In-game advertisements have been known to fail pretty badly at making any significant revenue. In fact, a lot of games switched from in-game advertisements to the micro transactions model because it was far more successful than ads in the game.

I really don't think as developers that we should be trying to find solutions for people to play our games for free. We should be finding solutions that encourage people to pay for our games in some way.

In-game advertisements are usually annoying to players and don't generate enough revenue to even bother with.

In-game advertisements have been known to fail pretty badly at making any significant revenue. In fact, a lot of games switched from in-game advertisements to the micro transactions model because it was far more successful than ads in the game.

Unless the in-game Advertisements are of the Players. I'm really trying hard to spark some new ideas here. IMO, As a developer I feel we should entertain every possible means of generating profits from our games not only from players, but from other developers, advertisers, affiliates as well. I'm not ruling out in-game Advertisement in my Microtransaction Model, I'm simply changing how I advertise in-game advertisements.

Slightly off topic: Advertisements in games have been a sticky subject since developers released how viable it is at generating money. I think its important for a developer to incorporate advertisement into a game as seamlessly as possible, not only to remove the majority of objections the players of the game could have with the inclusion of adverts but also to generate the largest revenue possible from said adverts.

What do i mean by seamlessly? Well i mean that the player will not even notice the advert is there in the first place, it will make sense within the game world to see that advert but it in no way impacts the players game-play experience. Take for instance a level of a FPS set in the near future, the level has the player walk down a high street. As they walk down the street they see adverts for coca-cola. The player would not think such adverts are out of place, in-fact they would think it amiss if adverts weren't present on a high-street. If not over done it puts the idea of coca-cola in the forefront of the players mind, the goal of any advertisement, and unless the player is staring straight down at the ground it is unmissable.

I will use an extreme example to illustrate how i think it should NOT be done. A player should not have to sit through a 30 second commercial for Viagra each time they load the game and then again when they load a level in a serious Sci-Fi RTS. This not only does the advert have little connection with the game in question but the player is forced to sit back and do nothing for a whole 30seconds, this may not seem much but if you think of A. the speed by which games now load for the vast majority of players and B. how load-screens are now being used very effectively to give the player additionally information on the game whether it be tips or even snip-its of story. Additionally they could just get up and get a drink or Alt-Tab out of the game to Google the meaning of the universe. In the later's case this will limit the amount of money a firm is willing to give you for such an advert since there's every chance a player will never see the product their advertising.

On-topic: I think a tiered system of buying is the most effective way to put micro-transactions within a game. To me this means something like a player can play the basic game for free, they can then opt to have more content bolted on for a few $/£ (Like a new map of level) and if they wish to avoid all this they can pay say £20 for what is essentially an expansion that contains all the bonus stuff you could get through the micro-transaction rout. For me this would mean i could get into the game sufficiently before having to buy anything for the game, once i had gotten into it and money was a bit tight at that point i could pay for an extra map or if i had the money i could just get the whole lot in one go. This may not have been the best example but my point is essentially to give the player as many options as possible when it comes to micro-transactions.

The problem i cant help shaking when it comes to multiplayer games in general is that people often play them to escape the real world. The last thing you want is for the real world, in this case how much someone earns, to have an effect on your gaming experiences. Take the monocle in EvE that was going for £50 or something like that, they said it was for a status symbol in the game (i.e. i have enough money to burn on this) but that is something you can do can in real life by buying a pair of designer sunglasses. Now I'm sure you could get it through in game money but in all honesty no one will ever see it as symbol of you being good at/dedicated to the game but instead the fact you have more money than sense. This doesn't effect the way the game is played but it does continually remind a player that they don't have the money to spend on such a novelty.

What do i mean by seamlessly? Well i mean that the player will not even notice the advert is there in the first place, it will make sense within the game world to see that advert but it in no way impacts the players game-play experience. Take for instance a level of a FPS set in the near future, the level has the player walk down a high street. As they walk down the street they see adverts for coca-cola. The player would not think such adverts are out of place, in-fact they would think it amiss if adverts weren't present on a high-street. If not over done it puts the idea of coca-cola in the forefront of the players mind, the goal of any advertisement, and unless the player is staring straight down at the ground it is unmissable.
[quote name='T e c h l o r d' timestamp='1310671054' post='4835395']
The Brainstorm Session Phrase: How many ways can you sell everything in your game, over and over again?

1. Asset Creation (Textures, Meshes, Audio) for In-Game Advertisements
2. Advertisement Runs In-Game (Time-Limited)
3. Advertisement Runs Website (Time-Limited)

[/quote]
Additionally, one should be able to go to a virtual coca-cola vending machine (inside the game world) and order real-world coca-cola products, paid for via microtransactions and delivered to your house from a local distribution point! In-game advertisements are relevant as they can be products & services utilizing Microtransactions for players, developers, advertisers, affiliates from inside the gameworld. There are many other potential virtual / real-world products & services that can take advantage of microtransactions in-game and out.

Additionally, one should be able to go to a virtual coca-cola vending machine (inside the game world) and order real-world coca-cola products, paid for via microtransactions and delivered to your house from a local distribution point! In-game advertisements are relevant as they can be products & services utilizing Microtransactions for players, developers, advertisers, affiliates from inside the gameworld. There are many other potential virtual / real-world products & services that can take advantage of microtransactions in-game and out.

