23 replies to this topic

[ShadowVFX]

I read some interesting articles recently about how to successfully incorporate sponsorship into modern day video games and it got me thinking about how this could benefit the developers and players involved with MWO.

Imagine a product, lets just say Mt. Dew by Pepsico, has an interest in integrating their brand into MWO. One way I imagine this could be done is through camo patterns and logos that offer benefits to the player when equipped. Think of it like Nascar, but with mechs. The player who equips the Pepsi logo might have the benefit of +1% in awarded in-game currency while the logo or camo pattern is equipped. This benefits the product company (Pepsico) and the Devs because Pepsico gets their brand noticed and the devs would get monetary kick backs from that. Also, it benefits the players who are willing to use the camo or logos (which should be given out freely to any user at the start of the game), because it could potentially help them compete with players who are paying real cash for in-game currency or other advantages.

I know many of the hardcore fans will immediately cry foul at the prospect of seeing branding on a mech in what is considered an 'immersive game'. But what if this game has a Solaris VII arena where teams/clans/guilds/merc groups compete for notable recognition and perks, similar to Battlgrounds in World of Warcraft? Brand placement on mechs would almost make it feel MORE realistic in this scenario.

Personally, I feel like this could be a fun and effective way for everyone, players, devs, and companies, to benefit. I'm sure there's a lot of mixed opinions that this is going to generate, so let's hear them!

Edited by shadowvfx, 06 January 2012 - 04:13 PM.

[Liam]

In city map could be also enough room for commercial.
Or country specific short commercial between BT MWO Inner Sphere news ...
why not.

[Alistair Steiner]

If it's done in Solaris, then I'd be okay with it. Or as someone mentioned on another thread, have the announcers in Solaris mention products that are sponsoring MWO. Another idea is billboards in the various cities we'll be stomping through as ads for various products. Again, I don't think I'd want any icon on my 'Mech besides those for my unit or faction, unless I'm slugging it out in Solaris. Anyway, I suppose the short version is that I support this idea to a certain extent. I'd rather the ads be a little less obtrusive, or maybe be used in loading screens, etc.

[Omigir]

Having holo vids when you are in your corp hanger would not be bad either. If its a static back ground, you could have a rolling news feed in the top right corner which cornicals stuff going on in the IS.. an extention of ISN... and there could be comercials of sponsers as well.

<Also, I support obnoxitious colors nad paint paterns for mchs out on the battle feild. >

[Shadowstarr]

Its a good thought. Could see this express not just in new feeds and such, yet I think mech components could also be an outlet. General Motors XL4500 engine, or the Fugi Optics enchanced targeting system, Motorola coms suite, Red jacket custom Autocannons, ect. I could go on all day.

-SS

[UncleKulikov]

I'm for it. But I prefer passive advertisements, like in the news feeds, or on billboards in the game.

[Dlardrageth]

One small issue with that is if you target an international audience, that would narrow down the possible sponsors some. To run with your example, you know how many countries in europe Mt. Dew isn't even sold, much less marketed in? And yes, limit it to Solaris if you absolutely have to brand Mechs. I'd hate to have to fight the "Gatorade" Mech in a strategic drop, followed by getting wasted by the "Domino's Pizza" Mech.

[Mchawkeye]

Monetising the battlefield. Hmmmm. Big subject, that.

Adverts on billboards in cities? sure, but if the scenery is destructible, how long will that last?

Sponsorship based camo? No issue with that, as such, so long as it is confined to Solaris. I don't mind mad camo, as such, in the field, but advertising like that would ruin it. Though oddly, if it was advertising a made up, sci fi brand, I would have less of an issue.

Adverts in the lobbies and what not, no problem with at all as such.

As far as international advertising goes, it's just a matter of your target audience; if coke wants to advertise to Americans, and there are a few hundred thousand 'mercans strapped in to their seats, it might be worth it for them; in other words, the advertising doesn't necessarily have to be aimed at the entire player ship for the brands to see it as worthwhile.

On the whole though, I would say "no thank you very much" to any of it.

I recognise the potential benefit for the franchise, and I would not be grievously hurt if advertising did invade the game, but I see so much of it. Everywhere I look. All the time. Constantly. And I would like to think that MWO is better than that; but, again, I know that what we would prefer and what is required are to seperate things, and we are lucky if they aren't.

