RPGWatch - Falling for the Evil Ads Empire?

I don't get what issue there is to this…

You guys ever pick up a newspaper? Adds are all over it.

It doesn't effect my enjoyment of the site or does it really do anything unless youc lick on it. If you can't control yourself for clicking the link then I think you may have more problems to worry about instead of just ads

Really it matters little in the grand scheme of things, like does it really matter? There are so many more important issues out there then this.

One of the main issues with ad heavy sites is that they tend to load VERY S L O W L Y. Flash ads are the worst.

Originally Posted by Corwin
One of the main issues with ad heavy sites is that they tend to load VERY S L O W L Y. Flash ads are the worst.

Heh maybe in the 90's who here does not have broadband now? I mean I blink and a site is up now. Regardless of the site. Gone are the days of BBS

How soon people forget our last days at the old Dot!! It loaded eventually, and then you had to wade through ads and popups before you could read anything!!

Rune you better belief Corwin. A lot of us here have seen what bad managment by other companies leads too: way too long to load a age decently because there were too many adds, notmal and flash.

But Like I sdaid: stuff like this doesnt disturb

No issue whatsoever with this ad. GOG is a good non contentious one to start with too, not tied to any specific game or review or anything, just for a delivery medium that I'd imagine everyone on here is in favour of.

Going forward there's definitely scope for more ads anyway, maybe if profit isn't the primary concern it could be tied into reader votes in some way. Perhaps have several ads on rotation at the top, with some full price paid ones and then some reader voted ones where the developer is offered a significant discount on their ad costs or something.

E.g. have a couple of polls each month, one for the game everyone's enjoying the most at the moment and one for the game everyone's looking forward to the most over the next couple of months. That way the low budget indies that are well liked and actively supported by the site users can compete on a fairly even footing with the high budget commercial releases with plenty to spend on advertising. And maybe mark the ads as paid content or reader selected content.

More complicated and less profitable though, and I'd fully support the site owners in any (non-intrusive) ad decisions they make, they put a lot of effort in and deserve some return.

My immediate thought is this: we recently had a crank (uk_john?) who saw conspiracy theory at work with GoG and Arx Fatalis and the patch issue. Now that we have a GoG ad, what message does that send to his 'faction'? We have been very pro-GoG, does that mean we are patsies for them because of ad revenue?

I am not stating that as an actual opinion, but just that even at this early an innocuous stage it is possible for appearances of impropriety to begin to appear to some readers.

@txa, there will always be cranks and conspiracy theorists. As such, there's no point in losing any sleep over what they think — they'll always find something over which they can work themselves into a lather. The best policy is to consider them entertainment and poke them with sticks.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Heh maybe in the 90's who here does not have broadband now? I mean I blink and a site is up now. Regardless of the site. Gone are the days of BBS

Fairly regularly sites I visit that use Flash (WSJ is one of the worst) will take a while to load, even on broadband. It's not like the the whole site is slow, but it just kind of hangs up at the flash point for a while, then finishes quickly. Highly annoying.

Originally Posted by rune_74

You guys ever pick up a newspaper? Adds are all over it.

Are you saying that because there are ads in newspapers, it's impossible to have something against ads?

I'm not sure I follow that logic.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Are you saying that because there are ads in newspapers, it's impossible to have something against ads?

I'm not sure I follow that logic.

What I was trying to get at is that you don't put down the paper because of the ads. Also, I'm obviously against the pop up adds because they are annoying as all hell. But adds like the one in the cornere which I honestly did not even notice until told about it, really shouldn't matter. Yes the whole page shouldn't be littered but seriously one add? how does that harm us? If anything it helps the site survive.

Bottom line is that the site does cost money to keep up and running. If you find an ad deal that will help do that, not splash over the board areas themselves, not detract from the main goal of The Watch, go for it. When we came here several of us offered to do paypal if the popups would stay gone. I know we can live with an ad from a reputable game site.

Originally Posted by rune_74
What I was trying to get at is that you don't put down the paper because of the ads. Also, I'm obviously against the pop up adds because they are annoying as all hell. But adds like the one in the cornere which I honestly did not even notice until told about it, really shouldn't matter. Yes the whole page shouldn't be littered but seriously one add? how does that harm us? If anything it helps the site survive.

I don't read papers, and the ads are partially responsible for that. I also don't watch TV, and the commericals are a very big reason for that as well.

As I said, I don't expect this site to do anything that corresponds with my own personal opinions, so I would never ask for ads to be removed. It's quite simply none of my business - but I won't pretend I like ads just because I like the community.

I also have a very trained mind in terms of ignoring ads, and as such I hardly notice them no matter how intrusive. Therefore it'll take quite a few of them before I decide not to visit here.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I don't read papers, and the ads are partially responsible for that. I also don't watch TV, and the commericals are a very big reason for that as well.

As I said, I don't expect this site to do anything that corresponds with my own personal opinions, so I would never ask for ads to be removed. It's quite simply none of my business - but I won't pretend I like ads just because I like the community.

I also have a very trained mind in terms of ignoring ads, and as such I hardly notice them no matter how intrusive. Therefore it'll take quite a few of them before I decide not to visit here.

Heh, this is basically what I'm saying as well, no one likes them. I didn't even notice since I'm used to ignoring them.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
@txa, there will always be cranks and conspiracy theorists. As such, there's no point in losing any sleep over what they think — they'll always find something over which they can work themselves into a lather. The best policy is to consider them entertainment and poke them with sticks.

Yeah, I know, just playing devil's advocate. There is more and more 'general consensus' that major review sites scores for 'AAA' titles are pretty worthless, especially in the current economy. Whether or not it is true becomes irrelevant …

So, since we don't get paid, and usually have to buy the games ourselves, you can be certain that we give our honest opinions!!

Oh come on corwin we all know about your soft spot for grimiore

Yes, but I've never written a review of the game, just a walkthru!!

You know all it needs is its conversation system fixed to me more like lands of lore or something liek that and boom its done.

Hehe, actually I do remember the RPG Dot advertisements. I would regularly have to resize my browser then shove it over to the side so half of it was offscreen just to be able to read the articles!

One extra request - no {insert all explicatives here} gold farmer advertisements! GameTrailers is always posting those fool things and I'm about ready to dump them for it. (Though it's hard to tear myself away. I mean… Amanda McKay could show up in a bikini again…. )