What about customized station advertising panels?

[Oogie Boogie]

What do you think about customising the panels in front of the letter box?
Frontier could rent this for real money (for a certain time period) particulary for clans or special (clan) community goals.

Would this even be feasible?

 

[anikaiful]

As long as it's FD and not players who make the ad (based on whatever idea purchaser of such-and-such ad has in mind). Not a whole lot of people care about ads though, so from that stand-point it might be just waste of money and time (or then not, depends).

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I think anything not lore-friendly is a terrible terrible idea. I don't play games to see a coca cola advert unless I got that game for free.

On the other hand I am very pro anything that brings the game to life more. Having the CODE home-station in Leesti have a banner there would be great or the occasional fuel rats advert spread across the galaxy. Also yes to CG adverts.
No on the real money bit though imo, I can see Frontier giving a template like they did for the ship paintjob competition and asking for logo's and things to be sent in so they can edit them and place them in game. Still a lot of work for them to do though but that would be my ideal implementation of such an idea...

 

[aws357]

If there is money to be done for them, I guess they will think about it. Although personally, it took me a very long time to even notice the things that where in the panels.

In fact, its only once I took a docking computer that I could look at them and see that they were just ads for the main ship manufacturer...

They should make them bigger and most importantly put them AWAY from the approach of the slot if they want people to notice them...

They could also add more "festive" lights around so the stations would feel more like intense hub of trade and civilization... ("Sirius Instant Ramen, now with extra Imperial Slave Chashu")

 

[VR jefranklin18]

I think anything not lore-friendly is a terrible terrible idea. I don't play games to see a coca cola advert unless I got that game for free.

Yep that would be terrible...

Spoiler

The issue of in-game advertising has been kicking around since pre-Alpha. I may be in the minority but I think as long as it done like the above, it would not be the worst thing and if it generates more revenue for Frontier, the better IMO.

Edit: Not sure why the image is appearing twice?

 

[Crazy Jedi]

So long as it is all lore friendly it'd add some life to the game... CGs would be good too

 

[anikaiful]

Yep that would be terrible...

Spoiler

http://orig14.deviantart.net/bebe/f/2009/075/9/6/deckard_drinks_coke_by_such_a_dreamer.jpg

The issue of in-game advertising has been kicking around since pre-Alpha. I may be in the minority but I think as long as it done like the above, it would not be the worst thing and if it generates more revenue for Frontier, the better IMO.

Edit: Not sure why the image is appearing twice?

Anything advertising RL products in-game is a Bad Thing(TM). So, a resounding "no" to any such.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Yep that would be terrible...
The issue of in-game advertising has been kicking around since pre-Alpha. I may be in the minority but I think as long as it done like the above, it would not be the worst thing and if it generates more revenue for Frontier, the better IMO.
Edit: Not sure why the image is appearing twice?

Hmm, I agree revenue for Frontier is a good thing but it's the type of thing I'd expect from a free to play model like TF2. If they did go that way and said (for example) season 3 will be free to those who activate external ads then I would be more than happy to support such a decision.

Not that my opinion matters on the whole (one of many players) but my feelings are that if I pay for something the person I'm paying shouldn't get money from elsewhere for giving it me.
Recently there has been a 5p charge for plastic bags from supermarkets introduced in the UK as an effort to curb waste. There are already many calls to say that places like Asda and Tesco should be selling brand-free plastic bags for 5p or assume the charge themselves for the advertising, similar principle I think.

 

[Vasious]

I don't think we need to worry about lore unfriendly given all the options they have, before they get there.

We could have ads/banners for:

• The Shipyard who dont have ads yet
• The Minor Faction Controlling the Station
• The Power Controlling the System - need only be their symbol
• The Federal Navy wants you
• Join the Imperial Navy, see the Stars
• Ads for various rare goods.
• The various Super Corps mentioned in the System Description, they already have tag lines even.

