Look, I’m not saying that this marketing strategy wouldn’t be effective at getting the attention of twelve year olds… but is this really the best way to market products supposedly suitable for pre- teens?
– wincenworks
violetimpudence submitted:
Saw this ad on TV tonight and thought of you. I don’t so much mind the teasing “come and play with me” pitch – I’ve burned out my get-offended circuit for that – but walking through the battlefield in that dress? (And wouldn’t it have been more interesting if they’d put her in good armor?)
Yet another arms race of terrible advertising for painfully generic games has escalated again. And why would a game like GodGame of ThronesWar engage in this kind of ridiculous nonsense?
Because whether they use sexual imagery or franchise names to sell, these products are basically horrible rip offs employing graphics and game mechanics that were exciting in 2001.
This is not to say that a simple game mechanic can’t be fun and engaging, I mean look at Candy Crush Saga’s success. The main issue here is that these are basically stripped back versions that – instead using sophisticated AI and scaling difficulty – they just use other players (which means that they also want you to be both part of the product and pay for the privilege of doing so).
And this is why “sex sells“ for these games is a myth – it’s simply the company with the biggest market exposure gets the most sales. After all, they games are all more or less the same and are only playable before the volume of unbearable jerk players reaches critical mass.
– wincenworks
What I find particularly ironic about it… That’s not your typical cheap “sex sells” slap-some–generic-sexy-lady-art–and–innuendo-tagline–on-a–web-banner ad, but a TV ad! They actually invested money into shooting this at a relatively high production value… And still decided that making it all about a sexy lady selling you The Thing was the best way to market their game.
~Ozzie
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Every Free to Play MMO ever.
~Ozzie
Actually this looks better than some of the Free to Play MMOs I’ve looked into out of masochistic curiosity *cough*LeagueOfAngels*cough*
– wincenworks
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Hi, I am Erica ;) How are you today? I am a manager at GameTV. A new game is launching, could you do me a favour and try to play it? Every second player will win a game t-shirt. It is a latest online game, give it a try on my page. Will take you couple of moments. Let my know what you think we can talk. Erica
Guys, League of Angels is so desperate.
Their shitty porn ads aren’t enough.
They’re resorting to making fake tumblr accounts to beg for players.
UNBELIEVABLE LOL.
But, but, but… sex itself does NOT sell? WHO KNEW!?
~Ozzie
I find it amusing that these games go into predictable advertising spirals. It happened with Evony and now it’s happening with League of Angels.
First it’s sexy images with generic taglines.
Then it’s softcore porn images with taglines befitting hardcore porn.
Then it’s annoying as affiliate/spamming programs.
It’s pretty much the predictable pattern of a mediocre product that’s sustaining by the wishful thinking of executives and investors who are unable to learn from history.
– wincenworks
karniz replied to your post “have you seen the armor for characters on Diablo III, and if so, what’s your opinion on them?
Why do you guys just look at concept/promo art and not actual in-game armors? The actual armor within DIII is very well designed and not as sexualized as the samples you show. I feel it’s a disservice to your viewers that you don’t do more research..
Oh wow, you’re telling me that the promotional material Blizzard creates to market Diablo 3 are completely misleading and non-representative of the game… and not only has nobody mentioned this before but somehow it’s my fault?
Wow, I better look into that right away. Thankfully there’s always YouTube to provide us with Let’s Play videos so I can take screenshots that look slightly off since the live footage is always in motion and was never intended for still frames!
I bet the the in game models look completely different. I bet they’re huge and so detailed that you’d be a fool to look at anything but what the actual in game play looks like. It’d be ridiculous to propose that Diablo figures are displayed, by default, so tiny that you can’t make out any real detail beyond basic colours and silhouette right!?
Oh… well never mind! The first thing you do when you start one of these games is create a character. Obviously the Barbarian models in character creation will be completely different to those used in promotion and the ones that someone made gifs (from gameplay) of!
Oh wow… what a co-incidence! Oh well, there’s always the Demon Hunter right? It’d be ridiculous to think that they’d use that stupid stance where she poses one leg in front of the other, sacrificing her balance to flaunt her hips! Or have her arms posed to both look like a she’s trying to be an action movie star and draw attention to her boobs. That’d never…
Wait a minute… does this game actually have all the problems previous suggested? Is it possible I just use promotional art and cleaned up gifs because they are easier to read and communicates clearer?
Is it possible that this kind of rampant double standard and objectification of women is so common in gaming that many people just assume it’s justified and normal? And that it’s long overdue people called it out and didn’t just forgive games because there were a few good examples in it if you looked? Or even games where it’s mostly good with some outrageously bad items used in marketing?
Outrageous! Someone should start a blog about this kind of thing… they could even like, make some sort of checkbox game to help illustrate the point!
– wincenworks