New Terrain in Interaction Design - Computers as Theatre - page 178

choose the term somewhat reluctantly in an attempt to call out the relation-
ship between computational platforms of various sorts with the kinds of
content they may deliver and how they enable us to experience and inter-
act with it. While some methods are common across computational sys-
tems (e.g., programming), others seem specifi c to particular types. Media
and methods are often coupled because of the affordances of the particular
computational platform; others are coupled more subtly by the normative
uses of a platform. I'm going to walk through these methods and media,
then spend some time thinking about how we might use them for dramatic
interaction. The fi rst “method” I'll discuss is one you all know very well.
A Note on Advertising
Product placement in computer/video games can be traced back to 1984,
when KP Snacks made an appearance in a C-064 game called Action Biker ,
according to the MirriAd blog ( www.mirriad.com/blog/ ), a site aimed at
advertisers. Advertising on the Web began in 1993. The fi rst instances were
called “banner ads,” in that they appeared as banners that went across
the entire screen, usually at the bottom of the fi rst screen of readable text
(above the “scroll line”). 1 Since then, we've been treated to the pop-up ad,
the hover ad, and many more permutations. I don't fi nd advertising in and
of itself to be particularly annoying. I fi nd product placement to be the
most palatable form, as when one produces a game or fi lm set in particular
milieu, one may indeed fi nd the “placed” products to enhance or at least
belong in the scene. The sort of advertising that is of greater concern is the
placement of ads, particularly in social networks, that force interactors to
lose the “fl ow” of the activity. Most people object to obstructionist placing
of ads in this context. 2 Auto-roll video ads—particularly with audio—are
today's worst disruptors of fl ow.
Fundamentally, a major challenge for the designers of games, social
networks, and web applications is to concentrate on fi nding an alternative
to ad placement as a business model. We have struggled with this problem
1. I vividly remember the day the marketing team at Purple Moon reluctantly showed me the
fi rst banner ad on our site. I had always maintained a “no advertising” stance. But there it
was—a Barbie ad. I left the offi ce and went to a movie with some explosions in it.
2. Early television often incorporated ads into the dramatic action—for instance, for those of
you old enough to remember, the drop-in appearances of the Carnation man in the George
Burns and Gracie Allen show (CBS 1950-1958). Even I don't remember it too well, but I recom-
mend that anyone interested in advertising have a look at some of the early episodes.