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The Military Entertainment Games

British Intelligence Inserts Job Ads Into Games 44

Posted by Zonk from the be-all-the-sam-fisher-you-can-be dept.
eldavojohn writes "Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is taking a new approach to attracting new recruits. 'The monthlong ad campaign, which starts at the end of October, is being run by GCHQ, the recruitment firm TMP Worldwide and Microsoft-owned in-game ad agency Massive Inc. Ads headed 'Careers in British Intelligence' will appear as billboards in scenes in Splinter Cell and other games including Need for Speed Carbon and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars when they are played on computers and Microsoft Xbox consoles in Britain.'"
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British Intelligence Inserts Job Ads Into Games More

British Intelligence Inserts Job Ads Into Games

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  • I thought she was a sandwich, till she went spare on me hand!

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      As a Brit, I have to ask... WTF is that supposed to mean?
      • sandwich: Peanut butter and jelly -- Machiavelli
        spare tire: -- quagmire
        hand: job -- lynch mob

      • "I thought she was a sandwich, till she went spare on me hand": Ringo explains to John what transpired at the vending machine in the corner. To go spare means "go berserk"; Ahme had just tried to bite Ringo's ring off! There's a secondary meaning: a girl "going spare" is one who's sexually enthusiastic or available. A deliberate double entendre is entirely possible, especially in light of a long-standing music-hall tradition of having such lines delivered with complete innocence by a straight man (like Ringo).

  • I guess they are looking for L337 AG3NTZ to be W007
  • Since the perfect game for this would most definitely have been the 'I, Spy' series obviously.

    The idea has merit, though, since you're bound to attract a younger audience with an aggressive streak who loves blowing up enemies and.... uhm.... Maybe not.

    Have they really thought this through?

  • Where Burger King and Toyota got it right (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ObiWanStevobi ( 1030352 ) on Friday October 19, 2007 @11:11AM (#21042063) Journal

    When we are getting peppered with ads during games, I fell pretty cheated that there wasn't a discount on the price. It's bullshit. If you are going to flood the game with ads, make it cheaper or free! For example, Yaris for Xbox live or the Burger King games. Although I must say that Burger Kings presence in Fight Night was sickening. Especially when I had to pay $60 to get "the King" as a trainer fighting in a BK themed ring!

    I don't mind the concept of ads in games if it discounts the game. But I can't stand being charged full price for a game when the studio was paid to force gamers to sit through a commercial.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I've always felt that seeing advertisement in games that are for real companies makes it more realistic. Like seeing billboards for mc Donalds or something while driving on the street in a racing game.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by oliverthered ( 187439 )
        isn't that part of the problem, 'most' people see games as a bit of escapism.

      • To a point. Although I enjoy the humourous fictional ones in GTA or some Baseball games much more. But take, for instance Burnout. When am I going to feel real racing a mobile Hardees resteraunt? Where will I see a Spike TV billboard every tenth of a mile? Or GRAW, Although it is cool to have realistic vehicles, since when is every vehicle on the streets of Mexico a new Dodge Ram? Not to mention the billboards.

        The standard release price for games is ~$60. Many spend top dollar developing games witho

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Dutch Gun ( 899105 )
          I completely agree. And with most issues like this, I think the market will decide what levels of advertising are appropriate for the content you're playing for. Reviewers will make a note of obtrusive or inappropriate ads in their reviews, and gamers (if they feel the same way as us) will decide to simply NOT buy that particular game. Unless we're talking about contemporary sports games (which look weird *without* advertising) or substantially reduced game costs (e.g. Burger King), I'll pass on any game

    • Re:Where Burger King and Toyota got it right (Score:5, Informative)

      by paeanblack ( 191171 ) on Friday October 19, 2007 @12:38PM (#21043733)
      When we are getting peppered with ads during games, I fell pretty cheated that there wasn't a discount on the price

      Adjusted for inflation, games are cheaper now than they have ever been.
      Adjusted for inflation, games are more expensive to produce than they have ever been.
      Even accounting for industry growth and inflation, the per-unit production cost of games is higher than it has ever been.

      How, exactly, are you being cheated?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by amohat ( 88362 )
        Because our income, adjusted for inflation, has not kept pace.

        Whatever, it is what it is.

        The real issue: Boxing and fast food? Show me a (dedicated) boxer that fucks with Burger King.

        Ads in games should contribute to the experience. Um, in a positive way. BK did not do that, it was a travesty. How about an athletics company? Nike would have been fine, for example.

        Yes, they are selling to the patrons, not the athletes, I get it. But wtf...I'd rather it be the goddamn Bud frogs...
      • Because other games can be bought for the same price without ads.

  • Nothing new, really (Score:4, Informative)

    by stjobe ( 78285 ) on Friday October 19, 2007 @11:20AM (#21042201) Homepage
    British intelligence agencies seem to have a fondness of peculiar recruitment techniques.

    In one, now well known instance, the ability to solve The Daily Telegraph crossword in under 12 minutes was used as a recruitment test.
    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bletchley_Park [wikipedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by maxume ( 22995 )
      I wonder what an intelligence service would want with obsessive people skilled at holding and rapidly correlating large amounts of information in their heads.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by u38cg ( 607297 )
      They aren't they only ones. If you are serious about attracting great talent to your organisations, you have to be creative about where you look for it. Look at Google's recruitment campaigns, for example.

  • Life imitates science fiction (Score:3, Informative)

    by mbrubeck ( 73587 ) on Friday October 19, 2007 @11:24AM (#21042299) Homepage
    Sounds like they've been reading Halting State [antipope.org], the new sci-fi novel by Charles Stross involving gaming and British intelligence services.
  • Do I get my license to kill on the first day? Are there Baccarat-related questions in the job interview?

    • Are there Baccarat-related questions in the job interview?

      Other than, what is the house edge (1.24%, 1.04%, and 14.44% depending on the bet), what baccarat questions could there be? It's an entirely deterministic game.

      • You're thinking of the Punto Banco variety, a.k.a. North American baccarat. The other major two varieties, Banque and Chermin de Fer - the latter being James Bond's preferred game - involve player skill, and game theoretic principles apply.

        So British Intelligence's fiendishly clever baccarat-related questioning has already succeeded in weeding out a North American spy! It's off to the Tower with you!

    • The spies who really act like James Bond don't last. They attract attention to themselves and get caught. The last thing a spy wants to do is attract attention.

      I'm reminded of the introductory speech in the first episode of Spy [imdb.com]: the recruits wouldn't be doing any combat or firearms training, because if they ever needed such in real life, it would be too late anyway, and the chainsaw would probably already be warmed up.

      ...laura

  • "British Intelligence" isn't inserting anything anywhere; a government department has purchased advertising space in a game just like anyone else could.

    The headline makes it sound like something nefarious is going on, as though someone in MI5 is hacking the game (or servers or whatever) and surreptitiously planting the adverts without permission...

    Yes I know the summary is better, I'm just talking about the headline - something like "British Intelligence buys in-game advertising space" would be rather more
    • The headline makes it sound like something nefarious is going on, as though someone in MI5 is hacking the game (or servers or whatever) and surreptitiously planting the adverts without permission...

      No, unfortunately not. Nice idea, though...

      * goes away and cracks the advert server *
      * inserts copy of CV addressed to GCHQ *

      I wonder if they'd appreciate that?

  • I used to be really good at Goldeneye, and I'm not doing anything special right now...
  • One might imagine that the land of Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross might be a little more leery of posting their employment ads in a game called "DOUBLE AGENT".

    Or maybe it's just habit? :)

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