things: my PS2 and my DVD collection. Completely ad-free (with the possible exception of any of my EA titles  :rolleyes: ).