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Organizing Sim Protests
Posted by
Hemos
on Tue Nov 19, 2002 02:04 PM
from the fight-the-man dept.
from the fight-the-man dept.
Shadow Wrought writes "Alternet has an article about how to go about protesting McDonald's in the Sims Online universe. According to the story "A deal struck between Sims publisher Electronic Arts and the fastfood mega-corporation allows Sims players to open up their own McDonald's kiosk and improve their game stats by consuming McD's greasy goodies." This then tells how to vent any rage that such may conjure. Mayhaps a venue to protest other issues as well?"
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Organizing Sim Protests
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Rational for protesting? (Score:4, Funny)
Oy! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Rational for protesting? (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps this is foolish optimism, but maybe if hard core Sims players enjoy using their "Simians" (WTF?) to protest corporate greed it will lead them to do so in real life.
Of course, having only watched others play the game, I look at a story like this and think: "Gee, at least that gives the game some sort of point..."
Maybe this will give people the courage and the motivation to make their ideas heard, at least somewhere... Or maybe having people live their lives through online characters, protesting online issues, and concerned with their online world will lead to the decline of and fall of human civilization... Maybe it's about time for me to go home, and get ready to go out for dinner...
I just don't know...
Nothing makes a statement (Score:4, Insightful)
Interesting Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Interesting Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
There is something interesting happenning, though. By encouraging people to act a certain way and getting a reward, even if it is in an fake world, it does have consequences in the real world. Here, it's not *so* bad. It might encourage people to get fat (in the real world).
The problem is that a reward is a reward. While buying a virtual hamburger is not the same as buying a rela hamburger, the actions are related. The cause-effect is not direct, but it is real. Studies have shown as much (which I should cite, but I'm at work now and shouldn't take too much of my employer's time... maybe after I get home). McDonald's certainly thinks there's a link, or they would not have made the deal.
What happens is that people get desensitized to the concern's about bad fast food. While this case is rather innocuous, as online games like this get bigger, and attract more people and interest, one must be more aware of the effect. What if they made a deal with the Republicans where you got a better rating by voting Republican? Or, more subtley, whenever a Republican ruled the virtual world, things were great, and when a Democrat was in charge, your pretent economy tanked. Likely few would even notice, and the ones that did would be discounted, but the effects could be very real.
A thousand votes either way...
Re:Interesting Idea (Score:5, Funny)
Nevermind.
Re:Interesting Idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Children are, generally, more sucseptiple (sp?) to such tactics.
Re:Interesting Idea (Score:4, Insightful)
That's a neat way of saying "I know the down side but I don't care". I did not care about fast food either until I got pancreatis from high triglycerides. Now I do! Actually fast food was a small contributor but genetics was the major cause, either way I no longer eat it. People do not eat fast food because of being desensitized, they eat it because they like it, it is convienent, and it is cheap. An ad for Mcdonalds wether in a game or on TV might get you to go to McD's over BK but it is not going to prevent you from eating a healthy salad with low fat dressing and jogging in the morning.
Re:Interesting Idea (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Interesting Idea (Score:4, Funny)
does it work though? (Score:5, Insightful)
I also wonder about the effectiveness of email campains (i.e. when we send email to our 'representatives'). I have a feeling that a fax machine spewing messages is a lot more noticeable than a full mailbox.
So, yeah, it is interesting. But what interests me more is whether or not it works at all.
Uhm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Uhm... (Score:4, Funny)
Hehehehe
I bet it didn't occur to any of the
Tom
Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Funny)
WARNING: Your comment "Don't buy the fucking game?" brings common sense into a slashdot discussion. Common sense on slashdot goes against several RFCs.Your karma will be appropriately decimated.
Thank you,
The Editors
Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Insightful)
The game is already out (Score:5, Insightful)
So what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, well it's $10 a month for Sims Online, where the protests are supposed to be happening. These people could get a (real, not sim) life, and stop shelling out $10 a month.
