Lately, there are so are companies which are taking the cheap alternative to making a quick buck, and those companies know who they are... If in case you have no idea what I mean, this is where companies decide to advertise in game. Not like a once off thing by placing a soft drink labelled cola where it is just a subtle thing, but I'm talking about blatant advertising and in your face.
In attempt to not swing readers to support or discontinue their support for products, I will try to avoid highlighting these companies which are involved in the vile evil that it known as blatant advertising, or as they put it.... "Strategic Product Placement". I know there are frowny points and awards to those games already and gives me the right to mention the game and companies involved, I will not. Now that you get the general idea, now it is time for me to get my regular **** session.
Blatant advertising can range from ingame billboards, indestructible signs, cross-promotion (you know who you are!), in-game characters using products from the company and much more. These are the main ones and I do not wish to see a game to cover the entire game in advertising that it forces me to disband from the world of gaming and do things such as cheating on my gf, actually why cheat when... *cough* but hell, there are companies out there which not only profit from consumers legitimately purchasing the game for some fun until they are whacked across the face by the company they are supporting with more advertising than looking for a relationship only to notice that the opposite you are really interested in is wearing so much advertising that you may take it upon yourself to screw that company over "metaphorically and literally" or be put off as it may not be money well spent for entering the club or venue. You rather have value for money than to of realised that it should of costed you less than $10 to even obtain the game as the company or game title should of already earned their profit from advertising in game alone!
The advertising industry may be worth over USD$35 billion, but truth be told, there are some areas which should not be ventured and yet, rather than not promoting their product or company in their sacred realms, they are blatantly crossed and make their stances known and heard and no one is there to stop the blasphemer. More like a scared church with the purpose of serving the people and then one day, an out of towner goes in a starts spruiking inside the church and selling their product/service. Farfetched hypothetical, yet it may just soon happen one day, but rather than that, the minister inside or whatever religion you're into might start their messages with a sponsored message, like an inescapable intro screen which you are really sick off, but can't avoid, resorting you to arriving when all that rubbish is done or leave when you know it is about to start.
We, in the society, already cop not just an ear or butt load of advertising, but look around you and you'll see some sort of advertising, whether it be subtle or blatantly. Look at the monitor, look at the mouse, keyboard, your house keys, car keys, pencil, pen, etc. Doesn't seem like just a butt load does it. Every square
centimetre of your life will be covered in advertising. But in games? It should be our escapism, our own magic circle, our own world of solitude, peace, meditative freedom and our toybox of excitement and joy. But this is just not the case in some games. Why would I want to enter a cheat code that it itself has advertising already in it, use an object with skins or layers with advertising already on it, see signs with cross-promotion of games which I have no interest of
playing, use products forewhich I don't have the requirements to even use, not even have the money for and/or have a really bad history with the use of their products.
Games are suppose to be our escape from our daily grind of misery and hardships but instead, taken out of our magical circle and be sucked right back into the abyss of reality. Hopefully, I will not lose my passion of gaming by the evils that is known as blatant advertising, otherwise I'll be having my fun with my significant other. Heaven forbids one day that one day my significant other starts blatantly advertises to me before having sex (hope she won't use it as a power play).... but who knows... that'll just might happen one day....hopefully, not to me....