And Now an Ad From Our Sponsor...

I don't know why I never noticed this before, but a couple of days ago when I was using Google to find a World of Warcraft logo a slew (6 or more is a slew, right?) of WoW gold and item sellers appeared in the "Sponsored Links" column on the search results page. A little research, including this site, shows that these ads aren't paid for outright but are charged based on the ad links being clicked. Still, I think it says a lot about the virtual item market when sellers are utilizing the same advanced tools and tactics as those in the "real" world to vie for your attention and cash. By now the only thing I'm surprised about is that these sellers aren't running ads on QVC or have their own "WoW Hour" on QVC: "Okay now in the next hour we have 30 Precisely Calibrated Boomsticks to sell for only $11.99. Bill, what can you tell us about the Boomstock?..." Or maybe we'll just be able to tune to a QVC or HSN channel as part of the UI for each game. Imaginary excerpt from user manual page 17: "Hit ctrl-alt-S to bring up the live shopping channel for this game. Remember, they're not figurines - they're statues!" I'm not saying I *want* this to happen, just that I expect it to eventually happen.

Ad Fad?

I happened to run across some forum traffic this week where some game players expressed their objections to the intrusion of the real world into their game worlds. Yes I'm talking about the the world's third oldest profession... advertising. A few players are irked that some game companies dare to make you pay for the game and still put ads in them.

This complaint will sound familiar to anyone who's been around since the birth of cable television, which everyone expected to be advertising-free because we were paying for it. Most of us got over that, and the people who grew up with a 200-channel multi-function remote control as their baby sitter probably never thought there was anything wrong because for them that's the way it's always been. In fact, gamers have been submitted to in-game advertising for years. Anyone who's played an EA sports game in the past 5 years has been submitted to ads in football stadiums, company logos on soccer jerseys and branded merchandise to buy for their golfer - all in the name of making the game more realistic. Likewise for racing games, where players complain about any lack of brand name vehicles or items to pimp their rides with. Someone has to pay to use these brands and that gets passed along to you, the game buyer.

Bear in mind, these new in-game advertisements are not going to be intrusive on the game play. The advertisers know that players will reject that, so don't expect to see pop-up ads showing up in the middle of your sniper scope or a commercial interruption of your latest RTS campaign to sack Rome. Instead, the ads are integrated into the reality of the game environment - billboards on walls, brand names on vending machines and branded merchandise on shelves in virtual stores. The technology is such that the ads can now change over time which is actually more true to our "real" world where billboards get replaced to promote the latest record album, or one brand supplants another in the quicky mart because the owner got a better deal to carry Coke instead of Pepsi ("I miss Pepsi machine...").

If you want to impact the game industry's pricing structure, rather than get bent out of shape over the games with ads that charge you for their game, support the ones that charge less or make themselves available freely such as Anarchy Online where you get free software and don't pay a monthly online fee if you play the version that receives in-game advertising. For more information on in-game advertising topics and companies, you can start by checking out the Advertising In Games Forum site.

Game Gab

It seems that more and more frequently I get involved in discussions about people who make money or sell stuff from playing online games. Lately these discussions have taken place over lunch after church or while playing Magic: The Gathering during lunch at work. What interests me is finding out what things people have heard about. After that I can't resist sharing my knowledge of some more things going on that they might not be aware of.

Here's what people typically "know":

• Some people sell online game items and gold for "real" money
  
• Some person bought real estate (a specific location and area of land) in an online world for hundreds of dollars of real money
  
• Some people play the online game just for the purpose of getting stuff that they can sell for real money
  

And this what I try to add to their awareness:

• Some people actually make their living full-time through the sales of virtual items and currency (see the "Interview with a V-Empire" post on this blog from January, 2006)
  
• The selling and purchasing of real estate usually takes place in the game Second Life, where land goes for not just hundreds but also thousands of dollars
  
• The practice of taking part in the game strictly for the purpose of earning the most wealth over time is called "gold farming." The hardcore players have some pattern, script or sequence that they follow to rake in the gold.
  
• There is at least one company that has outsourced their gold farming to third world residents who play the game for hours a day supposedly in return for a small hourly wage and having their accounts paid for. Meanwhile, the parent company sells the goodies and pockets the difference.
  

So, do these conversations mean more and more people are becoming aware of the entirely separate "shadow economy" of online game worlds? Maybe. Not enough for it to become a mainstream enterprise ... yet. Some practices, like outsourcing, didn't have to wait for any form of legitimacy or formal recognition of these economies. Other practices, such as standard banking and investment services, seem far from ready to become engaged in this enterprise. Come back here to follow along as things start to happen.