Week 6 - Advertising in Video Games

That was a fun video about advertising in video games. I could really relate as I have played many video games in my time, and even more than I realized that had ads or even were ads. The Orbitz advertisements that are also games are very simple, but addicting. I didn't even remember the ad "Sink the Putt." That brought back a lot of memories. I played that game until I got a score of 4 out of 3 holes. I could never get a hole-in-one on that one hole with the hotel after getting two holes-in-one.

Anyway, this podcast made me realize how much advertising is out there in games. The most obvious advertising to me is in the sports and racing games. I think you see football, baseball, extreme sports, racing, etc. all with advertising plastered everywhere. It is not that farfetched to see it replicated in those types of games. In fact, at this point it would be weird not to see those ads. At the end of the video I think it asked the right questions about if the ads were relevant to the users and not so distracting to take away from the game play. That is how great advertising should always be. It is almost the subconscious messages that direct your customers and not just annoying them with your ads.

Twenty-three and a half hours the average 20-29 year old who plays World of Warcraft plays the game in a week?! That really is ridiculous! There is so much else to do in your week than take an entire day to just play one video game, especially at that age. I guess that is why there are complete economies in the virtual world because people can spend so much time away from the real world. It is sad, but I am sure those same people could find something strange I spend 24 hours per week with my time.