Rensa
11-22-2003, 03:13 AM
I've just noticed IGN.com's (http://www.ign.com) new form of advertising while reading their FFXI preview: hyperlink ads. Basically, when you hover the mouse over words in the article, an ad pops up - and if you click on them, they open a new window to an advertiser.
I know we've had this debate a million times before (every time IGN throws in something new, I think) but this is just too much. Granted, they already have banner ads (horizontal and vertical), pop-ups, transitionals, audio ads (which eat up bandwidth limits, to a small extent), ads disguised as feature articles - hell, they even give the site a make-over every two days to suit their latest sponser (remember the Maccas one? Even Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) poked fun at it). This is on top of IGNInsider.
However, this is a million times worse than them all (except the feature article one, which is the same), because it fools gamers into thinking it's an FYI link. If it had been (I originally thought it was, until about 5 windows popped-up on me at once), this would have been invaluable - but abusing it in thus way is just disgusting. Bloody hell. Any comments?
I know we've had this debate a million times before (every time IGN throws in something new, I think) but this is just too much. Granted, they already have banner ads (horizontal and vertical), pop-ups, transitionals, audio ads (which eat up bandwidth limits, to a small extent), ads disguised as feature articles - hell, they even give the site a make-over every two days to suit their latest sponser (remember the Maccas one? Even Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) poked fun at it). This is on top of IGNInsider.
However, this is a million times worse than them all (except the feature article one, which is the same), because it fools gamers into thinking it's an FYI link. If it had been (I originally thought it was, until about 5 windows popped-up on me at once), this would have been invaluable - but abusing it in thus way is just disgusting. Bloody hell. Any comments?