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Truth and lies in advertising
Chthonios
Member Posts: 11
I can't help but notice with some of the banner ads around here, mostly for these fly-by-night MMOs that Asia seems to pump out at an amazing rate, there are some pretty questionable boasts flying around.
"Scions of Fate", (which I can tell is obviously appealing to children who don't know better), nevertheless advertises itself as a game with "7 million registered players worldwide". Anyone else find that number a little hard to swallow? I do, especially for a game I've never heard of, or know of anyone who has, let alone anyone who has played it. It also claims to be the "Grand Award Winner for Best Game". Meaning what exactly? Awarded by whom? It's ridiculous, the kind of half-truths I might dream up to ensnare a 6-year old, but there it is.
"Tales of Pirates Online" describes itself as the "Most Anticipated MMORPG in 2007". I certainly don't remember reading about their booth at CES. That they expect us to believe this crap is insulting, but here we are putting up with it. Can we really not hold our advertising to any higher standard than blatant lies?
"Scions of Fate", (which I can tell is obviously appealing to children who don't know better), nevertheless advertises itself as a game with "7 million registered players worldwide". Anyone else find that number a little hard to swallow? I do, especially for a game I've never heard of, or know of anyone who has, let alone anyone who has played it. It also claims to be the "Grand Award Winner for Best Game". Meaning what exactly? Awarded by whom? It's ridiculous, the kind of half-truths I might dream up to ensnare a 6-year old, but there it is.
"Tales of Pirates Online" describes itself as the "Most Anticipated MMORPG in 2007". I certainly don't remember reading about their booth at CES. That they expect us to believe this crap is insulting, but here we are putting up with it. Can we really not hold our advertising to any higher standard than blatant lies?
Comments
It seems unlikely to me as well, compared to WoW which everyone has heard of and has about the same subscriber base. On the other hand, think of how many people there are in China. If not a single person in US heard about it they could probably still easily reach that number.
But then again maybe its because the chinese government mandates that all players must play a second rate chinese game to help their economy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PROBABILITY(YOUR STATEMENTS BEING MOTIVATED BY FEAR(I>U)) > .5
Some self proclaimed exagerations in game ads dont bother me at all. Thats what ads are for. I doubt anyone would take those ads too seriously. Media coverage is a different story though. What bothers me is the hype and excessive media coverage bestowed on some games that dont even deserve it, Guild Wars being the most obvious example that comes to mind. Also bothers me the fact some great games are simply ignored by the media and remain unknown to most players, like Saga of Ryzom among others. Thats why i consider mmorpg.com a very useful site.
Also understand, that rags like pcgamer and games for windows etc are all pushed by advertising revenue. Games that get the most coverage and most favorable coverage are one's that also push out the big ads bought up by their publishers.
More and more we are living in a global world (I know it sounds silly) but we can not think of ourselves as the center of the world, that is a totally myopic viewpoint that does more harm than good.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Come on guys. REGISTERED just mean a dude went to their site and created an account.
Consider it is FREE, it is so hard to believe?
it doesn't mean 7 mils are playing the game, just that 7 mils checked it out.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
If you watch Television for ten minutes... i can guarantee you that almost all, if not every one of those commercials you see... has a lie in them. Its propaganda. They will lie to you through their teeth. They'd even sell you their mother if it meant getting a subscription. Advertisement is ruthless and deceitful. Plain and simple.
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