What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Ok, I dont know if anyone else posted about this, but what is the story with those Dominions ads with the scantily clad chick? Or the one of just a picture of her legs?? I mean, yeah she's hot and thats great but wth does that have to do with Dominions? Is this just a stupid marketing stunt then? Am I the only one who finds it offensive?

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

lol, here's the 7 page long discussion:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...;Number=593480

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

You got it the wrong way around. It's a stupid marketing stunt, but the woman is hot.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

LOL man yeah did I miss the thread on this one!

I love the suggestion that she should be hugging a furry Bog Beast doll. That would definitely make the ad move from the realm of offensive to just funny for me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif At least it would have some kind of relevant content.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Yeah, ask budweiser or godaddy or doritoes if advertising with hot chicks that has nothing to do with the product is a stupid marketing stunt.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

In those ads, at the least, they have some product imagery or some other kind of attempt to link the women with the product. Here its just stripped bare to into some kind of ridiculous pretense for advertising.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Well I estimate the shrapnel marketing team examined the characteristics of gamers which enjoy TBS games. Based on the DOM_3 ads I can only assume the marketing team noticed 99.8% of the TBS gamers were male. Knowing males have a strong visual drive they decided to give it a test. I estimate within 6 months the marketing team will know whether or not it's working... if it's working then we'll see the ads continue.

Personally I feel a more successful ad would have a photo of one of the geniuses within history or a wise war figure within history combined with a simple phrase:
"Here's a strategy game which would even challenge {historical genius}. "

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Well obviously they are trying to take advantage of the stereotype that gamers, who are assumed to all be pre-pubescent boys living at home, cannot resist the siren lure of a half naked woman. No matter what she sells. I have been offended by this even when I WAS a younger, and the feeling only gets stronger. Its not that the woman arent attractive, its like Ironhawk says, the blatant commercialism is offensive to assume that we are all so easily manipulated.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Well, we ARE easily manipulated. BUT - these ads are shown to people who already bought the game for the most part. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif
I would take it in the context of Annette's pseudo-news releases about "Succubi in Heat", etc. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif If she wants to use her position to make fun of everybody, herself and this position included - that's fine by me. However, I have a pair of corporate-hippies among my friends, so may be too omnivorous... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Hot woman who wants the quintessential geek product is what makes this ad funny and not just gratuitous.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

It's not funny. It's not effective. It's just plain stupid.

As Turn Based Strategy players in general, and Dominions 3 players in particular, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we prefer substance over graphics.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

According to the Shrapnel Blog, it was (is?) very effective, at least in terms of click-through rates. Sorry, lost the link to Scott's blog post. In marketing, the ends justify the means, and besides, no bog beasts were harmed in the making of the ads.

It's funny to me because it's completely blatant. There is no attempt at all to even try linking the sexual exploitation to the game.

Anything that contributes to additional sales and the success of Illwinter and Shrapnel is good IMO. I have sufficient faith in the developers to believe that this marketing campaign is going to have no influence on the game itself.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I think they are quite ironic?, playful and bloody funny. The bog beast versions are even better.

Yes they are stupid, dont at all relate to Dom3, and are potentially offensive, but the fact that we have a 7 page post plus this post about them means they get attention and hold attention. Bingo!

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Here it is.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

A few changes that are going to happen during the next patches so the game becomes more appealing to the target audience: Seduction and Corruption will be played out in some kinda dating sim fashion. Blood hunting will be played out in some other kind of mini-game as well (no details) (especially not about how the Sanguine Dowsing Rod is going to be involved). Users can pay for optional extra content which upgrades their boring plain units with cool stuff to impress their unsuspecting MP enemies, like steam-powered chainsaws, nail guns and dragon-based airstrikes. The game will be shipped with a Dorito XL bag and a cool Bud light.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I *did* mention that I've been clicking on the ads 25 times whenever I saw them, and I usually never click on them at all. When I was still under the impression that it was supposed to be some kinda april's fools joke, that is.

P.S.: Plus, those new ads are the only thing that I see. This sweet Firefox extension named AdBlock+ filters out all the other stuff by default, and that extension is extremely popular, if not mandatory. So other people might just not see any of the other ads, too, and thus no clickey.

P.P.S.: Oh and regarding this piece from the blog: "Reaction to the ads have been extremely positive [...] there’s a nice forum thread currently at five pages [...] You even have one community member who changed his avatar to the ad for a while and is now using it as his sig, currently slightly modified." - the word you are looking for is "sarcasm".

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Well funny is a matter of opinion in most countries luckily.

I tend not to take things too seriously and find it amusing to see a beautiful scantily clad woman craving an extremely complex turn based computer strategy game that I cannot even convince some of my geekier friends to attempt to learn. And I admit that I am probably at my geekiest when I spend time combing through the forums trying to figure out the best way to kit out Rhuax, Elemental King of Fire to help aid the Jomonese nation fend off the evil Lord Fiddlesticks of Pythium.