Re:Uhm... (Score:5, Funny)
In fact, some people buy second or third accounts for the sole purpose of being able to say "I'm going to cancel any day now, watch out!" twice or three times as often.
Watch for upcoming world-shattering Sims Online events, such as the mass threatened cancellation following the first anchovie pizza nerf, or the mass threatened pizza making work slowdown when a customer service rep says something that isn't very nice.
Re:Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
Food posioning?
What's the point? (Score:3, Insightful)
Charlize Theron is hot
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Funny)
Won't someone please think of the Sim-children?!?
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
If it were only about private opinion, then yes, we could just privately decide not to eat there. But that type of self-interested mentality does no one any good and it is the right of the public to voice their opinions so that others may hear them and become more knowledgeable about the issues at hand, and more capable to make that private decision themselves, whether to enter that business establishment or not.
Most people just don't know about issues and therefore it is the duty of those who do to spread the word.
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Informative)
The government doesn't subsidize them
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Informative)
The hell they don't: Libertarians urge: End corporate welfare for Ronald McDonald and his rich friends [lp.org]
The Bipartisan Scandal of U.S. Corporate Welfare [cato.org]
Common Cause Urges Senate To Act To End Corporate Welfare Programs [ccsi.com]
The Rhetoric of "Corporate Welfare" [prospect.org]
Need any more?
Sell out with me oh yeah (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sell out with me oh yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
Problem Solved. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Problem Solved. (Score:4, Insightful)
So? (Score:5, Funny)
Goddamn, if this really bothers you, get a life (Score:5, Insightful)
"Giant megacoroprations are adversely affecting the quality of life for my imaginary computer friends!"
This aint no posterchild for mental health and social skills.
There are enough injustices in the world worthy of protest, we don't need virtual ones.
EA's selling, McD's buying. Get over it.
If they don't want to see MacDonalds in game (Score:3, Funny)
Could we pay to reverse the effects? (Score:5, Funny)
So, McDonald's wants people to think their food is tasty and fulfilling. We all know that's not true (especially 60 minutes later when you're in the bathroom trying to get their filth out of your digestive system).
I say we organize anti-ad movements to pay the maker of The Sims to add the following code:
if(character.justAte(McDonalds)) {
wait(60, minutes);
character.CrapBrainsOut();
}
They forgot a couple protests... (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe letting people die of heart attacks in at the kiosks and haunting them?
I understand playing a relaxing game occasionaly (Score:3, Insightful)
But, if you are this concerned about your SIMS stats, maybe you need to quit watching simulated people with lives and get one yourself.
Alright! (Score:5, Funny)
Anyway, there are two problems with The Sims Online, given experience with the current play test: you can't fucking connect; and, when you can connect, it's boring as hell.
3 Words (Score:5, Insightful)
A.
Game.
I agree 100% that this type of product placement is a sad sign. But it's EA's game, and if they want to ruin it by giving points for hitting yourself on the head with a duck, well, either get a duck or spend your gaming budget somewhere else.
Re:Why McDonalds? (Score:4, Informative)
At first you would think "You idiot, it just helps the economy of third world nations." Actually, it does the opposite. The profit is so good for the land owners in these South American countries that they've converted their crops (crops that sustained the country) into cattle fields. So, while the land owners get wealthier, the poor that don't farm get poorer by having to buy imported produce...or pay inflated prices for domestic produce. In addition, rain forests are being chopped down in South America to be converted to cattle farm space.
I eat at McDonalds every once in a while and enjoy it, don't get me wrong. But whoever says that people who do protest McDonalds have no basis for doing so are fooling themselves.
Easy Enough (Score:5, Funny)
Off-topic note: This is my 500th comment. I asked in my journal what I should do to mark my 500th comment, and somebody (can't imagine who) said I should say this: 'Not few enough to claim I have a life, and not enough to be super cool like gmhowell (who is currently typing number 2694).' So this message is dedicated to gmhowell [slashdot.org], poster extraordinaire, to whose lofty heights (up to 2712 comments as of this writing) I can but dream to aspire.
