The past few days have been busy and as a result I missed an interesting press release from in-game advertiser Massive Incorporated, reported over on the GamesIndustry.biz website yesterday. The meat of the release isn’t anything special – Massive is going to start running real life ads in “The Matrix Online” videogame (just as they do in other MMOGs). The twist here is that Massive appears to be entertaining the idea of allowing player-created advertising. From the GamesIndustry site:

The inclusion of Massive in-game advertising opens up the possibility of something many community members have been asking for, player advertising around Mega City. We will be looking into the idea of running contests for selecting player-generated ads in the future as a way of incorporating these ads into the game. Once we have confirmed we can do this, we will make an announcement on Data Node One. Stay tuned and we will keep you updated on our progress over the next few weeks.

I wonder if Massive and their clients are thinking they might learn a thing or two from the players themselves. If I were getting the kind of feedback they apparently get for the ads they’ve been shoehorning into these games, I might be looking for some guidance too. Then again, I wouldn’t stick contemporary ads showing current products and services in science fiction-based videogames. Can someone remind these people why they have a Brand?

via Blue’s News

{*For more discussion, check out Betsy Book’s post over on Terra Nova}