As I'm sure everybody in our class knows, I am quite an avid video gamer. As far as games go, I enjoy shooters, racing games, and strategy the best. Video games are the type of media that entertain me and keep me relaxed. Without video games I might become unstrung and who knows what will happen!? I'm just messing around, I don't rely on them that much, but I still do play a LOT!
In any case, when I play these different types of games, I notice a pattern that involves the advertisement of products. In some cases, the ad is subtle, and unless you're particularly looking for it, you'd never notice it in a million years. However, some games are just full of advertisement and despite that, it doesn't really register with the player that they're being advertised to.
For instance, I recently purchased "Forza Motorsport 3" and began playing it non-stop for the day. Now, I don't know how many other video games are in our class, but if there is one thing about racing games that is important to note, it's that these types of games are becoming more and more realistic. In this respect, they are literally full of REAL ads for REAL products in REAL places!
For example, on one track, there are billboards all around advertising products ranging from cars to gilette razors. However, as the players of the game, it is easy to overlook these ads and in the beginning, I didn't even notice them. It wasn't until we went over the economic factors that help to drive and shape the media until I really began to notice all of these advertisements. These video games that advertise products are the perfect justification of Hilmnes and Starr's theories that the media are driven by what the market demands. Video games, that were once used as interactive toys and no more are now being molded to promote and advertise products for corporate America because it can create a profit. Instead of being solely about entertainment, the medium of video gaming has been changed, which is the absolute representation of Hilmnes and Starr's economic media theories.
Advertising in video games is also quite ingenious because it allows businesses and companies to mask advertisement with the ploy of interactive entertainment. Casual and hardcore gamers such as myself play these games regularly and take in all of the advertising without even realizing it. Then, we go shopping and we choose products that sound familiar for some reason (such as the gillette razor).
This is incredibly effective because these subtle advertisements end up in our subconscious minds and are never recognized for what they truly are! So if you or anyone else ever plays a game in the future, keep an eye out, because what you're playing might actually not be a game, but instead, one long product advertisement...
This screenshot shows a typical racetrack in Forza 3. In this shot I spy a TGI Friday's, Kodak...
Friday, November 6, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment