Oh, those hilarious Evony ads...

Obryn · 13th July 2009, 06:53 PM

Just wanted to point out a new Gawker article about these things.

And yes, I think the ads are all about the boobage.

Everything That's Wrong with the Internet in One Videogame's Banner Ad Campaign

-O

Asmor · 13th July 2009, 08:01 PM

Jeff Atwood has a great commentary on their ads at his blog Coding Horror: How Not to Advertise on the Internet

I actually came here to complain... I don't mind advertisements as a general rule, and I'm a huge fan of porn, but I browse ENWorld at work and frankly their newest ad showing here (painting of a blonde in black lingerie with ample cleavage) is large, obvious, and it would be embarassing if someone walked in and saw it on my monitor.

I specifically have ENWorld on AdBlock's whitelist to allow ads to be shown on these pages, and Evony's advertisements are strongly making me rethink that decision.

Harley Stroh · 14th July 2009, 02:16 AM

Same.

In full disclosure, I don't usually log in, so 90% of the time my paid ad-blocker status isn't effect. This afternoon I was sitting in a coffee shop, working on project. I tried to surf ENworld only to find I had to close the window every time someone walked behind me ... otherwise I'd look like I was surfing soft porn.

Now I'm at home, doing the same thing every time my wife walks by.

Lame.

On the amusing side, imagine how many people would switch to paying accounts if you had some hard porn ads.

Vorput · 15th July 2009, 04:51 AM

I'm going to chime in my opinion as well on these ads treading dangerously closely to NSFW.

wedgeski · 15th July 2009, 09:23 AM

Might I just add my voice to this. I'm not sure what course of action I'm advocating or even if there should be one, but those ads don't seem appropriate for ENW. (I also deliberately leave the top banner ad enabled in my settings, by the way.)

Mathew_Freeman · 15th July 2009, 01:18 PM

I'd also like to state that I am unhappy with those ads.

Morrus · 15th July 2009, 02:15 PM

They're Google Adsense ads, and we have no control over them, I'm afraid. I guess Google, in all its wisdom, has deemed those ads to be the most appropriate to show you guys.

Weirdly, I never get them. I just hear about 'em. I keep getting ads for minis on eBay! Which is weird given that I've never browsed for minis on eBay in my life! Some screwy algorithms at Google HQ is y guess.

stonegod · 15th July 2009, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrus

They're Google Adsense ads, and we have no control over them, I'm afraid. I guess Google, in all its wisdom, has deemed those ads to be the most appropriate to show you guys.

You can do filtering on AdSense; Evony (on purpose) and Google (on accident) just don't make it easy. This thread seems to be dedicated to it: Filtering Evony Game Ads (AdSense)

Morrus · 15th July 2009, 09:06 PM

Unfortunately, that doesn't woprk in this case:

More about Evony — Bruce On Games

Quote:

Evony are carpetbombing game websites with these adverts using multiple accounts of Google AdWords. When website owners block one source of these adverts another appears. Site owners have complained repeatedly to Google, but to no avail.

Essentially, these ads are spam. Blocking one doen't help - a dozen more spring up. Until Google do something about it, we literally have no way we can address the issue (except stop running Google Adsense, but that would cripple us - literally).

Kid Charlemagne · 15th July 2009, 09:13 PM

Well, we could add our voices to those complaining to Google, which might spur them into action.

Incidentally, the ads use infringed photos that they don't have license to use - as does the game itself - and this violates Google's terms of use for adsense. If you feel like it you can report the ads for copyright infringement to Google.

http://www.google.com/adsense_dmca.html#notification

Mustrum_Ridcully · 15th July 2009, 10:06 PM

Hmm, reveal on CM found this:
More about Evony — Bruce On Games

So not just the advertisement is spam - the product itself seems also more than suspect.

reveal · 15th July 2009, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustrum_Ridcully

Hmm, reveal on CM found this:
More about Evony — Bruce On Games

So not just the advertisement is spam - the product itself seems also more than suspect.

Pssssttt... Look up three posts.

kitsune9 · 15th July 2009, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obryn

Just wanted to point out a new Gawker article about these things.

And yes, I think the ads are all about the boobage.

Everything That's Wrong with the Internet in One Videogame's Banner Ad Campaign

-O

This is my chime in that these ads are definitely NSFW where I work at. I like EN World a lot, but my time is greatly diminished here reading the forums.

avin · 15th July 2009, 11:26 PM

As I said in another topic: I can't use Enworld at work anymore... =/

Morrus · 16th July 2009, 12:26 AM

With all due respect, folks, "me too" posts aren't terribly useful; I'm more than aware of the general opinion of the ads. The position we're in is that we can't cut of the ads without cutting off Google completely - and doing that kills us permanently.

Suggestions or solutions will be more than gratefully received! One angle might be how to replace Google Adsense with actual advertisers.

My current though is to pay someone (commission based, say 10%) to act as aproactive ad manager for EN World and actively pursue potential advertisers. I've tried it before, though, and enthusiasm for the job drops off very quickly!