Why brands do not need to avoid in-game violence
The better a service or product advertised in a video game fits the environment and experience of the gamer, the higher the message resonance.
Game studios have long received criticism for including socially sensitive macro issues such as violence and immoral behaviour within video games.
With more brands than ever investing in in-game advertising across mobile devices as well as console-based games, the question of whether they should consider these types of concerns if they choose to advertise in those games is increasingly being asked.
The intent of game design
To understand why video games are designed the way they are and why so many contain violence, we need to take a step back and review the purpose of game design.
This purpose, along with the use of advanced interaction techniques, is to maximise perceptual realism for the end-user. Video games are developed as compelling stories with characters that have goals they need to accomplish. Throughout games, characters need to navigate around rules and challenges. All these elements are designed to keep users engaged in the narrative.
The element of immersion flexes the imagination muscle. The more players can immerse themselves within the game, and the better the story, the more they will engage with it and in turn, feel emotionally connected to characters finding their own motivation and goals reflected.
This leads to an in-depth experience and heavily invested users. The way players navigate through a game has purposeful similarities to how we navigate our society. We use cognitive artifacts to retrieve and synthesise information that is relevant to us. The difference is that in games, we can create our own journey within defined boundaries of rules and goals.
This may help to explain why many gamers do not see the difference between violent and non-violent games. Violence often features within a narrative to help keep players engaged, and players accept it and view it as part of the experience. Recent research from in-game advertising company Anzu supports this, with the majority of gamers they interviewed saying that they accept violence as part of the gameplay and overall narrative, with one respondent saying “I treat violence in video games as just another plot device and have come to accept it as part of the game worlds I play in”.
Video games also demand information processing. Communication, planning, executing, and learning tasks in 3D environments require information processing skills and attention to detail. With gamers being fully invested in their game world and with advertisers’ increasingly interested in serving ads within these games, we must pay close attention to the users’ ability to process information and identify inserted ads in the game while playing.
This is why it’s essential for both advertisers and game studios to ensure the ads that appear within games naturally fit in with the flow of the gameplay, such as a track-side display placement in a racing game, which doesn’t take anything away from the end experience. This is especially true when inventory formats can range from video to virtual out-of-home. Otherwise, there is a risk of disrupting the player’s engagement as well as the brand’s reputation.
Information consumption throughout games
Games are designed to enhance peripheral cues so the user can easily pick up on milestones to continue their gamer journey.
The mash-up of the player and a character causes the player to not only have to interpret signs but also to translate, utilise, and relate them to the dynamics of the game. Completing tasks and witnessing success throughout games can influence the emotional state of a gamer.
A good way to understand how players deal with excitement and how this emotion transfers to inserted objects in games (i.e. ads) is to review the Excitation Transfer Theory.
This theory states that physiological arousal evoked by earlier events can transfer to later events and even reinforce arousal resulting from later events. This effect could manifest itself in a positive (or negative) change in their attitude toward brands.
So, what does this mean for brands that are looking to engage audiences in video games?
Research is indecisive – it’s not just your presence that counts
As mentioned, arousal can affect user evaluation and preference for video games. Research indicates that gamers’ arousal is positively related to their pleasure in using games and could be transferred to the content displayed in the game, such as ads.
The more aroused a player was in the game, the more likely they would have increased positive change in brand attitude and preference for brands embedded in the game.
This is something for brands to consider when they are choosing which games to advertise in. Advertising within action games may mean their ads will appear alongside in-game violence, for example. However, it could also positively affect brand reputation, especially when you consider many of the most engaging games sit within the action genre.
In 2020 the top two best-selling games in the US were both from the Call of Duty series and Anzu’s research summarised that all the gamers interviewed said violence appeared in many of the games they played.
One respondent stated, “almost 80% of games I play include some level of violence,” and another said, “around 70% of the games I play are violent. Most of them have monsters or wild animals I have to shoot or fight with a sword”.
My audience is out there. How can I ensure I add to the gamer experience?
The effect of ads is greatly impacted by the experience of a gamer. Therefore, spending time to understand the prominent motivational drivers of gamers to continue playing games will help us understand the emotional state of the consumer.
As research shows, gamers tend to project positive experiences from past events and current events on brands that are displayed in virtual environments. Identifying gamer motivations (i.e. fantasy, competition, completion, etc.) may support the decision to define the degree of suitability of a game title for your brand.
In addition, governance of game selection is important. With any advertising space, you need to be conscious of the availability, usability, integrity, and suitability of game titles and inventory for your brand. Scoring game titles to your governance requirements will help identify game title and inventory appropriateness, and also allows you to have a high match rate with relation to contextual relevance.
The better a service or product advertised in a video game fits the environment and experience of the gamer, the higher the message resonance.
It’s also important that format is taken into account; for example, an ad that encourages interaction might be well-suited to a mobile device, but may not work in a video game setting.
Therefore, the creative fit is crucial and it’s important to work with both advertisers and game developers to understand which creative cues work best in different contextual environments and how suitable a specific game is for a brand, all backed up by data and research.
Finally, the beauty of the digital media industry is that it’s ever-evolving, and so are the consumers that drive technology adaptation and innovation. Repetitive research will need to assess the effects of amplification of violence on brand memory and attitude to provide a clear answer for brands looking to enter the gaming space.
Julia Rast is manager, global solutions and innovation at Xaxis