I remember a MMOG of some-kind advertising that you could order a pizza from the local take away through the game. There was at least one real world example of it but I think there have also been a few April fools that have followed that kind of line. Probably the biggest issue is making sure such a product is available on all the territories that your game covers. Coca-cola for example isn't distibuted by the coca-cola company (outside the US anyway) but by other companies working on coca-cola's behalf if I remember correctly. Its an idea that could work pretty well but I can imagine the logistical issues would be a nightmare for the majority of products. Maybe something like Amazon would be better suited for this kind of promotion?

A big problem with IG/RL transactions is security, though. If someone from Taiwan orders 10 pizzas or 50 liters of Coke to your house, there is a problem.

I'm saying "Taiwan" in partiuclar because incidentially someone from Taiwan used my name (though with a wrong address, but the postman somehow delivered the paperwork anyway with a 3 week delay) and some completely different person's credit card for getting access to a paid online service (no, I won't tell which one!). Very probably that was a "lucky hit" combining random first and last names and a city, rather than actually knowing my detaily, or they would have used the real address. Funnily this seems to have gone through all plausibility/consistency/fraud prevention checks just fine. Which makes you wonder if companies actually do these.

Anyway, in the case of Coke, the loss would be kind of tolerable, since the product can be reused. Given a sufficiently malicious slave contract for the delivery boy (no sale, no pay), it will not be a problem for the company. In the case of pizza, it's a 100% loss in either case, because half an hour later you can only throw the pizza into the trashcan. And, they will want someone to pay for it.

You have a responsibility problem here. The company doing business over your game (like e.g. Coke) want money, and they don't care. However, due to the anonymous nature of the internet, you have very little guarantee that Barry Shmelly from 123 Fuckyou Drive, New York NY is really who he pretends to be.

For obvious liability reasons, you will never want to store a customer's credit card information in your database (that's what all payment providers tell you, too!). And even if you did, you could still fall for a stolen card number. Though there exists identity verification services in some countries, they are not available universally, and they cost considerable money and take time, which makes them less practical.
There is no truly good solution to the problem, either. Except advance payment via credit that directly goes to the other party's servers, so it's their problem. And then you have the issue of routing the data to this party in a way so it is obvious that you provably never ever get to see it.

Because what will happen if Joe Stupid detects that his credit card number was stolen after subscribing to 10 porn websites and playing your game, he will go to court and allege that the first fraudulent use happened the day after typing his card number into your game, after you wrongly made him believe that this was safe. Clearly your system has been hacked, or worse, you sell your customers' credit card numbers.
You may get out of such a thing, but it's still much more trouble and court fees than many small companies can afford, and the negative press will stick to you anyway.

Falliing victim to a an online fraud alone (e.g. stolen card number) is bad enough already. Not only are you not paid, but you may also have chargeback costs if you did not 110% follow the security guidelines of your payment provider (and even then, most charge you anyway, plus it's considerable paperwork, and letters cost money as well).

Now, what you certainly don't need to happen is having all that and then Coca Cola asking you for another 500 dollars for a prank order that you negotiated. You know, they don't care if you had a bad day, they just want their money, and they'll just put through their interests. If that's at your disadvantage -- bad luck for you, because they can afford the lawyers and have the longer breath.

The problem is, if you want to offer such a service, you really need a partner approximately the size of Coca Cola (Luigi's Pizza does not have a subsidiary in the 100 largest cities of your country), and if you do business with such a partner, you can be assured that the terms will be worded in a way so it's not them having the losses in case anything bad happens.

I'm of the mindset that you should pay for convenience.

Let's take...Pokemon, for example. There are services within the game (which are free) that could easily be replaced with microtransactions, were it a free-to-play game. The "name rater" (change nickname), move deleter, move relearner, props for musicals (or bases, rooms, etc.) are all services that aren't necessary to be the best in the game, but they sure are convenient. Rare items may also be sold, since none if the items are game-breaking.

Good luck making a game as balanced as Pokemon, though.

[quote name='T e c h l o r d' timestamp='1310770201' post='4835824']
Additionally, one should be able to go to a virtual coca-cola vending machine (inside the game world) and order real-world coca-cola products, paid for via microtransactions and delivered to your house from a local distribution point! In-game advertisements are relevant as they can be products & services utilizing Microtransactions for players, developers, advertisers, affiliates from inside the gameworld. There are many other potential virtual / real-world products & services that can take advantage of microtransactions in-game and out.

I remember a MMOG of some-kind advertising that you could order a pizza from the local take away through the game. There was at least one real world example of it but I think there have also been a few April fools that have followed that kind of line. Probably the biggest issue is making sure such a product is available on all the territories that your game covers. Coca-cola for example isn't distibuted by the coca-cola company (outside the US anyway) but by other companies working on coca-cola's behalf if I remember correctly. Its an idea that could work pretty well but I can imagine the logistical issues would be a nightmare for the majority of products. Maybe something like Amazon would be better suited for this kind of promotion?
[/quote]

That was just an example of a real-world product that most can relate too. Ultimately, my point was there are many other potential virtual / real-world products & services that can take advantage of microtransactions in-game and out. A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online.

My thoughts are:
1. Anything sold by microtransactions should never make your character more powerful than another. That is a start of your game becoming Pay-to-Win. That's not good.
2. Anything bought from the store should be obtained without going to the store as well. Of course, it'll take a little more time and effort, but then players make a distinction between time and money.
3. Everyone buying from the store should not be alienated from the people that do not buy from the store. AKA, subscriber-only areas. Have your free-to-plays in with your pay-to-plays.
4. Microtransactions should be there for convenience and aesthetics, only.

So far I haven't seen a very good microtransaction store implemented yet. However, a lot have been getting really good though. League of Legend's store is pretty reasonable, although it goes against my rule #2.

Any opinions on Collaborative Microtransactions?