Besides, he's got FortKnox [slashdot.org] beat by at least 400.
sims can't get fat (Score:5, Funny)
Maxis (EA) should really turn this into a profitable venture by allowing the Sims to gain weight from eating at the SimMcDonalds.. They could strike a deal with Ballys so that people can work their fat Sims out to loose weight at a virtual Ballys.
-gerbik
I've been waiting for this ... (Score:4, Insightful)
At one point in time, I was consdiering creating a "real world" game, similar to everquest in terms of graphics and game style, but using modern weapons instead of old style weapons. The ctach was this: I was hoping to drum up enough advertising revenue from companies, such as McDonalds, but placing their companies in the game. The hope was to defeat everquest by reducing or eliminating the monthly service fee for playing the game with advertsing dollars.
Of course, then I realized the McD's probably wouldn't like people blowing up their buildings with a rocket launcher
But give it a little more time. I'm sure a game, like the one I just vaguely described, will exist before soon.
New Spinoff - SimProtest (Score:3, Interesting)
Not satisfied with killing Roy Rogers, huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, my kids have been boycotting MacDonald's since they were in elementary school (they are in high school now). A few years back, MacDonald's bought the failing Hardee's chain in the Washington, DC area. Hardee's also owned the Roy Rogers chain, about the finest fastfood burger joint in town (I fondly remember their "Fixin's Bar" and their fried chicken). MacDonald's then closed both Roy Rogers in our town and would not negotiate with other fastfood franchise for their old buildings. Boston Market tried and failed. Both buildings finally went to sit-down places.
Anyway, for closing Roys and for denying Boston Market, my kids decided--quite on their own--that they prefered Wendy's and Burger King. We haven't been in a MacDonald's since. This nonesense with Sims tells me that we're not ready to go back.
Maybe we should add Electronic Arts to our boycott as well!
Why not go one step further? (Score:3, Funny)
The Next Logical Level (Score:3, Funny)
Then I wouldn't play that, either.
Fast Forward to 2005 (Score:3, Funny)
Marketing genius, I say.
They need to finish it up (Score:4, Funny)
Not entirely accurate then, is it?
Sims as propaganda (Score:5, Interesting)
Nevertheless: simulation games convey a certain impression of verisimilitude. As you play them, you cannot avoid gaining skill in dealing with the simulated universe, and learning "lessons."
To the extent that the player preceives the game as authentically realistic, these "lessons" may sneak in past the barriers we've built against other forms of propaganda
Some are of these lessons are semi-political. And some, it seems, may be product placements.
For example, in SimCity, as I recall, the citizens clamor for a sports stadium and it is very important to the success of your city that you build one (at the right time, of course).
Did the creators of the game base this on actual data about the economic effects of sports stadiums on cities? (Unlikely). Or were they just building in a plausible and entertaining set of game rules? (Probably). Or... were they carrying water for some group that was trying to get a stadium built? (No, I don't really think so--but the possibility exists). Similarly, is the behavior of SimCity residents with respect to tax rates an authentic simulation, artistic guesswork--or a political agenda?
Of course these problems exist with all games, and to some extent it's an issue of developing antibodies against the newer games. There's no real danger that I will speculate in Atlantic City properties just Monopoly has given me the illusion that I understand how to do it.
Still...
Big picture (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem is not the people worried about advertising in games. The problem is that this could open up a Pandora's Box of other companies buying advertising time inside games.
"You have cleard the 13th level of monsters, through this door is the Ultimate Evil, all you must do is cross this threshold and defeat him... But first, here's a word from our sponsors..."
I already do everything in my power to eliminate my exposure to mind numbing advertising. If it starts getting put into video games, I won't be able to go for popcorn until the previews start, or to go grab a snack until my show comes back on.
Of course, it's just my opinion.
Re:Big picture (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, what does work, Mr. Wizard?
