Valve to debut in-game advertising in Counter Strike

[Steven W]

Sure you guys already know this but...

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7463

Won't affect counter Strike Source....yet.

[torched_geek]

CS 1.5 maps were full of advertising anyway..
Even if it wasn't owned by Valve, but rather the original server owner and/or the person who constructed the maps, this seemed to happen a lot on certain custom maps.

[eggman]

yeh, who the hell is gooseman anyway

[injin]

I think it's horrific that Valve has chosen to do that. As long as the advertisements are in the non-important places - such as spawns then It's okay.

But they will certainly have a lot of angry gamers if they place advertisements at crucial gameplay spots on the maps.

[SpawnofSonic]

I hope its limited to spawn point etc , in game ads will be distracting and crap

[Jumpinbeans]

arnt the pcs in CSS office Dell machines?

[Merlin4458]

yup

[theuncharmed]

I think Valve have always been ahead of other companies and although (most) of us liked their last 2 updates, Source and Steam this advertising is something which is needed for Valve to continue producing amazing games that we all love.

Another thing, Valve has always been led by the community. Just look at the number of mods and now paid mods available (Dod and Dod:Source etc). If the community has a big problem with the advertising in the maps, I'm sure Valve would be open to suggestions.

[ajbrun]

Originally Posted by theuncharmed

Another thing, Valve has always been led by the community.

I don't agree at all. They USED to be led by the community, but not any more .

The cl_restrict_server_commands client command isn't supported by the community at all, and the same goes for the dynamic pricing issue.

Rather than fixing well known bugs that are very well publicised and complained about, Valve seem to prefer to create either useless additions to the game (see above), add HDR to maps (train, dust) or just break something else.

If they were really community driven like you say, then they would have fixed the team swap bug that slows down matches by kicking people from the game 10% of the time. Then there's the issue of some people's favourites not working, and random error happening all the time. I've heard of a lot of people that say steam regularly tells them that they don't actually own CS:S, when they know for a fact they do. The verifying steam user ID ticket is yet another thing that people seem to have a problem with.

I could probably go on, but the point is that Valve often add useless updates to the game, when there are more important things they could be doing with their development time.

[chuckskull]

If this gets anything like the reaction like BF2142 did this could be funny.

The BF2142 work great imo though. Adds to the map design.

[Steve B]

Originally Posted by ajbrun

add HDR to maps (train, dust)

and companies should stop investing in HD-TV? i think not.
you make some valid points, and i do agree that valve are beginning to draw away from a community led strategy, but this point i dont agree on, i like HDR.

[ajbrun]

Yes, I like HDR too, but that wasn't my point. My point is the Valves priority is all wrong. They should fix the bugs first before making new features. Then, for Valve to be led by the community still, they should implement features that the community actually want in a sensible way.

For example, the cl_restrict_server_commands thing is fine so long as it's off by default. Same with the dynamic pricing. I don't really have a problem with any of the ideas that Valve has come up with, but I think the way they've gone about it is all wrong.

[autopilot]

I would not have an issue with in-game ad's, as long as it means the price of the games on steam came down through subsidising from ad the revenue, but that wont happen. Nice to see some mod dev's get a little payback from their hard word, but can't help feel that many mod dev's motives and priorities could change.

And i am not sure how they will fit it in with maps like dust, aztec etc. In games like Pro Evo, it actually adds the to authentic feel of the game because football is so commercially dominated. It could look really stupid in CS.

Would be quite funny to see people vandalising billboards by spraying their tags over them. At last, a use for that pointless feature.

Further more, how are Valve going to have any control over games on servers they don't own?

[theuncharmed]

Ok maybe Valve has missed a few bugs. But, It does take ages to build a map. They can't just say, guys stop what your doing you need to fix this bug.

As games have become progressively more complex so have additions and thus they need more time.

I give you that there are some bugs caused by changes and some features may not have been totally asked for by the community, but I doubt you'll find another large games developer that has done more for the 'community'. Heck look at EA *spits*.

I would like to think that ads would be something that's integrated. Like in the Office map, Dell machines, XP OS, big company name out the front of the building etc . Dust can have billboards that aren't spotlessly clean, but have erm dust all over them etc.

I'll reserve final judgement on Valve until I see the ads myself. Just based on their previous spirit over the last decade (almost) I have nothing to worry about.

[ajbrun]

IMO, if they were community based, instead of having dynamic pricing and restrict server commands defaulted to 1, it should be 0 automatically, and should be up to the user to change it. The fact they haven't done that has annoyed enough people to say that they're not community based anymore, and instead they're only in it for themselves.

[theuncharmed]

Ok, but why would they add hours of commentary for games? Have their Source engine open for development? Have a stoopidly big forum system for gamers and modders? Why would they release Ep2 and bundle 2 games with it? All to make more money, yes. And to satisfy my needs as a gamer and to push the limits of what they can offer as a game developer.

Is that not for the gamers? i was really interested to see what was going on behind the scenes and although some of the people sounded like they were ready to kill themselves, I thought yeah nice one Valve. Do what the movies do, create interest.

I don't play CS:Source as much as I used to. That's just one of their games. I have over 40 items (not including media) in my Steam folder. Half are made by Valve and I barely have any trouble with them.

If they fixed your 1 and 0 problem and then stopped dynamic pricing - would they be any better in your eyes?