Feature: 'Soapbox: Enhancing the Effectiveness of In-Game Advertising'

In today's other main Gamasutra feature, as more and more companies get into the act of supporting in-game advertising and product placement, David Edery (MIT) takes a look at what makes advertising effective in the first place and how it can be better implemented in video games. In this extract from Edery's Soapbox, he explains: "The basic argument for in-game advertising is: you can't use TiVo to ignore it, it doesn't disrupt the flow of content like TV advertising, and its inclusion in an interactive medium makes it more subliminally powerful. But we know from experience that all in-game advertising isn't created equal. Product placements that sensibly enhance gameplay (like driving a Hummer in Grand Theft Auto) are far more effective than, say, random billboards situated around a virtual race-track. If people can learn to ignore banner ads in websites, why do some advertisers think so highly of the in-game equivalent?" You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).