Call me nuts, but I'd think that a company seeing a significant drop in sales would take a step back and ask themselves, "Dear sweet christ on a pony!! Why has revenue dropped through the floor? We're all gonna get fired and live on the streets and forced to kill and eat each other! aaahh!". Well, maybe it wouldn't go quite like that, but what effects a company more than profits? Since companies exist to make profits, what could be more effective? Don't like it, don't buy it. If you want to go a step further and tell them why, even better.
Improves what stats? (Score:4, Informative)
Admittably, I don't know exactly what stats a Sims Online Sim has. So this is also half a question - what stats does it improve? I'd imagine that it isn't something stupid like eating a Big Mac improves your charisma, intelligence, and strength - it just satisfies a Sim's hunger (and increases the Bathroom need). Which makes an amount of sense - eating a Big Mac in real life is usually done to satisfy hunger. There are plenty of other people here to make fun of McD's crappy food, so I'll let 'em do it.
(Anyone else think McDonalds fries are crap? America's favorite fries? I'd hope not...)
How about.... (Score:4, Insightful)
I am constantly amazed by the stuff people will get their panties in a bunch over.
simPETA is right behind them... (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe the owners will get to own virtual bazookas that fire burger patties...
We need to put things into perspective here. (Score:5, Insightful)
What. The. Hell.
Seriously. What if you're a vegetarian? What?? Ok. I'm morally opposed to murdering people, but I don't have a problem with Quake 3, GTA3, Hitman 2, Dead to Rights. Heck I even enjoy playing those games. Why? It's a damn video game, and it's not real.
With EA touting such egalitarian rhetoric, it follows to reason that freedom of speech is as alive in The Sims Online as it is in the real world. Test this theory by standing up and shouting for what you believe in, my Revolutionaries! If the thought of being force-fed Big Macs makes you sick, you'd better start giving this advertising model a serious case of indigestion.
Alright. First off it says you have the option of opening up a McDonalds. Let me guess to, you also have the option of eating at said McDonalds. Seems like real life to me. No where does it say you have to open a McDonalds and have to eat at them. McDonalds just happens to be the only company EA made a deal with to use their image in the game. I wouldn't be surprised if in future Sim games we see Burger King, Chick-Fil-A, TGI Fridays, Bennigans, all those places. So what the hell is the problem?
And dare I say it, some people like McDonalds. I like the occastional French Fry from McDonalds or the occastional Quarter Pounder with cheese. I don't live off the stuff, I don't consider it high quality food. It's funny how these guys go on to say how we all hate McDonalds, and how we all 'know' McDonalds food is terrible, yet somehow, McDonalds continues to be the worlds largest fast food chain.
Then we get the people who believe McDonalds and other fast food places are the cause of obsesity in the world. I'm no underwear model myself, but seriously, Ronald McDonald didn't come to my house and force feed me Big Macs until I couldn't see my feet anymore. There are no bad foods, there are only food abuses. But I digress. The point is, it's a video game people. A video game simulating every day life. McDonalds for many people, is a part of every day life. So are other things. I don't think EA can afford to pay all the popular fast food places to use their likeness in the game, nor do they have the time to program the game to handle them all.
Seriously. Repeat after me. It's a video game, it's not real.
Art Imitates Life... (Score:5, Informative)
Can anything make less truth?
Let's be honest: it follows logically that there would be a plethera of McDonalds in a simulation of America, because America really is over-run with fast-food resturants, advertisements, endorsements and the associated garbage.
Do you really want to make a change? Then follow these rules:
1) Don't protest within the Sim World.
This won't get you anywhere. In fact, you may wind up wasting more of your time away playing...
2) Don't support this game.
This isn't the first game to include coroprate advertising, but it has reached a new (sickening) level. SPEAK WITH YOUR DOLLARS: don't buy this game!!
3) Boycot McDonalds.
