Study: Violent In-game Ads More Memorable to Players
Study: Violent In-game Ads More Memorable to Players
September 4, 2009
New research indicates that in-game advertisement which feature violent elements may be more memorable to players than nonviolent ads.
MIT's Technology Review reports on the study conducted in part at the University of Luxemburg
[Researchers] developed a simple racing game called AdRacer... A player drives around a virtual course and scores points by hitting targets along the way--as she drives, unobtrusive graphical ads are displayed as billboard graphics... while a camera records her eye movements. After playing, each player's ability to recall of brands shown on the side of the road was tested.
Those who played a violent version of the game, where the goal was to run down pedestrians, resulting in a blood-splattered screen, demonstrated significantly better recall of advertised brands than those who played the regular version...
Of course, while violent ads may increase the player's memory of the product, they could also be a public relations disaster in the making. Technology Review notes that University of Luxemburg researchers have also found that ad violence can lessen a gamer's opinion of a brand.
GP: The screenshot at left is from the University of Luxemburg's AdRacer.
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Andrew Eisen: No, I think I'll stay safe and warm in my own little world where Provolone is king and that... other cheese... doesn't exist.
Andrew Eisen: No, I think I'll stay safe and warm in my own little world where Provolone is king and that... other cheese... doesn't exist.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:22pm
JDKJ: I wish the Speaker would ask me for what purpose does the member rise.
JDKJ: I wish the Speaker would ask me for what purpose does the member rise.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:18pm
JDKJ: Provolone?! Please! Try aged Blue Stilton. Also known as Zippy Ass-Crack Cheese.
JDKJ: Provolone?! Please! Try aged Blue Stilton. Also known as Zippy Ass-Crack Cheese.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:13pm
Andrew Eisen: Nothing beats Provolone.
Andrew Eisen: Nothing beats Provolone.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:11pm
JDKJ: Betcha my cheese beats your cheese.
JDKJ: Betcha my cheese beats your cheese.
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Andrew Eisen: I don't know, I can count pretty high with my graphing calculator. It's a TI-86!
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:07pm
JDKJ: There'll be more dead babies than you can count if the socialists succeed in passing that God-damned Obamacare!!
JDKJ: There'll be more dead babies than you can count if the socialists succeed in passing that God-damned Obamacare!!
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:04pm
Andrew Eisen: Hmm, top 10 child deaths in film. What a great blog post that would make! If I had a blog. And if that hadn't been done a million times before.
Andrew Eisen: Hmm, top 10 child deaths in film. What a great blog post that would make! If I had a blog. And if that hadn't been done a million times before.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:03pm
JDKJ: Whoa! It's some rotten blue cheese, too.
JDKJ: Whoa! It's some rotten blue cheese, too.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:00pm
JDKJ: *sighs and smiles* I just cut some cheese.
JDKJ: *sighs and smiles* I just cut some cheese.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:58pm
Andrew Eisen: Well, just so there's no confusion: implied deaths won't get you to the top of my favorite child-deaths list.
Andrew Eisen: Well, just so there's no confusion: implied deaths won't get you to the top of my favorite child-deaths list.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:58pm
JDKJ: Most authorities hold that "cut the mustard" mutates and derives from "cut the muster."
JDKJ: Most authorities hold that "cut the mustard" mutates and derives from "cut the muster."
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:56pm
Andrew Eisen: Checked the dictionary. I guess you could cut one definition of muster.
Andrew Eisen: Checked the dictionary. I guess you could cut one definition of muster.
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JDKJ: Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:55pm
Andrew Eisen: Cut the muster? That wouldn't make a lot of sense. You could pass it sure but cut it?
Andrew Eisen: Cut the muster? That wouldn't make a lot of sense. You could pass it sure but cut it?
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JDKJ: As in: "Zippy always cuts the cheese but he never cuts the muster."
JDKJ: As in: "Zippy always cuts the cheese but he never cuts the muster."