So I would prefer it to not factor in a game I play to get away from such shenanigans. Games, to me, are about escaping this life to some extent, not having to deal with the nature of modern living and go live another life where I get to frequently blow the living cack outta things and people.

So if you do jump in a mech and paint it Pepsi, I will be coming for you. Nothing personal, it'd just make me really happy to destroy a Pepsi advert. or any advert, for that matter.

Perfume adverts are arguably at the top of my list.

CK1 for Mech?

Dead.

[Orzorn]

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

For me, it breaks immersion, but I understand it's need from a developer/cashflow perspective. I just hope they don't get as bad as Ubisoft.

Actually, I disagree a bit. We already know that, in the future of Battletech, certain companies still exist, such as General Motors (which was actually pretty important in the Battletech timeline, as they produced the first fusion reactor in 2020) and Boeing (in the form of Federated-Boeing Interstellar).

I think it would be nice to have a television/hologram news feed somewhere in the game (a bar/hangar/whatever that acts as a lobby), but I think PGI has opted for a text-only route with the ISN news feed which will most likely appear in the game in some form or another. Personally I would like to see a newspaper much like Deus Ex: Human Revolution did. Each daily article could be about various things, such as the ISN news, while there might be other parts discussing new technologies, upcomping technologies, and even playful ways to address bug fixes ("Luthien Armor Works has released new firmware for their Mauler mech that corrects reported issues that the mech's computers refused to recognize weapons mounted on its left torso."). If anyone has played Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries, it would be much like the news feed located at the Comstar terminal. In addition to all of this, they could have ads on parts of the pages, if they wished. What's a newspaper without ads?

[Xhaleon]

Hah, sponsored camouflage?

Would the return on investment go to the player or to Piranha?

[Kaemon]

Xhaleon, on 07 January 2012 - 01:14 PM, said:

Hah, sponsored camouflage?

Would the return on investment go to the player or to Piranha?

Solaris battles only, if you can get sponsors to put an ad on your mech, let all that money go into the pot and the winner of the tourneys (if we're having tourneys) gets it all.

I see more companies like the gaming hardware guys, Alienware, Cyborg Gaming being interested in this than GM or Boeing.

[Orzorn]

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

Sounds like you didn't understand my post in full.

There wasn't much TO read, so yes, I got it in full. You didn't want ads because you thought they would break immersion. You never specified, so I expounded on "breaking immersion" (in which I disagree, because current companies DO exist in the future of Battletech, meaning it would be perfectly canon for those companies to advertise).

Quote

It's not that GM is a viable company NOW as it is in the future. It's that with in-game ads, you'd see things like "High School Musical 23, coming December 2012". And though that would make sense to us today, it'd make no sense whatsoever that such an ad would exist in 3049.

Stuff and nonsense. You're applying a hyperbole. You simply need something like "Today's paper brought to you by General Motors." or what have you. Making up fake products doesn't advertise anything, but actually giving us a company name does advertise a current, real life company.

Edited by Orzorn, 07 January 2012 - 02:52 PM.

[Orzorn]

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Um....why did you misspell and emphasize the word 'TOO'? (Should be 'to').

Why does anyone misspell any word? Because they did.

Edited by Orzorn, 07 January 2012 - 02:53 PM.

[Omigir]

Dlardrageth, on 06 January 2012 - 11:55 PM, said:

One small issue with that is if you target an international audience, that would narrow down the possible sponsors some. To run with your example, you know how many countries in europe Mt. Dew isn't even sold, much less marketed in? And yes, limit it to Solaris if you absolutely have to brand Mechs. I'd hate to have to fight the "Gatorade" Mech in a strategic drop, followed by getting wasted by the "Domino's Pizza" Mech.

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

Sounds like you didn't understand my post in full.

It's not that GM is a viable company NOW as it is in the future. It's that with in-game ads, you'd see things like "High School Musical 23, coming December 2012". And though that would make sense to us today, it'd make no sense whatsoever that such an ad would exist in 3049.

PGI can turn down advertisments and they can pick and choose who they get sponsered by. there is no reason there cant be advertisments made that are 'timeless' and im sure there are products that are internatinal.

