Cool Flash ad promoting D&D from WotC

[Oryan77]

This whole thing came across as fake. They were way too clean cut...not one of them had a nice beer gut, there was no rules lawyer there whining about something, no one threw dice down in a fit of rage, none of them had a Crown Royal dice bag, and they only had a 6 pack....only one beer each? These guys aren't gamers.

 

[devilbat]

I liked the Van Halen quote.

 

[freebfrost]

Yeah, it was a bit cheesy, but then again, has any D&D advertising campaign *not* had a certain level of that?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

It's an Ad. Those guys in Beer ads aren't drunkards, either

 

[Hussar]

But I swear the first thing I thought of as the rogue dispatched Fluffy was "Isn't that a sneak attack, not a backstab? Backstab is so 2nd edition...".
Clearly I am not the target audience here.

Is it bad that I thought the exact same thing? Followed by the thought that you can't actually backstab a demon in 2e.

If you're going to make a flash ad for the game, why not use the ones they've got on the WOTC site itself? Some of them are actually pretty bloody cool.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

People in this thread are taking this ad way too seriously. I dig the whole "guys night" kinda feel they're pushing. Yeah, the ad is a bit hokey, but you know, our hobby is not "cool" and never will be. We're the folks that have overactive imaginations and realize how cool it really is, and not everyone will ever appreciate it. I think it's quite cool to see that they show somewhat non-stereotypical gamers playing.

 

[Dragonblade]

I thought the ad was great. The point is to play down the stereotype of gamers as losers and portray them as just a bunch of regular guys getting together, the same way they might for a poker night, or football night, or something.

Everyone in my group is solidly middle class, or upper middle class and we all live in nice homes or apartments similar to the home depicted in the ad. We only have one player who could even be considered overweight, but he is one of the most charismatic, outgoing and financially successful members of the group. We are all clean-cut, and have attractive girlfriends and wives.

None of us fit the stereotype of the unwashed, basement dwelling gamer who can't talk to girls. In fact I have only met such gamers just a few times in my life, and haven't played with any since high school.

I felt the ad was a fairly accurate representation of the people I play with. We need more such ads from WotC.

 

[Hypersmurf]

What was that gamer show from a California basement, with the gamer chicks?

Dungeon Majesty.

-Hyp.

 

[reveal]

No. See, Geeky is cool. You see people doing geeky things, and you're like, "Hey, that looks fun."

This . . . unless you're already completely into gaming, you see it and you say, "Wow, what a bunch of dorks."

Dork is derogatory, implying people who have no lives.

Geek implies people who, in addition to the rest of their lives, really enjoy something because it's intellectual and entertaining.

This ad makes D&D gamers look like dorks. The tacky stop-motion presentation only adds to that, and the fact that their D&D session lasts all of about a minute really ruins the presentation. A proper ad could have had fades, a bit of actual close-ups and maybe some actual humor that can be appreciated by non-gamers. "Healing potions," I'm sad to say, don't cut it.

This ad is one of the most accurate portrayels of roleplayers and how we interact with one another. Yes, it's dorky but, you know what, we are dorky. After coming back from Chicago gameday, I can say that with some authority.

 

[Remathilis]

Right on. I really missed the highlight of the evening: "You rolled a natural one, jane! You know what that means: DROP THE TOP!"

Where is the stewardess game when you need it?

Strip D&D... what will they think of next?