My darling readers, you recall clearly when I introduced the concept of credibility budget to you, right? Good.

After my stunning defeat of the 360 running Prey at Gamefest (the frame on which it froze portrayed the death throes of an alien bastard), I was interrogated by an onlooker about the subject of in-game advertising, a topic that has seen some attention on Kotaku.

He asked me about my opinion on the matter, which is disapproving overall, with some allowance made for ads that could blend into or even enhance gameplay. I used the example of Atari and Coke advertisements in Blade Runner being appropriate to the genre and good for the overall believability. Instead of being jarringly anachronistic, it enhanced the reality of Los Angeles 2016.

It did not, in other words, strain the credibility budget. It even may have made a deposit. I forgot to use this term with him, but with any luck he is reading this right now.

Now here's a very fine example of extremely poorly-executed in-game advertising:

In Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World, our forum goer Scero found an NPC that told him about the Dungeon Siege PSP game and offered him a code for it, as well as saying the PSP game had a code for items in the game he was playing. Way to help us suspend disbelief. Even worse, this "ad" was voiced by the character. Wanting to advertise in a game is fine, but I think this is kind of sick; characters in games should not try to talk to you about other games the developers want you to buy.

I've just put Broken World in my "do not buy or play" folder.

This single NPC encounter drains the credibility budget entirely, and reminds you that you are still sitting on your filthy couch, your laptop burning weals into your groin and your gut interfering with your use of the space bar. Reality comes bursting out, and it smells like feet.

I told my advertising friend the same thing. Not only is bad in-game advertising distracting to the player, it activates the inborn gamer counterculture urge: distrust and resentment of The Man. Any large corporation I do not specifically and consciously use and endorse, I automatically disdain. Even corporations I do use are subject to my distrust, such as Blizzard. I see my relationship with them as a necessary evil, not a pleasant little tryst.

The best part of this post is the comments section, where many good points are made, the funnies are rolled out, and only a very few people pipe up to say they don't care. And someone echoes my sentiments exactly, the ones that seemed to surprised the guy at Gamefest: The day I see a Coke billboard in Orgrimmar is the day I stop playing. Eliza Gauger

When in-game advertising goes too far [Opposable Thumbs]

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