- What advergames have you played? Did they influence a purchase outside of the game?
Lego Online Games, Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy’s. Now I haven’t played these in years as a kid I always wanted the toys and merch to go along with these games and franchises. To this day I still purchase Lego’s and I went to Halloween Horror Nights Orlando to go see the Five Nights and Freddy’s house to fulfill my childhood.
- Why do the advergames ”tooth protector” and “escape” work? What makes ”chase the chuckwagon” and “shark bait” fail?
In Tooth Protector the player protects teeth from germs and sugar. The act of playing already teaches that teeth are fragile and must be cared for just like real dental hygiene. In Escape Work you must plan, react quickly, and survive a disaster. This mirrors real-life emergency behavior. The game models the correct actions, not just explains them. They fail because the gameplay has nothing to do with them. These games use branding as decoration, not persuasion.
- What does volvo’s “drive for life” accomplish?
It persuades players that safety is a skill and responsibility, not just a feature. Practicing safe driving through your gameplay could either persuade good or bad decisions on the road depending on how you drive.
- What company used in-advergame advertising
7-Eleven used in advergame ads inside games placing branded products directly into gameplay rather than building a game around them.
- What was one of the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for?
Pepsi Invaders, it was a modified version of Space Invaders made for Coca-Cola sales reps, where players shot the word “PEPSI.”
- What makes “the toilet training” game sophisticated and do you agree?
It is sophisticated because it uses symbolic actions rather than direct branding, reflects cultural pressure, shame, and control, and persuades through systems, not slogans. I agree because I think it’s sophisticated because it expresses a social argument, not a commercial one.
- What do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share?
Both advergames and anti-advergames use rules, systems, and player actions to persuade through procedural rhetoric meaning the game’s mechanics make the argument. The difference is that advergames promote brands, while anti-advergames use the same tools to critique corporate power and social systems.