Friday, December 19, 2008

Ads on the WoW Forums

Blizzard introduced advertising on the Official WoW forums. So far it looks like mainly WoW tie-in products. I don't really have an opinion, other than the ad on the right is a bit annoying because it wastes a lot of space.

But the ads have spawned the thread Rise Up, Sons of the Horde!, which is legendary. Here are some choice samples:
Foolishly you have sought your own bankruptcies. Brazenly you have disregarded offers beyond your understanding. You have browsed hard to invade the realm of the t-shirts and minis. Now there is only one way out — to walk the lonely path of the checkout line.


The Mengarie is for paying customers only.


RECESSION HERALDS THE END OF YOUR WORLD. COME, MORTALS! FACE THE WRATH OF THE PRICECHOPPER!


Stop clicking me! Me not that kind of ad!


Sales, Bargains. My people are addicted to it... a sale made manifest after the Sunwell went out of business. Welcome to the future. A pity you are too poor to buy all this. No one can stop my T-Shirt bonanza now! SELAMA ASHAL"ANORE!


You landlubbers are tougher than I thought! I'll have to upgrade online to WotLK!


All department stores, all outlet malls, are open to me!

Bargains have brought you here to me. I shall be your salesman.

Simple shoppers, credit is the fire in which you'll burn!


Ragnaros: TOO SOON! YOU HAVE SOLD OUT TOO SOON, EXECUTUS! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS CLEARANCE SALE?
Majordomo Executus: These mortal customers, my lord! They have invaded your store, and seek to purchase your merchandise!
Ragnaros: FOOL! YOU ALLOWED THESE INSECTS TO RUN RAMPANT THROUGH THE HALLOWED STORE, AND NOW YOU LEAD THEM TO MY VERY CASH REGISTER? YOU HAVE FAILED ME, EXECUTUS! BARGAIN PRICES SHALL BE MET, INDEED!
Ragnaros: NOW FOR YOU, INSECTS. BOLDLY YOU SOUGHT TO PURCHASE THE MINIATURES OF RAGNAROS! NOW YOU SHALL SEE THEM FIRSTHAND!


C'thun whispers: Your friends will abandon you for hot bargains.

13 comments:

  1. "Stop clicking me! Me not that kind of ad!"

    i lol'd

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  2. I lol'ed because your banner has the
    same effect. Sometime short and square which is ok but sometimes long and skinny which wastes a lot of space and is annoying.

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  3. Really? The ad banner is supposed to be the width of the two columns all the time. It shouldn't change shape at all.

    Or are you talking about the picture of Coriel on the side? In that case, I think it has to do with how I crop the picture. It should always be the same width, but sometimes the height changes to keep the aspect ratio correct. Haven't really bothered to figure out a good way of keeping it consistent.

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  4. Sorry for being unclear, I was referring to your advertisement.
    It randomly changes aspect ratio each time I load your page.

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  5. Weird. I've never seen it change shape. Can I ask what browser you are using?

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  6. The Ragnaros one is awesome :)

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  7. I use Firefox with NoScript.
    Weird that you don't see it. I assumed it supposed to work that way as an attention getter.
    For me it goes from being wide like your top banner to being a square box to being tall and skinny like the first but rotated 90 degrees so that it pushes your text down to the very bottom of the page.

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  8. It's good to see people making the most of an annoying situation.

    I usually don't see your ad at all, except sometimes it goes super-tall, so I reload and then it's wide.

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  9. I will give 10g to everyone in my guild if I see an ad that says "Uncle Lothar Wants YOU!"

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  10. Oh, btw, it's not just WoW tie-ins - I saw an ad for some turn-based MMORPG called "Atlantica".

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  11. I have to agree with Dave, the Rag one made me smile lol.

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  12. Awesome. It's nice to see that there are still some gems of good threads on the official Wow forums.

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