The fast-food industry's move to tie fast-food to children at an early age is well known, (they even admit it theirselves [adbusters.org]), but you don't have to stand for it. Do you REALLY want to protest? Take it to the streets in front of a real McDonalds. Talk to families... educate them.
4) Begin a letter writing campaign to EA.
Write it out by hand. Sign your name. Tell them that you refuse to buy their games until they change their policies regarding advertising. They'll get the message.
5) Support Ad-Busters.
If you don't have the time or energy to do these things yourself, then support those individuals and organizations that do. I'm not affiliated with them, but Ad-Busters [adbusters.org] (aka: the Media Corporation [Canada]) is great. You should support them [adbusters.org].
Joshua says (Score:3, Insightful)
Would you like to play a nice game of chess?
GTA3 + The Sims = SimActivist? (Score:5, Funny)
From the streets of the WTO riots in Seattle to the steps of World Bank in Washington, D.C., your job is to stop globalization where ever it raises its ugly capitalist head. Guide your SimActivist through multiple venues of anarchaic protests! Pickup adhoc weapons of the street like chain-link fences and road signs, or show up to rally with an arsenal of homemade fireworks.
Invoke your right to civil disobedience, buy SimActivist today!
Related News: Check out this EQ2 press release! (Score:5, Funny)
Sony/Verant has announced their partnership with several companies to produce an extensive sponsorship program in their upcoming online RPG, EverQuest 2.
Players will now be able to interact with several name brands they can associate with in the World of Norrath.
Verant has released a preliminary list of the new features of EQ2 as follows:
All armor will be replaced with namebrand apparel. All towns in EQ2 will have an OLD NAVY store instead of local merchants, where players will be able to buy normal clothes. Additionally, apparel designed by several top fasion designers will appear in the game. Only the most uber players will be able to obtain Versace threads.
PEPSI products have replaced the mundane food and water of EQ1. Players will have to go to the in-game KFC, Taco Bell, or Pizza Hut locations to refill on rations. The in-game stores will also provide Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Mountain Dew rather than normal water.
Players can now earn extra experience by slaying monsters with brandname weapons.
There will be a distinct advantage using a CRAFTSMAN Power-Sword Deluxe, rather than a regular sword.
"We feel that these imrpovements add to the game," said a Verant spokesman. "In EQ1, players had a hard time identifing with the normal items in the game. In EQ2 we are bringing players into a world that is full of the brand names they can identify with. We hope to promote a lifestyle where players can consume high quality goods from companies like OLD NAVY, PEPSICO, and many others both online AND offline!"
EverQuest 2 is slated for release for fall of next year. Players will certainly be pleased to pay the full MSRP of $60.00 for the game on top of the monthy $17.99 fee with such improvements.
I can see where this is going... (Score:5, Funny)
Players who have Sim Protests will get their machines Sim Wiretapped.
Sim players who organize the protests of McVomit's will get slapped with Sim Product Libel suits.
Players who have too many Sim House Parties will be Sim Evicted from the Sim Neighborhood.
Players who set up affairs on Sim Hot Date will be Sim Sued for Sim Alienation of Affection.
Player who have too many Sim Vacations will be Sim Fired from their jobs for Sim Absenteeism.
Players who go on Sim Safari will get Sim Blood thrown on them by Sim PETA Protestors.
Then it'll get even worse:
The people who play "Crush, Crumble & Chomp" with their Sim world will get sent to the Sim Guantanamo Bay for Sim terrorism.
Players who allow the "incorrect" pairings on Sim Hot Date will be Sim Damned.
... Naked riot? :D (Score:3, Funny)
Naked... riot...
Um, anyone have screenshots?
-T
Mickey D's Strikes Back (Score:3, Funny)
McExecWithAClue: Quick! Post the story to Slashdot. That will take care of that protest site. Mu-ha-ha.
In other news... (Score:4, Funny)
This is fun! (Score:4, Insightful)
I think this is a really significant case study in how people behave in virtual enviroments. There are people in the Sims Online who are protesting McDonalds who never would in real life. People are expressing their feelings about McDonalds that they never could in real life due to pesky laws about vandalism and such.
