Advertising Tactics on Facebook Games

Lately, I’ve been addicted to this game called Tetris Battle on Facebook, I haven’t actually played many of Facebook’s games, except for Pet Society, of which I’ve played two years ago.  I remember being able to play Facebook games for as long as I want, but I noticed now that Facebook has limited game playing time with what’s called energy.  It has a picture of a battery and has a certain ratio.  For every round of Tetris you play, it takes away 5 points from your battery.  If you run out, you can’t play anymore.  Yet when you want to play more so that you can beat your opponent, who comes to the rescue?  Advertisements.

Advertisements are now being used as a part of the game, where if you watch videos or take consumer surveys, one can gain more energy, or items needed to play the game.  It seems that Facebook games have incorporated the design of the game to cater to encouraging users to watch the advertisements.  The advertisements themselves do not last past a minute and a half, which is bearable, and some advertisers do limit the number of times the video can be watched, but does this really affect the Facebook user’s consuming habits?  I do something else like check my email or play a different game, while the video is playing until I can play Tetris again.

Advertising in games is not a new strategy, but having the advertisement built into the game is.  In class we’ve discussed how games are used to spread news on a particular issue.  Yet, advertising companies are able to spread their influences on games as well.  The games designed for news and games designed with advertisements are different because the ones designed for news puts the player in the experience of the issue.  Advertisements still have a hands-off approach, keeping to the sidelines outside the game and when the player needs more life or items, they go to the advertisements.   It’s a lot more subtle and seems to be more tolerable to game players.

Facebook does not produce the games themselves, but do host a number of game apps.  They have even made their own virtual currency called Facebook credits that can be used in any game app.  One can either earn the credits or purchase it with real cash. 

Would you like to play a game?

   Videogames have been controversial for many years because of the common public concern that they promote violent behavior among teenagers.  The popular concern with violence in video games is greater than violence in the movies because video games are more interactive than being a mere spectator of TV.  It makes sense that interaction between the audience and media would have a greater influence on the audience than watching the media or reading about it.  This is where the idea of newsgames come into play.  Newsgames create an interaction between players and public events that promote the understanding of different social dilemmas.  In Newsgames: Procedural Rhetoric meets Political Cartoons, Michael Mateas and Mike Treanor compare newsgame's political statement to that of political cartoons.  Both newsgames and political cartoons take a medium that is ultimately used for entertainment and turns it into a political outlet that raises awareness to different social issues. Mateas and Treanor argue that newsgames  could have a "deeper and more persuasive power then political cartoons and newspaper editorials".
   The website Games For Change states that it's mission is to "catalyze social impact through games".  With computer games directed toward younger audiences between the ages of 7 and 14 dealing with issues like airport security and natural disasters, the website can be seen as an outlet for learning. Much like the written news, newsgames also contain bias and young impressionable minds do not know how to detect bias.  This may present a problem. If children are playing games with a certain opinion on social issues instead of simply playing games that teach them how to read and write, they may grow up with the bias of the media (more than they already do).  Games are often directed towards children and the idea of children playing games about the war and other serious political issues does not seem right.  On the other hand, this website promotes games for children dealing with recycling and healthy eating which has a positive influence on youth.
   It is hard to determine if the games on this website really promote social change because they must be purchased.  In my opinion, this presents another problem with this website.  The manufacturers of this website states that they aim to "leverage entertainment and engagement for social good".  Can social good become a commodity?  Games for Change claims that it is a 501(c) nonprofit corporation so it is exempt from federal income tax.  Although it is expensive to create computer games and it would not be right to say that these game creators should not get paid, this website may be teaching children that social change must come at a price.

AP-Google Scholarship Program for Journalism Students

When you're a college student sometimes choosing a major is based on how much money you're going to make outside of college, not on what kind of difference you can make in the world. Student Journalists are disappearing along with print media. Digital Journalism is the new form of media consumers are reaching out to for the latest and greatest. But how are students suppose to survive as digital journalists?

The outlook for surviving as a digital journalist is a bit discouraging, according to the Daily Beast, Journalism is one of the most useless majors. The pay rate sucks,there is no job security and who knows if there's any benefits; however, there is hope for students who are eager to begin a career as a digital journalist with AP-Google's Journalism and Technology Scholarship Program, students are pushed to contribute new methods to digital journalism. Scholarship winners receive $20,000  towards the following academic year.

This years winners come from all over the U.S with some unique ideas on ways to change how digital media is presented.

 Graduate student, John Osborn, is proposing a news game aiming to simulate Political candidates in order to inform players about how the political system works.

We spoke about news games in class, this student example may be a successful tool for generating interest for gamers who may not be updated on all the political news stories.

Another student, undergraduate Kate Zhu, proposed an application, LedeHub.


"LedeHub pushes the trends of digital journalism forward by fostering collaborative, continuous and open journalism while incorporating elements of crowdsourcing to allow readers, reporters and new organizations to come together in unprecedented ways. " 


The student stories are motivating and great examples on how we can take digital journalism to the next level. The website also provides the winners video proposals which may be helpful with our individual video projects.  


The AP-Google scholarship program is accepting applications for next year and is open to undergraduate students as well as Graduate students. Who knows maybe this film project can lead to bigger things... 

Military Games: A Multimedia Recruitment Tool

While a misleading headline like “Terrorist Video Game” may quickly grab your attention, a similar, yet true story like “Government Funded Military Shooting Game” for actual recruitment has avoided public interest until now. This summer marks the 10-year anniversary in which the US Army’s publicly funded game project, known as America’s Army, designed to provide the “public a virtual Soldier experience that was engaging, informative and entertaining,” has been in existence.

However, what steps out as most important in our case as 'digital natives' is America’s Army as a political game or alternative media influence. In contrast to this week’s reading in which author Michael Sicart stated "[newsgames] utilize the medium with the intention of participating in the public debate,” political games are explicit in limiting player interaction, like only playing for Team America. 


Unlike the chronic media reports of video games as detrimental and threatening to society, the military has contradicted itself in comparison to the Pentagon case on terrorist videos games as propaganda and recruitment tools. Yet with liaisons to the military, news outlets fear releasing such investigative stories for fear of the military ceasing it supply of stock footage, which is why the story isn’t so known.

As for the game itself, the military has gone extensive lengths to ensure its massive success. Among the many accolades it has received, from Best Use of Tax Dollars to Most Realistic Game of the Year, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded it the most downloaded War Game in 2008.

Soldiers: Official US Army Magazine

The concept of military games isn't new at all. According to author Carrie McLeroy of Soldiers Magazine, "Gaming has long been an important tool used by militaries to assist in training, analysis and mission readiness" and games have been used for thousands of years.


Despite not being a newsgame, America's Army remains essential to our class discussion because it demonstrates how the US Government and military devise alternative media methods to achieve their political agendas.