I'm of two minds about in-game advertisements too. On the one hand, this is how you reach people where they are. But as many have pointed out, gaming is also a safe space for some...and having that be infiltrated is not cool.
Connecting around experiences related to gaming is cool though and I wish more people would realize how powerful it could be!
This makes sense to me. I think the aversion to politics and civics is (at least partially) why the world is in its current state. Initiatives like this might encourage more people to involved.
Lol, yeah, gamers love to argue! Still, I suspect political tribalism often is because not enough of us care about politics and civics. Maybe more exposure will mean less tribes?
Have no qualms about a politician streaming a Q&A on a platform like Twitch or whatever while playing Fortnite etc, because that is opt in. And it is a good way to connect with otherwise disengaged voters.
But I don't want to see politicians or signs or any of that in-game, for obvious reasons.
It will be interesting to see how politics navigates this as advertising in games becomes more mainstream. Just look at the latest Naughty Dog trailer for Intergalactic... that was an exercise in spot the brand.
That's kinda why I wanted to cover it. And posed the question at the bottom. Took a very news fact-led approach to writing this one, didn't really editorialise whether it was good or not.
On one hand, people love the engagement with politicians. I saw that from Nick McKim's stream. On the other, is this what we want gaming to be?
But... marketing in games isn't going away. In fact, the report I covered last week from Matthew Ball had a whole section on it.
And I really appreciate your fact-led approach! Made for a well-balanced read, for sure.
I know marketing in games has been a thing for a long time now, and while I'm not a huge fan of it, I suppose I'm used to it.
Politics, though... if I was playing Animal Crossing and I saw those Biden/Harris yard signs, I think I'd stop playing the game forever or at least a long, long time. And like I said, either party, if Trump signs were in Animal Crossing (lol), I'd hate it just as much.
If games want to have an in-game political message, fine, but to spread real-life political candidates/policies at a time where the world is more divided than ever about politics feels irresponsible.
Also, games are decompression for many folks (myself included), and political noise is the complete opposite of that.
I'd quietly bin my copy of Animal Crossing too if Dutton or Albanese (current Aus PM) rocked up there. Given their recent election promises, I bet they'd even offer to help me with my huge Tom Nook loan!
This is what I was thinking, they are a decompression tool. But I guess TV is too, and that hasn't stopped advertisers?
I'm of two minds about in-game advertisements too. On the one hand, this is how you reach people where they are. But as many have pointed out, gaming is also a safe space for some...and having that be infiltrated is not cool.
Connecting around experiences related to gaming is cool though and I wish more people would realize how powerful it could be!
This makes sense to me. I think the aversion to politics and civics is (at least partially) why the world is in its current state. Initiatives like this might encourage more people to involved.
Can't argue with that.
The only thing I wouldn't want it to encourage more of, however, is political tribalism? Gamers argue about enough things already haha.
Lol, yeah, gamers love to argue! Still, I suspect political tribalism often is because not enough of us care about politics and civics. Maybe more exposure will mean less tribes?
Have no qualms about a politician streaming a Q&A on a platform like Twitch or whatever while playing Fortnite etc, because that is opt in. And it is a good way to connect with otherwise disengaged voters.
But I don't want to see politicians or signs or any of that in-game, for obvious reasons.
Solid reporting! Good work.
Thanks mate!
It will be interesting to see how politics navigates this as advertising in games becomes more mainstream. Just look at the latest Naughty Dog trailer for Intergalactic... that was an exercise in spot the brand.
I appreciate this article, but also, I hate this.
Don't care which party is advertising in the game, it's disgusting to me.
That's kinda why I wanted to cover it. And posed the question at the bottom. Took a very news fact-led approach to writing this one, didn't really editorialise whether it was good or not.
On one hand, people love the engagement with politicians. I saw that from Nick McKim's stream. On the other, is this what we want gaming to be?
But... marketing in games isn't going away. In fact, the report I covered last week from Matthew Ball had a whole section on it.
And I really appreciate your fact-led approach! Made for a well-balanced read, for sure.
I know marketing in games has been a thing for a long time now, and while I'm not a huge fan of it, I suppose I'm used to it.
Politics, though... if I was playing Animal Crossing and I saw those Biden/Harris yard signs, I think I'd stop playing the game forever or at least a long, long time. And like I said, either party, if Trump signs were in Animal Crossing (lol), I'd hate it just as much.
If games want to have an in-game political message, fine, but to spread real-life political candidates/policies at a time where the world is more divided than ever about politics feels irresponsible.
Also, games are decompression for many folks (myself included), and political noise is the complete opposite of that.
But in this instance, the marketing isn't in the game - it's in the twitch stream, where it's always been
I'd quietly bin my copy of Animal Crossing too if Dutton or Albanese (current Aus PM) rocked up there. Given their recent election promises, I bet they'd even offer to help me with my huge Tom Nook loan!
This is what I was thinking, they are a decompression tool. But I guess TV is too, and that hasn't stopped advertisers?