At issue: Is it ethical to offer advertisers to buy space in your game and then offer players to earn game credits (or boosts, etc) for completing information or offers?

It certainly is profitable. For the popular games, advertisers are willing to pay a premium. Added bonus: Most social games target a particular affluent demographic. [Such as stay-at-home mothers with internet who like animals, or college age males with mobile phones who like fantasy sports leagues.] Because of that targeted audience, advertisers can easily get their products in front of people who might be interested in them with this method.

It should be a win-win.

But…

1) The quality of the leads is questionable. Who wants them? I’m not sure what the ROI is, nor do I expect to find numbers on that. But the money is there for game developers and the social platforms they use, because advertisers are willing to buy the space. SuperRewards claims “Our platform average earnings rate is $78 per 1,000 daily active unique users on your application.” Someone wants those email addresses. And savvy players know that’s a red flag. Offering players the chance to get in-game credits for completing offers should work to companies and the players advantage. The game company gets a cut, the advertising company gets a cut, the company selling the product gets a cut and the player gets the service they sign up for and some in-game credits. If players are just wanting credits without the service, they should be buying those directly. Presenting “trial offers” for credits as free lunches is a common misrepresentation. I believe the majority of leads generated are the thrifty, the cheap, and/or the least educated of players. Who wants those leads? People looking for the sucker born every minute?

2) The offers reek of scams. This is somewhat unfair, but has been my experience. I have never completed an offer for points, but I have read some in-game sponsor offer TOS and been amazed. Many of these offers do not make it clear to players that they will be charged a recurring fee for completing offers. A few of the ones I read buried the charge inside legalese-ridden scroll boxes of all caps text at 10pt. Statistics show few people read terms, instead they just click the “I agree” to get the benefit they want. Michael Arrington’s snazzy rant on lead generation (lead gen) in Social Games is worth a read. He points out, with screen shots, examples of indefinite $20/mo subscriptions for asking to text message the answer to of their quiz to their phone, or Video Professor’s charging $300 while the user sees only a $4.95 with free shipping. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

3) Opt-in. Players can always opt to not use sponsor offers. This deflates the whole “scam” arguement for some. You don’t need to buy credits to participate – the offers are quick methods to get ahead. I tend to think this argument is somewhat weak, since I’ve seen so many players through my years of gaming be taken in on these. Most of the time the player blames the game company for allowing that type of “scam offer” on the site. In the case of lead gen, the game is even promoting those offers. Some companies, like Offerpal, dedicate a lot of effort to promoting their advertising policies and quality assurance. But when something goes wrong, the game company gets the blame from the users – even if the player is legally culpable for clicking “I agree.” If you don’t believe me, head over to some forums.

4) Branding. What kind of game are you? Is this offer in line with a game’s branding? If not, then don’t embed it. While the offer is usually appropriate for the target audience, I’ve seen a lot of Viagra text ads on sites branded as family friendly. Part of that is from advertising affiliate companies – even if I’m on a kid site they have my computer marked as an adult demographic with cookies. But again, not many people know about that sort of thing. There is implied endorsement if it is showing up on the game company’s game.

Sponsored Lead Generation deserves serious consideration before being implemented.

Tags: lead generation, social gaming, virtual goods | Category Advertising, Pop Culture