Breaking down borders in video games.
Rappelz, following Evony’s sexist footsteps
Over the past year, Evony has been under scrutiny (and for good reason) for their advertisements that feature scantily clad women and closeups of breasts to entice people to play their Civilization clone. Today, I saw an ad for Gala-Net’s Rappelz that seems to be following the same trends.
The ad starts off with “Like what you see?”, which I didn’t get a screenshot of in time. Next it proceeds to:
A close up shot of a women's midriff.
A close up shot of a woman's cleavage.
The final image in the ad, saying "Over 6 Million Gamers Eagerly Await You" with a woman on the left wearing a platemail bikini top.
These ad campaigns are so cheesy, and I imagine they are getting clicks which is why they keep appearing. Nothing bothers me more than advertisements for games that don’t even tell me ANYTHING about the game. Is it a MMORPG or a strategy game? Why do I want to play it? I’m not going to click these ads to find out.
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about 8 months ago
Indeed, I’d happily class this sort of stuff along with spam whispers in Orgrimmar. *Somebody* must surely be fuelling this blight on our gaming, but trying to picture that person stretches my imagination too far.
At least the advert asks a good question:
“Like what you see?”
“No, not really.”
And lo, we are spared an horrific product thanks to honest web banners.
about 8 months ago
i also have a deep disdain for these ads. i have a fun link from a few months ago, where someone took the evony ads, and then flipped them so they feature men. NSFW for nudity.
about 8 months ago
Y’know, if I ever did get the chance I would use those flips for advertisements. Coin flip on the NSFW ones but I’d definitely try to use them.
about 8 months ago
From what I can tell of the screenshots on their website, at least Rappelz actually contains scantily-clad women in the game (although the ones in the game seem to have more realistic armor than the woman in the ad you show).
Is it better or worse if a game actually has the sexist imagery they show in their ads?
about 8 months ago
I’m pretty sure this is what they call a lose-lose situation, lol D:
about 8 months ago
Bah. Full of fail. The sad thing is that I’m sure there are enough dudes that go, “Woah, naked womanz” and click on the link to create the metrics to justify this kind of ad in their minds.
Well, justify it on top of the whole patriarchal culture.
about 8 months ago
Just to point out here, not like it makes it better, but Rappelz is the first game to actually localize their content for the Middle East. They took their women, covered them up according to the culture, and removed much of their sexual innuendo in the content. It was pretty admirable.
So, actually, this type of advertising does surprise me, coming from this company.
about 2 months ago
o_O!!!
And the new versions look pretty damn good too… if this was available to users outside the ME I’d install and play a few rounds of this thing just on principle.
As for stuff coming from companies… I have no idea how much Gala-Net had to say over what appears to be Game Power 7′s own policies.
about 2 months ago
Oops, first link was supposed to be this.
about 8 months ago
If you advertise naked women as a main selling point on your game, its a huge hint its not a good game
about 8 months ago
From what I gather the earths internet is full of naked people. why would you sign up for a game when you can just google “naked humans” and get what you’re looking for in a fraction of the time…perverts?
about 2 months ago
Actually googling “naked humans” is inordinately amusing.
about 8 months ago
For some reason I had it in my head that Evony wasn’t doing all that good and the ads weren’t working, why then would another game use the same technique? Also, why alienate more than half of your target audience?
Just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Seems like this is some sort of Republican conspiracy to distract people from the health care debate by creating free web games then making offensive web ads for them.
about 8 months ago
I wonder if anybody ever tried to advertise their MMO with well toned male bodies including 6-pack plate mail ?
about 8 months ago
*psssh* I mean, women don’t play games. RIght? Right? Why would anyone want that. Right? Right?
about 8 months ago
300: the MMO.
about 8 months ago
I saw that ad yesterday for the first time! Aside from the annoying “all gamers like boobs” thing, I was taken aback by the “over six million” figure.
A game I’ve never heard of already has half as many players as WOW? Really? Sure.
about 2 months ago
“Over 6 Million Gamers Eagerly Await You” –wait, what??
If the most obvious and sexist interpretation of the ad applies, then the default gamer according to the ad’s intent is this hornytoad young male, probably het, with a bit of latent homophobia they picked up in their youth (because really we’re brought up in a culture where it’s been about 15 years since kids in middle school couldn’t even see the problem in openly advocating gaybashing).
Which means the ad is structured like this: 1. Show something sexualized to catch the reader’s attention through arousal. 2. Conclude by telling that someone is “eagerly awaiting” the reader. 3. In that message, tell them that that someone…. might well be 6 million other dudes?
What???
The alternative, that the ad is meant to target lesbians who assume other gamers are lesbians, seems more internally consistent though I would be surprised if it were the intent.