This Blog is Cynically bought to you by IGA

$3,000 for my new PC.
$89.95 for my new game.
Being Influenced by Advertising While I play my new game on my new PC - Priceless.

For many Australians IGA is the Independent Grocers Association, a cut price supermarket chain which competes with the big two (Coles and Woolworths/Safeway). However, for gamers the acronymn IGA will take on a new meaning in the near future. IGA is the acronymn for the new company looking to develop In Game Advertising. IGA is what the software developers are pushing for. It, ultimately, increases their profits by providing product placement or corporate advertising ingame.

Just to clarify where I stand on this so that no one is confused as to why I have advertising on the cynical gamer blog. There is a place for advertising on free to air television, print media, radio and web pages. These places make their money out of advertising dollars. They are free to use (more often than not) and are not subscription based. The companies who provide these services have to cover their expenses and make some sort of profit. However, when you buy a TV series on DVD you do not have to put up with watching advertising in the ad breaks. The advertising is, fortunately, removed from the TV Show. Just as you should not have to watch advertising ingame as you have purchased the product. There is something insidious about this type of advertising. The company is guaranteed a return (whether they make a profit or not is up to sales and management strategy) based on product purchase. They should not have to place ingame advertising in the software to increase their profits.

Intel have just made a $5 million investment in to IGA. Hoping that they can jump on the bandwagon. Keeping in mind that Intel, Nvidia and several other companies already purchase advertising on games anyway (seen the "Played best on Nvidia" logo when you load a game). The difference with the IGA advertising is that they are "pioneering" a way to deliver up-to-date advertising while you play. This will mean that somehow they will utilize your internet connection to deliver advertising content while you play. It means they will be able to tailor advertising delivery based on the country you are in and the time that you play. This is disgusting and, if it means, that you are going to have to have an internet connection to install or play these games then many gamers are going to be pissed off.

I don't want to have to put up with more advertising content in my spare time. I play PC games to get away from the television and the real world. I don't want to have some corporation poking around in my thoughts while I play games.

This push by the big companies to influence every part of our lives is disgusting. We should be able to get away from that crap and not have to put up with their profiteering marketing while we relax and try to enjoy ourselves. This is nothing but blatant profiteering and an attempt by advertising agencies and corporations to influence every part of our lives. I personally am quite sick of it.