But hey, if you want to be all serious and let this offend your sensibilities because we are braniac strategy gamers only interested in intellectual content then cheers! You are definitely in the target demographic.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I've always taken the as a joke, and find them quite funny.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Although the model in the first ad has nice legs, I'd also like to see pictures of scantly clad men, pretty-boy underwear model types. Once you have naked boys, it won't be sexist anymore. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Hope Scott's blog post alerts him of new comments.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Gee, I enjoyed it as a parody of advertising.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

That's been taken care of:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...ev=#Post595375

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

My biggest gripe with the ad isn't the obnoxious patronism or blatant, and ineffective, attempt at being 'sexy', it's the fact that the woman in question looks like some kind of retarded bondage Borg.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Please don't prove him wrong by posting retarded bondage Borg porn.


These ads are visible everywhere on Shrapnel Games' forum. The fact that the Dominions community ALSO sees them is insignificant - the target audience seems to be people who have bought other games published by Shrapnel Games. I'd much rater like to see these ads outside Shrapnel site, because most gamers here like hardcore strategy games and have heard of Dominions. People outside this community might or might not follow a link like that, but they might wonder what Dominions 3 is. If they bothered to read about it and had ever played any kind of fantasy kingdom game, chances are they'd be interested, because the game is just so awesome.

I also expect that Shrapnel knows what kind of people buy and play Dominions. I think it's mostly people over 25 and under 40, with people under 16 and over 50 totalling under 10% altogether.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Oh dear, it has had an effect!
I'm sorry! There will be some male nudity in the new patch http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

We've already got the alternate costume of the lord of fertility. Do we really need more wang? Of course we do.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Speaking for myself, I find the ads rather tasteless.

As far as 'hot women' liking these games, there is no logical reason why they shouldn't; one of my friends in high school was the head of the Dance Team (and looked it), and was the Captain of the Hurricanettes at UM her senior year there... and majored in Computer Engineering. If she didn't graduate at least Magna Cum Laude, I will be very much surprised.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Yeah, even after all the commentary about how its a joke and whatnot, I still find the ad offensive. I think if they'd just made even the slightest head-nod to dominions, like the Bog Beast furry doll or something, I would have been able to swallow it.

And to your comment Wokeye: yeah I understand the advertising concept of "any attention is good attention", but in this case I cant say I agree with it. I mean, this ad campaign has lowered the degree of respect that I have for Shrapnel as a whole. How can a campaign be considered a success if it is alienating a repeat buyer?

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I found the ad (well, the "fluttering corner" bit) distracting, and added shrapnel to my noscript block list. In that sense, the ad has been a bad for them, since I no longer see any of their ads.

General hint to ad guys: annoying the customer is bad.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

You guys must get offended a lot if you live in the US. Not sure how you could even watch TV here given all the programming you must find offensive, if the Dom ad falls into that category.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I don't find it offensive, I find it lame. I have little respect for people who would advertise dom3 that way, regardless of how successful.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

DC, I see what you are saying - and the truth is that I dont really watch that many ads on TV (thanks to my DVR). But that said, I have come to expect low-brow advertising for low-brow products like Budweiser, etc. And occassionally I will get offended at something else anyway. Its just sad to think that Shrapnel, an indy game publisher is choosing to resort to this kind of advertising when they arent even competing in the mainstream space.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I guess I see it more as ironic (the juxtaposition of pin-up model craving uber-geek product) and thus humourous as opposed to gratuitous.

The two bikini clad women fighting in a Bud commercial is what I'd call just gratuitous (that said, I must confess to enjoying that commercial http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

There is certainly more titillating material on the web than the Dom 3 ads, but I respect that people might find all this offensive.

Luckily for me I find it funny. I don't like feeling offended.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Despite not caring for the ads one way or the other personally, IMHO there is no such thing as bad publicity.

As far as I can tell ads which are humorous, controversial, divisive, mysterious, or otherwise memorable, are the most successful.

You're all noticing the ads, thinking about them, and some of you are even physically taking the effort to talk about them.

Threads like this one, and the previous one (which was 7 pages afaik) which were started to complain about the ads, just reinforces whatever reasoning there was to create them in the first place.

Edit:
(This is very much a win/win for the ad creators, because whether you like the ads or dislike the ads, you're feeling something. This reminds somewhat of Oblivion (a la vaultdweller), where because it was called an Action/RPG every Action part that was off and complained about was replied with "duh it's an RPG!", and every RPG part that was off was replied with "duh it's an Action game".)

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

In what sense? We all already own the game so who cares how much we talk about the ads on here? It proves nothing. To someone who has never played dom3 (a prospective buyer) there's nothing to talk about and nothing controversial. Just another crappy advert. It isn't like I'm going to be pointing my friends to the adverts to convince them to buy dom3 either. If anything I'd now be wary of pointing a prospective buyer to this site without telling them to please ignore the stupid adverts.

