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]

Though slightly floofy in a Renn Faire way, this article over on Got Game? touches on some issues with the PvP system in World of Warcraft, even bringing the credibility budget into it (though the exact term is not applied).

It is incredibly ironic that a virtual world that has evolved from so much of the mythology surrounding a romanticized view of the Middle Ages then chooses to ignore this fundamental tenet of that same view. And it also destroys the believability of the rest of the system - one can't reasonably fantasize about knights and dragons, when the knight just slaughtered a baby for no discernable reason.

I had never really thought of it this way, perhaps too blinded with rage at the level 60 night elf rogue that ganked and /licked my level 22 self for the eighth time that day. But he's right, it does screw with the immersion. And my blood pressure.

But in a game where twin tauren warriors named Orly and Yarly belong to the prestigious guild Forthewin, immersion may be entirely moot. Or mooooooooot. Eliza Gauger

PvP and the Honorable Enemy [Got Game? via TerraNova]

Gamedev website Gamasutra has a feature up that puts into words a concept I've been struggling to explain for years. The author modestly calls it "Ken Perlin's Law", but I venture that his own term, "credibility budget", is far more catchy:

Ken Perlin's Law: The cost of an event in an interactive story should be directly proportional to its improbability.

[...] What is the unit of cost of an improbable event in a story? Its credibility. That's what gets spent when something improbable happens. And in fact, every story, interactive or non-interactive, book, movie, television, or computer game, has a credibility budget. The story itself can only tolerate a certain amount of improbability before the credibility budget is exhausted, and the story is ruined.

The author goes on to point out that unlike in books and movies, where credibility is the sole domain of the creator, video games put the responsibility into both creator and player's hands. If either one of us overdraws the credibility budget, the narration collapses, and the story is "broken".

Grand Theft Auto is used as an example of a game with a well-managed credibility budget. The world is open, but solid. The player is not allowed to break the story, but rarely feels as if he is being railroaded, either.
So this is my official notice. The term "credibility budget" is to be entered into geek phraseology immediately. I will brook no arguments. Eliza Gauger

The Designer's Notebook: Introducing Ken Perlin's Law [Gamasutra]