City of Heroes Sells Ads
It was announced today that the famed superhero massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes/Villains will be implementing a new in game system this summer: in game advertisements for real out of game products and companies.
Recently, NCSoft, the publisher of City of Heroes since it's inception bought City of Heroes from the games developer, Cryptic Studios. The then former the development company NCSoft NorCal, sometimes known as NC2. Almost all the original developers for City of Heroes left Cryptic for NC2, and NCSoft seems to be far more interested in developing and expanding City of Heroes than Cryptic was as of late. Cryptic has since moved on to develop Champions Online (another superhero MMO that will be in direct competition with City of Heroes/Villains) and a "secret" science-fiction project that may (or may not) be Star Trek Online.
Things seemed to be looking up for City of Heroes because of the NCSoft acquisition. It was announced that the City Vault is being worked on. This feature was touted as only possible because of NCSoft buying City of Heroes. New issues seemed especially neat and content rich (though realistically they must have been worked on at Cryptic before the game's sale.) However, for many in the community, warning bells went off when NCSoft announced a paid in game item pack. $9.99 is the going price for the Wedding Pack, but are these new costume pieces and emotes an indicator that NCSoft will be nickel and diming the players for future content?
There are some questions and observations that come to mind when considering in game ads:
- Certain types of ads won't hurt immersion. For example super group recruitment ads, in game events, or player made ads. These things are part of the City of Heroes/Villains universe and they can be expected to actually exist in that universe.
- Advertisements for real world products may add to immersion by making the game seem to be set in the "real world." For example, Coca-cola billboards are ubiquitous in reality, why can't this real drink exist in Paragon City?
- Some targeted ads may be unrealistically over-represented. For example, we may seem an inordinately large number of video game ads. Advertisers would follow the logic that if people are playing a video game, they will be receptive to ads for more video games.
- On the lower graphical settings in game billboards appear to be colourful blobs. Because graphical settings would have to be set higher to view advertisements, those running lower end computers wouldn't be able to opt into viewing them.
- NCSoft has said that viewing these ads is entirely optional. Players can choose to opt out of viewing these ads by selecting a toggle in the options menu. What if NCSoft decides that there isn't enough revenue being made from in game advertisements? They may very well force players to have these advertisements always on. (This also ties in with the point above. Will people who have the lower graphical settings be forced into higher settings so they can view ads? The game would then become unplayable on lower end systems.)
- What if real world companies who advertise in the game world demand changes to the game? For example, let's say Monsanto signed a lucrative ad contract with NCSoft. They may not be pleased with the depiction of Crey Biotech as an unethical, and often downright evil, biotechnology corporation. Will NCSoft rewrite the game to make Crey a sympathetic and heroic corporation so they won't lose ad revenue?
- What will the effect of advertisements be on gamers looking into trying out City of Heroes/Villains? Will they be turned off by this seemingly greedy grab for more cash by NCSoft? Will they vow to never play the game because they refuse to support such game mechanics? In game advertisements do lend a negative stigma to games they have been implemented in in the past, The Matrix Online for example.
There is also the question of the ethics of essentially making the players, who already pay $14.99 a month to play City of Heroes/Villains, pay to view ads. This is part of the emerging corporate culture of "anything for revenue." The most prominent example I can think of is five minutes of advertisements before movies in the movie theater. Is it fair that consumers pay $9 or more to see advertisements they can watch on TV for free? There is also the danger that City of Heroes/Villains will be perceived by the general gaming public to be hurting enough for revenue that NCSoft is willing to implement adverse advertising schemes.
NCSoft has clearly given a lot of thought to the sustainability of City of Heroes/Villains and what their plans for the future of the game are. The ability to generate adequate income to justify further development costs is completely understandable. However, this,coupled with the Wedding Pack, could also indicate a slippery slope of what NCSoft is willing to do to squeeze the maximum amount of profit out of the game. At the moment, the only thing the average player can do is wait and see.
