Microsoft Creates "Advertars"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Microsoft Creates "Advertars"


Get ready for the "advertar," a new form of online advertising developed and patented by Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com] that will turn citizens of virtual words into virtual walking billboards.

The system is really quite simple: MMOG players and members of online communities will be able to adopt "advertiser-generated avatars," which will let other people in the same game interact with them through, for instance, a series of questions and answers relating to a particular product. If a question is answered incorrectly, the player may have to sit through a "brand-accurate message" in order to continue answering the questions.

Exactly why, you may be wondering, would people be willing to do this? Participants will be given "compensation," possibly in the form of things like virtual currency, in-game objects or points and even real money. The more that people interact with the ads and the more they entice others to interact with them, the more compensation they may be eligible to receive.

"To advertise the movie Trix [http://www.transformersmovie.com/], an advertiser may provide the Trix Rabbit as the advertiser-generated avatar. The Trix Rabbit avatar may include functionality to say the popular catchphrase 'Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids'."

It's a safe bet that advertisers will make at least a token attempt to keep the new advertars relevant to the games in question; after all, nobody wants to be hassled by the Age of Conan [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acCfnwTpdxU]. And although players will almost certainly be unhappy about the prospect of yet another layer of advertising intruding upon their online experiences, the near-desperation of the advertising business to find new and better ways to penetrate the collective consciousness made this sort of thing inevitable. The only real surprise here is that it took this long to happen.

Source: Siliconera [http://www.siliconera.com/2009/07/20/microsoft-developing-mmo-advertars/]


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ChromeAlchemist

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Aug 21, 2008
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...What?

A litte different, but...okay. It is a tad shameless though, but like you said, inevitable. Nature of the business and the effects of gaming gone mainstream, I guess.

xmetatr0nx said:
Well we already have real life walking advert-people. Theyre called fanboys. Just one step closer to the personalised adverts from Minority Report.
He ain't lyin'.
 

Cpt_Oblivious

Not Dead Yet
Jan 7, 2009
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I wouldn't talk to an advert bot. I'll stick to hiring out my Guild's name as an advert.

I really hope the avatars don't break the immersion of the MMO though. If Trix [http://www.sillyrabbit.millsberry.com/], to steal your example, wanted to advertise in World of Warcraft or something, they could simply have a handful of rabbit critters renamed Trix, make it invulnerable and allow players to speak to it.
That way, people can ignore it while still not having their immersion broken, and other players can gain compensation for speaking to it.
 

randommaster

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Sep 10, 2008
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How about instead of slapping a new face on old techniques, they try to learn what appeals to the current generation and find out how to capture people's attention in the new media.

I don't want to take a break from a game to learn about why this brand of car is better than that brand. What they should do is get their own items inserted into the games. For example, people will be much more interested in a brand of car if it comes as a limited edition mount. You will remember the brand of car you got to ride around Azeroth in more than if you are forced to sit through a lecture for not knowing why it is the safest car on the road.
 

Feralbreed

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May 20, 2009
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Sounds a bit weird, and exciting at the same time. Just hope they really keep it down enough though..
 
Feb 13, 2008
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And Bumblebee is a Volkswagen Beetle, dammit.

Advertising is like Nuclear Power. Wonderful if used for the right purposes, but there's so few cases of that next to the onslaught of moronic uses.
 

Bazaalmon

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Apr 19, 2009
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Soon they'll start having commercials in games. Every 30 minutes or so, the game pauses until you watch at least 5 minutes of advertisements for erectile dysfunction remedies. Or maybe people will break into our homes at night, drug us, and stitch advertisements to the insides of our eyelids. They would leave money under our pillows of course, because that makes it all better.
 

Tav73

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Jul 8, 2009
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If the companies really want to appeal to gamers, why don't they get actively involved in the games? Instead of jamming awkward characters that are almost definitely going to look out-of-place, why don't they create a level for online purposes or something? Or just pay for unobtrusive billboards placed in the scenery.
Just a thought.

I for one would be far more impressed to see a L4D level created by Coca-Cola than some robot telling me how fantastic it is.
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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Cpt_Oblivious said:
I really hope the avatars don't break the immersion of the MMO though. If Trix [http://www.sillyrabbit.millsberry.com/], to steal your example, wanted to advertise in World of Warcraft or something, they could simply have a handful of rabbit critters renamed Trix, make it invulnerable and allow players to speak to it. That way, people can ignore it while still not having their immersion broken, and other players can gain compensation for speaking to it.
One could consider the "Negatron" enemy in World of Warcraft to be the perfect example of what you're talking about (though that was a homage to the character and not a advert.) Another example were the Obama billboard adverts in Burnout Paradise.

As long as they don't break my immersion, I'll play along.
 

hamster mk 4

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Apr 29, 2008
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It would be awesome if Microsoft got this patent so they could sue the crap out of anyone who tried to do this while never doing it them selves. However knowing Microsoft, this is just wishful thinking.
 

OnTheRocks

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Feb 22, 2009
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I can't wait to see the YouTube of someone assaulting the Progressive Insurance Girl in WoW.

Yet another reason I refuse to play MMOs.
 

GaM Pancho

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Feb 12, 2009
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This is going to look more out of place than the adverts in Prototype.

Looking down one of Prototype's dull, bland looking streets and suddenly seeing a big bright white billboad saying "DC COMICS"

And now we'll have Batman in WoW telling us how awesome DC Comics is, I hate this idea
 

cobrausn

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Dec 10, 2008
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Khell_Sennet said:
Would people get it through their head, WE DON'T NEED NEW WAYS TO BOMBARD PEOPLE WITH CAPITALISTIC ADVERTISEMENTS!
Damn Capitalism! With it's products and need to sell them to make money!

...

Unless they program the advert-avatars to be invulnerable and follow you around spouting 'Buy !', they should be pretty easy to avoid / ignore. And if they aren't invulnerable, killing them might help blow off some steam. Somewhat like an interactive pop-up blocker.
 

InvisibleSeal

The Invisible One
May 3, 2009
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OnTheRocks said:
Yet another reason I refuse to play MMOs.
This ^

Seriously what are they thinking? Maybe people will start to avoid possible "advertars" (what a stupid name...).
 

HobbesMkii

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza
Jun 7, 2008
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Oh, so, like bots. Microsoft has reinvented bots, but specifically for MMORPGs. Wow, I don't know whether to give them the sarcastic very slow clap or just pat them on the back, like you would a child figuring out what is already common sense.
 

mike1921

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Oct 17, 2008
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GaM Pancho said:
This is going to look more out of place than the adverts in Prototype.

Looking down one of Prototype's dull, bland looking streets and suddenly seeing a big bright white billboad saying "DC COMICS"

And now we'll have Batman in WoW telling us how awesome DC Comics is, I hate this idea
Who says they can't keep it somewhat dull and bland ?
Also, since MMOs already make 15$ a month from anyone owning their game, they have no excuse for this crap -_-.

Also, did they make a big deal out of the trix rabbit saying his catch-phrase, wow..