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:51pm
JDKJ: And I believe the expression is more properly "cut the muster," not "mustard." Not to be confused with "cut the cheese."
JDKJ: And I believe the expression is more properly "cut the muster," not "mustard." Not to be confused with "cut the cheese."
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:48pm
JDKJ: I kinda like the way it's left to the imagination. Like the shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho.
JDKJ: I kinda like the way it's left to the imagination. Like the shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:46pm
Andrew Eisen: A flying shoe doesn't quite cut the mustard. If it was shot like a similar scene in Bride of Chucky, Gage's death would rank a lot higher.
Andrew Eisen: A flying shoe doesn't quite cut the mustard. If it was shot like a similar scene in Bride of Chucky, Gage's death would rank a lot higher.
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Comments
This actually makes some sense.
I can imagine humans being tuned to be more aware of their enviroment when violent (and thus potentially dangerous) things are going on.
Yet another bias study...How about the fact that players are more FOCUSED during a TIME TRIAL than when the goal is just to run over people?
I know personally I do, and CAN, pay more attention to the environment (includes billboards) when I'm just strolling around, rather than fervently trying to get to the end of the course before time runs out.
How was this 'bais'?
They took a controlled test where the only differing factor was violence. They then used an easily measured (and narrowly focused) metric.
Though it should be pointed out that they also found that when playing the violent version, the players spend LESS time looking at the ads but recall/imprint was greater.
OK genius, what's the bias?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Agreed with the above; the only bias here is your own against any study which even mentions media violence. (They aren't even saying that violent media is bad!)
This is basically how you do science. Take two copies of a scenario, change one element between them, and see if you get a difference in the results. They did. People remembered more about the ads when the game involved running people over. The two games were the same design ("follow the course and hit targets") but for some reason, violence made a difference.
What does this mean? God knows. Maybe violence => more interesting => more memorable, and the ads benefited from the proximity to violent scenes. Maybe it was the grounding in reality, where hitting something with your car probably will make a mess, which made the players more susceptible to the ads.
Or maybe the sample size was 5 people and 2 control and the whole thing is meaningless. That seems to come up often in violent media studies.
As I ranted above, my guess is that the effect ties into survivability. When threats are high we are more aware of our surroundings (at least at a subconcious level) since if bad stuff is already happening, more bad stuff increases the chances of a nasty case of death.
While if non threatening situations are happening, we tend to relax and start to zone out a bit. Combat patrols run into this problem a lot. We just are not as aware of our surroundings.
True, true. Blood splatter is not a normal sight for most people, so seeing it is immediately disconcerting and puts you on edge. Witness any of the numerous scenes in the Silent Hill series for a gaming example of that. Early on in the games you'll find a blood trail, and *foom* you're focused and on edge even though you're still just slogging through fog for the next few minutes. On the other hand, give someone a scene that looks like any boring old street and it will be just that: boring.
Seems pretty obvious to me. Violence (or at least some action) is interesting and can make things more memorable.
For example say you went to a resturant. You had a good meal, paid the bill and left, no big deal. Just another average meal. Now what if in the middle of your meal some stranger walked up, threw your food on the floor, punched you in the face, and ran out. I can guarentee you'll remember that forever!
My understanding of the article is that is what they.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
They did.
"A player drives around a virtual course and scores points by hitting targets along the way..."
It doesn't make clear whether there are differences between the targets and the pedestrians, but it sounds like they built them to be very similar with just graphical effects differentiating the two.
So is to "hit along the way" the same as to "run down"? It's unclear. There is room for doubt. From the linked reports I couldn't tell if the targets are moving, or if the player just drives through them "along the way."
If the targets are moving in exactly the same patterns as the pedestrians, it would be hard to claim bias, but this is not necessarily what the article describes. If the targets are stationary, or in any way more predictable or easier to run down than the pedestrians, I think Kabyk and MechaTama31 might have a point about possible bias.
(If the targets move in exactly the same ways as the pedestrians, why wouldn't they say so in the article?)