There is no rule that has to say that an advertisment has to have a 'release' date attached, or it has to be Mt Dew. Car companies are a good example as many of them international, as well as a car from 2012 would be considered a classic car in 3049

[Omigir]

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 07:22 PM, said:

Yeah! By 3049, AOL is going to be giving out DVD's with 6.5 billion free hours on it!

n__n thanks for reading the whole post! your an over 9000 champ!

once again, PGI, i am sure, can decide who/what adds they are willing to allow if they reach out for sponsers. if some one wants to put an add into the game that makes no sens, like taco bell's one week only 99 cent burito deal from march 1st 2012 to march 2nd 2012, im very sure it is in PGI's full abuility to decline taco bell's sponsorship.

[Larry Headrick]

All dates on all product placements would have to conform to the MW:O timeline. It would read something like this.

Taco bell anounces that for two days only the $ .99 taco is back from march 1st 3049 through march 2nd 3049

As long as it is on a bilboard or other add space ingame why not. If done corectly it would not detract from the game. If done incorectly it could really suk.

[Omigir]

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

Appreciate the false modesty. BTW, it's "You're", not your.

Isn't it kind of pointless to say PGI has the final say here? Isn't it so overwhelmingly blatantly obvious to the point where it doesn't even need to be stated?

so why is it people get concerned about emersion? As if PGI isn’t going to maintain the integrity of their own game? An add does not have to have a date or time attached to it, and if PGI wants sponsors, I think they are going to try and integrate it into the game vice build the game around the add. PGI does not need sponsor adds but if it helps them, there in by helping us why not do it? If the only reason you can think of is breaking emersion, then you really have no real argument against it. There are many ways to creatively make an add to fit into BTU that companies will pay PGI to incorporate that does not break the game or the game timeline.

Afterthought: I am sure if im moving through a city and I see a billboard with the latest VW bug on it, im not going to suddenly realize im in a fictonal world.

Edited by Omigir, 07 January 2012 - 08:39 PM.

[Omigir]

Aegis Kleais™, on 07 January 2012 - 09:32 PM, said:

What's wrong with someone liking "immersion"? I never said an ad HAD to have a date on it. I merely stated that if a current-day ad HAD one, it would break immersion in the game. And your argument is moot; you merely attempt to discredit my preference at face value simply because your opinion is on the other side of the coin. You don't seem to understand what an opinion IS. You may have a difficult time on a forum. I think you're just taking things to extremes. If you ever STOP knowing that you're playing a game, you have a lot more serious issues than breaking the immersion of a fictional game that is designed to simply entertain.

No one is saying your opinion is wrong, but apparently mine is. That is ok.

Also I never said emersion was bad, just that there is a way to put adds in without breaking emersion. But that’s ok, that is not an opinion and you can dislike that all you want. If you didn’t put down a finite statement, and site one thing for your opinion, I might not try and suggest an alternative for you that might make you rethink your stance. On that same note, if you are not here to have your stance challenged, then perhaps you should not post.

Again if you read what I wrote, you might understand what I’m trying to say. It’s how discussions work; You read what one person says, think about then give a thoughtful reply. I read what you wrote, thought about it, and offered an alternative and or pointed out a gray area your stance did not cover.

Edited by Omigir, 07 January 2012 - 10:34 PM.

[John Clavell]

If's very subtile, I'd be ok with it. However, I spend enough time in my life having to look at boring or junky adverts trying to push kack products on me, I can live without yet more of them in the game I love to play to get away from the lulz of real life.

Edited by John Clavell, 08 January 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[Omigir]

Aegis Kleais™, on 08 January 2012 - 07:30 AM, said:

The only way your opinion can be wrong (if it isn't proven as fact, which is hard to do in a fictional game) is when you don't allow someone else their opinion.

What you may not understand is that there are things in a normal person-to-person conversation like inflection in tone to convey a message that simply writing in text (like on these forums) may end up in mis-communication. This is where clarifications are needed, rather than for anyone to jump to assumptions.

Ok, now that we got that out of the way, Where I understand your argument of what you are trying to say, I think there is a pleasant way to incorporate real world advertisements that would not be overt and blaring or detrimental to the game or its emersion.