D&D Commercial

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I haven't seen much discussion about this. Has anybody else seen this thing?

I was awake this morning watching Call for Help on G4 and there was an odd little commercial for D&D (via the D&D For Dummies book) on.

Am I just behind the times? I don't often watch G4, since they killed all of the interesting tech programs and made it sort of a visualized Phone Sex for Videogamers thing. How long has it been running?

--fje

 

[JVisgaitis]

Cool. Never seen it. Anyone have a link somewhere?

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I just saw it again, thought I'd give this a bump, see if anybody else has seen it. The only time I've ever seen it is on G4 at 10:20am, on two different days now. As I've said, I don't regularly watch G4 so it might run several times a day. Might run very often, for all I know.

I was unable to find a file of it online. If I had a DVR I'd copy it and rip it out to the 'net for others to see.

It's a very strange commercial: A couple is sitting on a couch talking about their marital problems related to non-group past times like skeet shooting and yoga. They would like to play D&D, but it's so complex, has so many manuals, and what's a d20?

Then it cuts to a model in a ... barbarian costume, perhaps? Talking about the D&D For Dummies book and all of the different things in it that can help beginners get started playing, including pre-gen characters and what all of the dice are for, etc etc. While she's talking a pencil-art barbarian guy who looks like he was drawn by a 13 yr old in class comes up and starts getting friendly with her. Then various things start going on in the background, including a beholder eating a rogue (??) and pegusai flying out of the book.

Exceedingly strange. I'm not sure what to make of it.

--fje

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I haven't seen it - of course I don't have G4 - never even heard of it - but it sounds pretty strange. Considering how the sterotype of the gamer can't get a date, it's ironic that they would be suggesting it could be a cure for relationship troubles.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

They went straight for the "anybody can be a gamer" card: The wife is attractive, the husband is african-american. Not stereotypical gamers at all. Then their spokeswoman ... well, I doubt anybody would say women in barbarian costumes are stereotypical gamers.

G4 used to be TechTV. Back when it was TechTV I honestly up-bought a higher cable package to make sure I had it. Alot of programming on there that I was interested in. Shows on computers, gadgets, buying guides for cell phones, cool stuff like that. About a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago the channel was bought out by a company (?) called G4, or SOME other company, and the name was changed to G4 "TV For Gamers".

But not RPG gamers.

Most of the programming is now Videophone Sex for Geeky Highschoolers. Girls reading codes for console games off the internet, girls reading webpages, girls talking to girls about console games. So I ditched the higher-priced cable, and let my cable provider know why.

We moved recently and in getting a new cable service we got 2 months of a higher programming bracket which includes G4. I noticed Call For Help (a computer talk show I used to like that died with the change-over, but moved to Canada) so I stopped to watch it ... thus catching the D&D commercial.

Hopefully they'll expand the slot to other channels at some point. I would like to see them make ANOTHER commercial, though. Maybe something not so ... kitchy.

--fje

 

[the Jester]

Wow, who knew??

Very interesting.

 

[ThirdWizard]

G4 was another TV station about video games. TechTV was apparently not doing so well, and G4 basically bought them out for X-Play. It had a few interesting shows before, like a soap opera entirely casted by MMORPG characters. Now, they are in fact playing up the sex appeal.

I didn't know Call for Help was still airing, though! Who's doing it nowadays?

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

Leo's back doing Call for Help with some... Canadians, I assume

But I've seen that commercial. Only on G4. At first, it's of such a low quality, I swore it was an Xplay skit, but... sadly, I think it's the real deal.

I think if that commercials anyone's first contact with roleplaying games and D&D... guh... set our image back twenty plus years.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Yea. Leo's been doing Call for Help the whole time, he almost immediately allowed them to move the show to Canada. He actually flies up there once a month to record a block of shows.

I'm actually rather sad that Call for Help is on G4, as it's currently the only redeeming feature of the channel. I'd have liked to see it on Discovery or TLC or something of the sort.

Man I sound old, sometimes.

I think the commercial COULD be okay ... it seems designed for the channel its currently on. Sort of going for that Internet Animation / Homegrown Funky vibe, spoofing on Infomercials and the like.

Unfortunately, it really comes off in the same vibe and quality as the original D&D movie. Maybe that's what WotC SEES for D&D, but it's really pretty shoddy stuff. It's not even like they're being self-depreciating, but like they're not even really TRYING. If they were going for spoofy, I'd have liked to see some over-the-top cariacature action like on those "Clean Mouth, Happy Mouth" gum commercials with the chick in white (forget the brand off-hand, so the commercials can't be that great).

I think it's sort of this: "Are they trying to be funny?" vibe. I was never sure if the D&D movie was supposed to be some sort of twisted joke that I didn't quite get or not. This commercial is sort of the same way.

--fje

 

[ThirdWizard]

Leo, huh? I think I'll set the ol' TiVo to record it.

D&D needs its bad boy image back. Sewer tunnels and all that. Then maybe we'll get the rebel demographic. Forget this pegasi flying out of books. We need demons sacrificing virgins to dark gods!

As an aside, I thought the old Magic: tG commercials were funny.