Virtual Sim Protest (Score:5, Funny)
Create a lareg "sims" family and purchase a plot of sim land
Step Two:
Create a square house with no windows, no doors and a television facing a wall thats turned on so the family can never sleep. Contact EA and eplain that your holding a family hostage in your sim-house and are protesting their McDonalds add-in.
Step Three:
???????
Step Four:
Profit~!
Missing the point. (Score:5, Insightful)
At what point do we say enough is enough? Are we so inundated by advertisements that we can't even see them anymore?
Where I live billboards are banned. They do not exist. Every time I go to California I am reminded of the unholy blight those damned things are. Games have been one of teh few types of entertainment I've been able to get away from the pervasive flood of advertisements and I'm resentful that these people are trying to take that away from me.
To those of you willing to put up with ads to keep the cost down I ask this: How far are you willing to let them go? Do any of you rememebr the album bu Zig Zig Sputnik (sp?) with commercials between the tracks? Is that what you want the world to be reduced to: every possible medium to be exploited by advertising? How much spam would you be willing to put up with to keep the cost of your email down?
Dudes, the games is called "The Sims" (Score:3, Insightful)
From someone in the current Sims Online Beta (Score:4, Informative)
Even if this DOES show up in game its not going to be any different than the current hotdog stand thats there now. A sim could buy one of these and then run it charging the visitors for food to up their Food motive. Thats it. The Food motive that you have to watch can also be satisified by, a sim cooking you food, the grill, a couple different buffet tables, a vending machine, and the before mentioned hotdog stand. So whats the big deal?
Now that is truly stupid (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/McCracker/
http://www.openhere.com/life/activism/anti-corpor
http://www.communityfood.com/dir-cache/Society/Ac
Effective Protesting (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
In some games, product placement provides added realism. I think McD's and Sims is a good mix. If it were McD's and Star Wars Galaxies I could see a reason to complain.
Why complain now when Pepsi is already there. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not as bad as y'all think. (Score:4, Informative)
I never saw a McDonalds kiosk anywhere I played. The deal was announced several months ago, and I saw it in the game, but it was too expensive for me to put in my house.
There ARE other places to eat. You don't have to eat at the McDonalds, and you don't have to put one on your property. A generic buffet table is just as good and much cheaper.
INTEL IS DOING THE SAME THING. You can buy a computer with Intel Inside and it gives you much better stats than a lower-end computer. Your "fun" goes up quicker when you play games on it and your "Logic" goes up quicker when you're studying on it.
So, if you're gonna go after McDonalds for being available, might as well go after Intel for the very same reasons.
Uh, hello?!? Ads in games isn't new (Score:4, Insightful)
To the Chicken Littles on this issue, where were you when ads were placed in Pole Position? Where's the outrage in the fact that Gran Turismo is simply a advertising tool of auto manufacturers? Where are the boycotts of 7-Up for creating the Spot game? Should I stop buying Madden 2K3 because both John Madden and the NFL endorses the product? Should I protest that Tony Hawk 4 features brand name skateboards and products?
I don't see anyone complaining that some video games use cheat codes of brand name products. Has the gaming experience diminished from having "Winners don't do drugs" on arcade games? Seriously, has all this really tarnished your video game experience? The reality is that most of you don't even give all the product placements that are already inside the game a second thought.
Of Course Eating McDonalds increases your stats! (Score:4, Funny)
* Weight -- I went from weighing a pittly 175 to weighing a healthy 350! That's a stat increase of 200% go McDonalds!
* Running time -- Before I began the all McDonalds diet, I could run a mile in 6 minutes. The McDonalds diet increased my running time by well over 20 minutes!
* Cholesterol -- Eating McDonalds food dramatically increases your cholesterol intake!
So, for any of those nay-sayers, I think I have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that McDonalds food does INDEED increase your stats!
Want to know how to protest it? (Score:3, Insightful)