I don't buy that "look you're talking about them, they must work" logic. They'd get even more reaction on here if the women were naked riding crocodiles covered in jam and eating flaming tophats with chopsticks. Does that mean they should have done that? Well yeah I guess it does.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

To Ich:
It was the 1st April post, for Cthulhu's sake! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif
You may find the humor in question a sick one, but don't say that you didn't get it from acronims included (the engine mentioned here was named LAME, iirc!).
As for ad-munchers, etc., it just seems that they are not used by enough people to enter into equation. Probably if we would advocate their use actively enough... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Well yes, we all bought a copy, and some even more than one (belated Christmas gift for my brother, heh) but the shrapnel site does cater to more than just Dom3 players, though it is debatable how interested others would be in Dom3, after all historical wargaming is quite different from Fantasy TBS, and quite different from Scifi 4x.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I'm pretty sure the ads appear on other sites. I found out about Dom3 by clicking through an ad on the AC or Civ forums, can't remember which one.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Huh, what are you referring to? The Aprils fools forum thread? I didn't really read that one, just glanced over it.

I was just ad-libbing. But if things progress in that direction you may soon crown me as the great visionary that foretold those changes.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I can tell you this much totally honestly. If I didn't already own Dom3, and I saw that ad, I would be mightily disinclined to purchase it.

This is also true for any product IW makes in the future, since I assume the ad ran with their consent. If not, IW, please let me know.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

IW was as surprised as the rest of the forum members. I'd suppose that Illwinter is taking care about developing the product, and Shrapnel of everything else, including decisions regarding how to advertise and market it.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I am in the "not offended" and "indifferent" camp, but I turned off cable TV. Pure crap that I could no longer watch with my 2 young daughters even on the network channels. Now I am either working on the computer, or for entertainment we will rent movies or watch select programs on hulu. I get a good laugh when someone at work refers to one of the latest and greatest reality shows and I get to respond "Never heard of it." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Yeah I concur with VedalkenBear. If I was a prospective buyer and happened to be curious about the hot chick ad appearing on <insert random forum here> and clicked on it only to find Dominions 3. I would be like ... "was this a joke?" and then, realizing that it wasnt I would think to myself "what the f--k is wrong with these people?" and then immediately close my browser.

That is in fact the thought process that went through my head anyway, now that I think about it. Heh.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

That's the thing though Ich, ultimately it doesn't matter what the reason is/was--love it, hate it, feel it's clever, feel it's the dumbest thing you've ever seen--when the final result is that it's sparking a reaction. I mean Hell, we've already had one thread go on for seven pages and now we're in a second thread at three pages on the ads. So hey, it works.

***

A general comment to some other posts (not by you Ich, just want to make a catch-all posting here) concerning whether we advertise elsewhere. We do. Obviously on our site we're going to be pimping our products, hence nothing but Shrap banner ads, but we hit a number of sites with varying types of ads so there are plenty of "normal" Dom 3 ads out there. In fact, we have had some "normal" Dom 3 ads rotating on BoardGameGeek.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

How are those BGG ads doing? I tried to refer some people to Dom 3 on a thread over there dedicated to the upcoming Conan fantasy war board game but got jumped on by a some serious geeks who only wanted to discuss Conan even though there is little to discuss since the game has yet to be released.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Things may have picked up recently DonCorazon but at least initially it's been very disappointing. ::shrug:: Unfortunately it's always a gamble. Places you think should provide a great response provide nary a peep, while some backwater IP address suddenly doubles your exposure. I recall we once got a lot of traffic for the game based on some comments someone made on of all things, a political blog.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I may pipe in over there again but this time will pick a general thread and see if I get some traction.

The thing is they are generally pretty uptight over there. A while back, a faction broke off to form the Fortress Ameritrash blog partly out of protest to some of the snooty Eurogaming vibe of the website. It was those guys that gave me the idea that Dom3 should advertise on a boardgaming website because one of them posted a review on a PC game. That might be a useful place to pick up a few more customers.

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

Agreed. BGG is an excellent database source, but personally I think it leaves something to be desired as a community. Woe be to you if you make a Geeklist that doesn't pass muster!

Michael Barnes (of F:AT fame, or if you prefer, infamy) actually was (or may still be doing) a board game column for Gameshark. I will admit that I'm not a fan of Barnes although it has nothing to do with all the forum drama that he's been involved in. Here in Atlanta he was part owner of a game store, Atlanta Games Factory, that promised 30% off all their games. They were trying to compete with places like Boulder, Thoughthammer, etc, but as a retail store. Great idea, only problem was in reality it was only a small selection of games that were discounted. It felt a lot like bait-and-switch, and then the store imploded when one of the owners locked the others out and yet more drama, only this time in real life, ensued...

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

SR Krol: Yes, it was Barnes that wrote the review for the PC game I was referring to - can't remember the name but it was post-apocalypse war game. I don't know much about him personally but he was pretty prolific and at times funny.

Interesting. Well, I will keep trying to push the game. Would like to see commercial success to motivate further development so I am not just altruistic or a fanboy but hope to live to see Dom 4 or other cool indie games.

And I like to support small businesses, especially those with hot girl ads. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

I'm surprised by a lot of the responses here. I am totally desensitized to advertising, seeing as how you encounter it everywhere these days. I look at those ads and think to myself, "Wow, that girl in the black dress has really skinny ankles...what do I want for dinner?" It does not even approach the point of clever, lame, offensive, or any other emotional response. I wonder if you guys are genuinely offended or if you're just waiting for the patch to come out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: What is the story with those dominion ads??
 

You're thinking of Neuroshima Hex.