Faceplant From Orbit

April 6, 2010 by Tesh

I’d like to think this is the work of parties other than those who crafted the game itself (which I maintain has some good ideas)… but I just don’t know for sure.

Syp’s Picture of the Day

I do know that my uninstaller works.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged advertising, Allods Online, idiocy, stupid | 10 Comments

10 Responses

on April 6, 2010 at 10:38 AM Longasc

I am quite at a loss who runs Allods in which area of the world. In Russia an email company that is somehow related to satan bought the game or so and the devs were once part of Astrum Nival, which was part of Nival, and now they still have the core of the old devs or so, some claim not… whatever.

Seems as if some marketing specialist decided to kick the game into the usual F2P crap, and poisoning the well for future F2P games even more so.
on April 6, 2010 at 10:47 AM Anton

Noooo! If this appears all over the internet, it’ll be Evony all over again…and I only recently in the last month or two was starting to sigh relief at not seeing Evony ads around any more.

I think I’ll be uninstalling now, too. There’s 2 more gigs on my drive of free space.
on April 6, 2010 at 10:47 AM Tyra

Really? I mean, really?!

This had better be a fake, or spoof.

First Evony, which got the reputation it deserves. Then the new ultima ads (which weren’t quite as skimpy, but they were getting there and the text was just as suggestive). Now this.

When will companies learn THIS IS NOT HOW YOU ADVERTISE ONLINE. The first thing i think when i see this type of ad is “wow, they advertise like evony, they must be just as shady/misleading/jerks.”

Yes. I’m a guy. Yes, i like boobs. But an ad that has nothing to do with your game isn’t going to make me click it. Maybe the more impulsive(read:idiots) among us will click it to see what it’s about. But as soon as they see the actual game, they’re going to think. “ok, lame”. and move on. You don’t need to throw boobs into your ad just to get people interested in a game, especially one that has no sexually explicit part to it in the first place. I swear, even porn site ads have more class nowadays, and that’s really sad.

Just my 2c.
on April 6, 2010 at 10:49 AM Tesh

I really do have to wonder if those who see conspiracy theories and competing cabals within the game’s presentation might have something on their hands after all. The presentation is inconsistent, the marketing is idiotic, and the business plan is incompetent. Maybe it’s just the “rookie MMO devs” blues, compounded by moronic numbercrunchers and busines monkeys… but it really is baffling on the whole.

Anton, that’s the reason why I just linked to Syp’s place. I don’t want that sort of smut here. Whee for freeing up hard drive space!
on April 6, 2010 at 11:37 AM Dblade

My guess would be that Astrum Nival took a very low bid for their ad campaign, possibly from a russian or even non-western company. I don’t see Gpotato pulling this kind of style of ad.

I think you can do tasteful, sexy ads but this is just so ridiculous with the shiny elf posterior that I can’t see any sane person passing it.
on April 7, 2010 at 4:21 PM We Fly Spitfires

I don’t blame a game over their advertising. It’s a tough and competitive world out there and people have to do everything and anything to get themselves noticed. I’m just going to ignore these things and judge Allods on it’s own merits when it’s released.
on April 7, 2010 at 4:32 PM Tesh

Truth be told, I haven’t played it much lately anyway. The midgame emphasis on PvP pushes me away, and I’ve hit the high points before that on the League side. I suppose I might do a bit more exploration of the Empire side someday… but it’s not like I’m hurting for games to play.
on April 7, 2010 at 8:59 PM Callan S.

I’m not getting it? I didn’t really see a prob with high prices in the shop – people just wont buy the stuff (and it’s not like real life essentials like food, there is no moral vector) and here I don’t see any real problem (given how the female form is exploited on TV, billboards, magazine covers, etc)

Not seeing it. I think this might be scratching around for mud to sling at something people have gotten bugged about.
on April 7, 2010 at 9:43 PM Tesh

Just because someone somewhere does stupid stuff (even if it’s a trend), it doesn’t mean it’s right for someone else to do it.

I’m with you on the pricing (though I maintain it was a dumb move, that was their mistake to make, and I don’t avoid the game because of it), but I do have moral tastes that I’ve drawn lines around. This crosses a personal line, it’s as simple as that. I’m not wishing the game would crash and burn, I’m simply uninstalling it. Live and let live, I’m just not playing.

It also happens to be ill advised from a business standpoint, as you might note from the comparisons to Evony and the negative PR that this sort of thing earns.

Now, if this is all an April Fools’ mudslinging fake, here’s hoping Astrum Nival comes down on them like a ton of bricks. It’s possible, but for now, this is simply a move that pushes the game below my personal interest threshold.

I maintain that the game has some great parts to it. Those should be the focus of advertising and promotion. The ships have huge potential, the Astral is awesome, and the character progression setup is pretty cool. The core gameplay mechanics aren’t anything revolutionary, but they are pretty good. Layer enough nasty, greasy bacon around the chocolate, though, and it’s just not a delicacy that I’m interested in any more.
on April 7, 2010 at 11:52 PM Callan S.

I’m saying Allods seems to have been singled out here as if it’s the sole game out there exploiting female forms.

As I said, I don’t see it. I see more of the same from the gaming industry as a whole. No, I’m not saying it’s justified in saying that. I’m just not seeing any special reason to single out allods.