When discussing advertisements and their effectiveness in class, there has been an agreement on the causation of successful ad campaigns and strategies: the more interactive and sophisticated the ad, the more likely it is to persuade its audience. When thinking about the kinds of interactive ads I have come across in my own experience, online gaming definitely came to mind. Between the ages of 10 and 15 loved playing Neopets, a gaming website geared towards kids with the objective to take care of one or several neopets, increasing your neopoints to further its needs and your prosperity in the neopets world. It’s interesting because these kinds of games, especially simulating or mimicking rpg games, these web games train their users to accumulate and expand, find ways to increase their value through buying and selling to upgrade their pets abilities and health. Neopets was able to make money also by allowing companies to create fake neoproducts that you can buy and sell on the website. And so Neopet users simulate marketing behaviour. I went on the website again today to see if it has changed much and logged into my old account. Now under my pet’s information page (which indicated all my pets were starving and dying from neglect!) there are advertisements for WSPA stating: “if you love animals, please help free them from cruelty”. Advertisements of this kind didn’t exist when I used the game website frequently about 9 or 10 years ago. Not only does the website train kids for consumerism, but it gears its ads in specific and calculating ways to incorporate messages while interacting with its various components.
Another website that uses simulation to sell in a kid’s online game is Toontown. I also was addicted to Toontown back in the day, a couple years after my year or two playing Neopets, probably around the age of 13 or 14. The best thing about Toontown is your toon’s adversaries are these robotic creatures called Cogs that have names that pun consumerism terms (for instance, the Cashbots have names like “Bean Counter”, “Loan Shark” and “Robber Baron”). The toons have to fight these greedy robots who love money and paperwork (as described by the website’s Player’s Guide which I looked up). This is all very ironic because as you defeat these cogs, you increase your value as a player, which can be traded for beans and you can upgrade your wardrobe, your home (by calling the Cattle Log...awesome). While intending to teach children about the problems with greed, it rewards its players by making them constantly consume and increase their wealth. This is all increased by the fact that the game is online and you interact with other plays not unlike World of Warcraft, which has similar goals for its players. These kinds of websites are based on the idea that we are innately built for consumption; its what makes the players keep playing the game. This game’s entire focus is to promote the Disney universe, while its players interact with such characters as Mickey Mouse, Minney, Donald, Goofey, etc. An entire interactive universe that can be played for free to promote a company. And it works.
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