While I agree that ads in any kind of media are generally bad, I can see a variety of examples where it might actually add something.

For example the tv show Mad Men which is mostly about an advertising agency in the 60s. There is a lot of product placement but it works really well. I feel it works much better than it would if they used fake brand names (that maybe were references to real ones). It gives the show a bit more authenticity. If they got some money for it too, well good for them.

If I shoot an indie short film, which has a scene with someone using a computer and the monitor will be in a shot (because that’s how I want the shot), I don’t want to bother to cover the brand name. If after I get the shot done, I can get some sort of deal with the brand to give me some money, I don’t see what’s so bad (personally I don’t think I would bother but that’s another story).

What I want to say is, if you have a 100% realistic setting and some of your characters are going to a place that, naturally, has ads, they might as well be real ads, assuming of course you don’t do anything to expose the ads more than the scene requires.

1) We live in the digital age now. That means that I will only pay for a game in one of two cases: a) I decide to donate, as in charity, or b) you’re using an online model such as an MMO, in which case I’m really buying a subscription. That means your game will make 0 dollars off me from buying it, in general. The fact of the matter is that while it cost you money to make your game, it costs so little money it might as well be nothing for me to get the game from someone else. They don’t even have to give up their own copy. If you want to make money off me using your game, you’re going to have to come up with something else; do you have a better idea than advertising? If so, what is it? If games can’t make money off of the customer, the industry will die, make no mistake.

2) Right now, I can go to any Bow-Tie theater and pay an extra two bucks (compared to any other cinema in the neighborhood) to get no commercials in front of my movie. And you know what? I won’t. I’d rather put up with the commercials and keep my money than pay money not to see the ads. The same will be true of almost any game you produce; I will gladly save myself a dollar by watching two dollars worth of advertising during the game preloader. Elegantly incorporating these ads is the designers’ problem – something like what you described with James Bond might easily be enough for me to avoid the game entirely, and then you make less money than without the ad – but I will happily tolerate ads to avoid spending real money.

You’re taking the argument way out of the boundary though. I don’t see anyone saying “All ads must die”. But there’s something to be said about keeping ads “honest”. Because advertising is a constantly evolving practice designed to do one thing: Make you buy things you don’t need.

Of course, that’s what the economy is built on, right? Nobody needs most of the stuff they have. But it breeds irresponsibility on the part of the content creator when they aren’t paid for the quality of their work, but on the audience size. In theory, Quality should equate to larger audiences. Advertising can help bring in the audience, but they won’t stay without the quality, right?

Sometimes that just doesn’t matter. If you can get everyone in the world to look once, you can be a millionaire, even if they’re looking at nothing.

Sometimes it only matters to give the illusion of quality. Give the audience just enough that they are tempted to come back, and you can score another hit.

This is what advertising turns creations into. Rather than focusing on quality, you focus on attracting both advertisers, and an audience for them. You become a middleman to presenting as many goods and services as you can to as many people as you can while masquerading as somebody providing something people would actually want.

Any money a game can make before it’s actually shipped that is not a debt can be incredibly beneficial for the developer, allowing them to produce more of the same quality work they produced with that first “added” game. As long as the ads are not blatant and a hindrance to gameplay, I can’t really complain. Yes, they seem to destroy the essence of a game at times. But would you rather have something pure or would you rather see your favorite studio shut its doors permanently? I want to see my game developer favorites stay afloat.

You can’t escape advertising. You can’t ban it. It’s everywhere. On your clothes. On your car. On the street. Billboards, shop signs, logos. TV shows, radio programs, music and jingles. Your mom’s stories. Your best friend’s opinion on what game you should play. It’s an AD. It’s selling the qualities of a work in order to obtain the exchange of money. Going out and posting about a game on a forum–it’s an AD. News about a revolutionary game called Braid–it’s a fucking AD.

You NEED ads. You need to advertise. Sometimes games would never see the numbers they raked in without ads, have you thought of that? Some extremely beneficial TV shows like 60 minutes get an absurd amount of revenue from ads.

If the main character in a game is drinking from a Coke can, are you seriously going to complain?

Practices such as being forced to watch an ad between levels really isn’t though.

As somebody else mentioned if it is good or bad depends on how responsible the developer is.

Even though you did make the mistake of using common sense on the internet.

As an aside, you mentioned you weren’t happy with your previous discussions on this topic. I think your above post is a better and clearer summary than everything else said here.

I am saying, get them out of the art that I actually care about, so that they don’t interrupt it, dilute it, or otherwise prevent me from experiencing it in the optimal way. I don’t see what is hard to understand about this, and I have to wonder if you are just intentionally being difficult.