Yes a low priority, but keep them simple, and they would add a lot of life to the game
Minor Factions having particular tag lines based on their Government Type
Vote the Lugh Party for Equality
vs
Hail the Order of Mudhrid
vs
Long live the Revolution
The People Eranin Party

The Super Corps could be grouped by Economy type that produces the good they sell, so their ads could be seen at stations that match the economy type.

Ads for Rare goods outside the stations that sell them.

Outside a High Tech station is an ad for Draftworks Incorporated "To the Limit and Beyond" [check Epsilon Hydri]
Outside a Industrial station that legally sells Personal Weapons an ad for Callaghan Firearms corporation (see LTT 911) or Blitz Weapon Stores "All calibres, all power ratings, one store!" (see Myrbat)

 

[ellay]

I have no problem with this if the revenue goes into extending the games longevity

 

[lysan]

No, however I would also like to see more commercials of different type of products.

1. Enroll to the army commercials
2. Consumer products
3. Political commercials
4. Short video commercials, not just static, like in Blade Runner.

 

[Krepose Gavayne]

For those systems where the info text states there is a particular company/corporation there, it'd make sense to have some personalisation.

For example, Consolidated Plasma Corp in NLTT 9949.

P.S. No to real life companies.

 

[Tindalos]

As long as they're lore friendly ads for in game player orginisations such as the fuel rats or the radio stations which have spung up around ED such as Radio Sidewinder would be welcome too.

 

[Soliluna]

Big no to real life companies. They advertise enough, I have a hard enough job filtering out their crap from my regular viewing, I certainly don't need them in the games I play.

Regarding lore ads, I would have no problem with that. I think it would be easier if they created a lot of stock videos and then placed text in those videos relating to the corporations government or industry type and the name of the system the corporation is in.

So you might see some ships fighting with a super imposed "BETA HYDRI DEFENSE FORCE - ENLIST NOW", or a few ships mining with "BETA HYDRI INDUSTRIES - EXTRACTION AND PROCESSING".

This would mean you could potentially have ads personalised for almost every station and company in the game, they would be as 'samey' as the current ads but really add to the believability of the world.

 

[Gorf]

I've mentioned the idea of ads for real products before. I used to see ads for real products on codemasters racing games. It did not detract from the experience - in fact if I was in a race I only looked if I was winning by a long distance.

If FD did this, it would go some way to covering the costs of the servers which frankly are the game's lifeline. I for one would like to see how FD plan to finance their upkeep once sales die off, development finishes or (god forbid) FD goes under.

As long as someone moderated them (a forum mod, perhaps) I don't see why companies and CMDRs can't submit their own ads for real or imagined products. It would add variety to an otherwise unform game.

 

[h347h]

No real products/companies. My life is pretty add free right now and I would like to keep it that way.

 

[anikaiful]

No real products/companies. My life is pretty add free right now and I would like to keep it that way.

AdBlocker for the win ... too bad there's no blocker for RL roadside ads tho :\

 

[Tacheel]

Anything advertising RL products in-game is a Bad Thing(TM). So, a resounding "no" to any such.

Why is it a bad thing?

More money for FD is better for us especially if it doesn't hit us directly and encourages FD to make a better game to attract more players.
It is quite possible that we'd have some of these companies or equivalents in the ED timeline.

As long as it's done tastefully and believable to the game world I don't really see an issue.

 

[anikaiful]

Why is it a bad thing?

It's enough bad already outside the game - ads everywhere (unless one explicit uses an AdBlocker and nails a plaque on one's front door that states 'no advertisements').

 

[Tacheel]

It's enough bad already outside the game - ads everywhere (unless one explicit uses an AdBlocker and nails a plaque on one's front door that states 'no advertisements').

I find it quite realism enhancing if the in game ads are more believable, and funding money for the game isn't really a bad thing.

If seeing these in game were that bad - it must be really difficult walking down a high street and television must be quite unbearable. I'd like to think we've developed a natural resistance by now.