Clickz had an articletoday on a recent study done regarding how gamers feel about “in-game” advertising. Way back when (a year or so back) when in-game advertising (again) hit the press as an interesting alternative to reach gamers who were spending more time playing video games than watching television, the marketer in me got excited by the possibilites. The the gamer in me, however, wanted to run away back to the time where we were viewed as funny digital counterparts to DnD players, rather than juicy moneymaking opportunities.

The study states that if companies take a chance, and work with the gaming companies to deliver ads or branding in a subtle and realistic way, gamers are more likely to accept it. Which got me to thinking in what ways would I accept ads or branding within the games I play. There are obvious ones - it is a lot more fun to pretend that you can drive a Jaguar in a driving game, than, say “Anonmyous Red Sports Car #1″ or play with a real college football team than “State U!”

I play games that aren’t the standard “driving and sports” games, and the challenge for companies will be to ensure that the experience with Strategy and Simulation games is as realistic as possible. Take Civilization 4 - at first glance, not something that would make sense to stick branding and/or an ad in to. However, the land frequently has “luxuries” like wine, bannanas, silks- which as you find them, make your citizens happier. Fine when you’re in the medieval era, not so realistic in the modern era. I could easily see the modern era “luxuries” being iPods, Dells and/or HDTV(s). In my worldview, that would be realistic, because I’d much rather have an iPod or a new tv than silk. But then, that’s just me. RPGs are harder yet, which means that the day I have to play elf going on a quest to find the great lost city of Mall of America, I’m done, and I’ll just play my old Zelda games for the rest of my life.