The value of advertising in MMOG's (online myltiplayer games)
 

During the last month I have been testing a few games that allow mainstream companies to buy advertising space inside the games.

One of the game I have tested is http://project-torque.aeriagames.com
Is a online real-time street race game.

Its still in closed Beta, so there are no real banners on the site yet. But you can see the banners here
http://project-torque.aeriagames.com...hots/PT-05.jpg

The games are free and that attract a lot of people.

But do you think you can make money advertising a website there? Or is it only profitable if you already have a known "brand" like Cola, Burger-King or Nokia?

If you run a website on those banners, chances are they cant remember the URL when they stop playing.

people are losing their asses trying that in second life

I heard it was on the way up in second life. And aren't second life more of a Community than a game? I never tried it, it was to close to the "myspace" idea

not according to an article in wired

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/m...15-08/ff_sheep

enjoy

Based on that wired article and a couple of others I have read over the last few months, most people are realizing that ads in video games are not really a great way to get exposure. If the game is slow and dull enough that people have time to read the signs, they are likely NOT enjoying the game and won't be back.

Most of the racing style games run so fast that the players don't have time to read anything else. The only reasonable ad spaces are either those at the end of levels (like reward areas, upgrade areas, etc...) or if a special area of the board is named after a brand or space (final battle in the Coca-cola dome, example) that people might use when talking about the game. Otherwise, players are just too concentrated on their game to register the ads in their minds.

"On a random day in June, the most popular location was Money Island (where Linden dollars, the official currency, are given away gratis), with a score of 136,000. Sexy Beach, one of several regions that offer virtual sex shops, dancing, and no-strings hookups, came in at 133,000. The Sears store on IBM's Innovation Island had a traffic score of 281; Coke's Virtual Thirst pavilion, a mere 27. "


27 "hits" - ok, I wont buy adspace in that streetrace game them.


I did send them a email about the ad space because as Rawalex said, the optimal would be to have the banners on the scoreboard or the cinematic sequences. Or else people wont look at it. I suggested they made Grid-girls with advertising banners of shirts on instead.

The thing about adverting is games, especially MMOGs is to do it creatively. You throw up a banner and it will be a waste but there are still many ways to do it. Let's use World of Warcraft as an example ....

There are millions and millions of people who play that game and are in no way interested in you or anyone else throwing up advertising in their game that they pay to play.

However if blizzard was to introduce a co-branded item that all of those people wanted for the game, it would be a whole other story. All they want is to enjoy their game. If a company helped them do that by providing them cool new items or features, not many would complain if it was named after another company..

The ads needs be be targeted, ideally gaming ads or something perfect for that demographic.