Dungeon Runners Chunk #2 Preview

[Cody Bye]

Few games have as much spunk and personality as NCsoft's free-to-play, casual-friendly MMOG, Dungeon Runners. So when Ten Ton Hammer's managing editor, Cody "Micajah" Bye, had the opportunity to stop in and see a preview for the next content update in the game, he didn't pass it up. Big changes are coming down the pipe for Dungeon Runners, and Cody believes that most of them are going to increase the experience many players have with that free world.

With that, Mark went over a number of the features that are going to be included in Chunk #2. Probably the biggest change to Dungeon Runners that is going into Chunk #2 will be the “Around-the-Game Ads” that are being introduced. Rather than simply have ads on the load screens (which they will also have) Dungeon Runners is going to have around-the-game ads, meaning that an ad will be permanently present at the top of your gaming screen. Very similar to the banner ad you find at the top of most web pages, the around-the-game ad will open a browser window underneath your game, so you won’t be forced out of the game if you accidentally click the banner ad.

Check out the whole article here!

What do you think? Will in-game ads scare away customers? Or do the incentives help alleviate the pain of getting ads?

[bladecutter]

an im convo between me and a friend about chunk#2. the names are changed to protect the innocent (and spelling/grammatically checked, 'cause our normal typing sucks)

me: the always advertising sucks
friend: i do not think it will be that bad
me: maybe not with an ad-blocker installed
friend: it will allow us to use things we could not before
me: not that big a deal. i use kings coins now to get gold
me: and the items, i rarely find anything that i want to keep not on my person, so the bank is rather pointless
me: the other items are only a fraction of a chance to use them. no biggie
me: i'd rather have full screen and no-ads
me: just me
me: for me, yellows are rarely better than blues, just worth more gold.
friend: well you become a member you can turn them off
me: purples are mostly better
me: $60 a year to turn off ads? noway
me: for $40 i can own whole games that are just as good and never pay more or deal with that junk

i guess that sums it up. i think chunk #2 ads and benefits are not appealing and it would make me play it less.

[Cody Bye]

The ad bar that's in the game barely takes up 1/8 - 1/10 of the screen....it's barely even noticeable.

[Kralle]

I dont look much at adds anyway, if you can play the game (any game) and it isnt to much of a bother...I dont care.

Adds and product placement in games will become more common, as example in Tabula Rasa you got some funny product placement, "Dell Notebooks" on tables now and than.

[Cody Bye]

I've never understood why people get so upset about it. Aside from the need to keep things "in character" I think the vast majority of people don't mind ads at all.