If an industry collapsed or blossomed on reputation alone, computer games would have used its three lives and faced Game Over long ago.

For the few medical experts claiming that hours spent in front of screens were benefiting the hand/ eye coordination of game players there were dozens more with accusations of a more negative nature. But regardless of the numerous warnings of the untold damage these games cause - the stunting of social skills and violence they supposedly encourage being old favourites – consecutive generations have grown up with computer gaming and turned out just fine, thank you very much!

There has been a definite reappraisal of gaming in the last few years. As the industry’s revenues rocket and the internet has taken multi-player games global, the medium is being heralded as an entertainment source of cultural value that can reveal untold academic riches.

Far from robbing gamers of their ability to interact with other people and their sense of identity, broadband has enabled game playing to be combined with a sense of social community. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) have become the cornerstone of the gaming industry.

The vast alternate worlds that gamers inhabit attract hundreds of thousands of players. The games themselves are almost incidental to the friendships, rivalries and money-making opportunities available to the more enterprising gamer.


Increasingly, however, it isn’t just those occupying these worlds that are reaping the rewards. As games incorporate more and more online elements, the opportunities for creative advertisements within the game-play itself have grown. Adding a sense of realism to the playing experience, in-game adverts of relevance - or those that are even integral to the plot - are often regarded favourably by gamers.

As the internet permeates every level of the game playing experience, this Buzz on MMOGs and in-game advertising studies the computer games industry in 2006. We will take a look at how the gaming world has successfully incorporated the major internet audience drivers - internet communities and user generated content - and assesses the enormous marketing potential offered to advertisers in this largely untapped market.

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• The buzz on MMOGs and in-game advertising (1551k)
  The internet's imapact on computer gaming