Advergames: Реклама в видеоиграх и ее влияние на детей.

Practice where video games are used for promotion
An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand name product. While other video games may use in game advertising (such as an advertisement on a virtual billboard or branding on an in game object), an advergame is differentiated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as a "game specifically designed around [the] product or service being advertised". An advergame is considered a type of advertainment. Advergames are commonly targeted to minors, who tend to be more responsive to persuasive messages that can be embedded in such games. Concerns have been raised by parents and advocates for children that such advergames can influence children's habits, particularly food based products.

Advergames (a portmanteau of "advertisement" and "video games") appeared early in the history of the video game industry. One of the first known attempts was a polo sport game tied into the clothing brand Polo, which Carol Shaw had been developing for the Atari 2600 around 1978, but which had been cancelled prior to release. The first known released advergame was Tapper, a 1984 arcade game. A Kaiser Family Foundation report in 2006 found that 73% of 96 food product companies had established dedicated sections of their websites with advergames that were targeted at children, with many of these offering multiple advergames. The term "advergames" was coined by Anthony Giallourakis in 1999. The Internet domain www. advergames. com was purchased that year by Giallourakis and several years later (in 2008), a free web portal showcasing a selection of the browser based advergames was launched. Advergames moved into mobile games by around 2014, due to the proliferation of mobile devices and their common use by children. Roblox, an online game platform and creation system, has been used for advergames.

Advergames can run afoul of laws established related to truth in advertising. Making false claims, even if in language not intended to be advertising, in advergames can result in penalties and fines by the national or regional consumer protection agencies. In a notable case, the Gatorade company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, had published a free mobile game Bolt! which featured Usain Bolt and challenged the player to "keep your performance high by avoiding water". The state of California asserted this claim was false, as Gatorade had been shown to be more harmful to the human body than water, and with the game targeted to youth, send the wrong message. The state sued Gatorade, and the case was ultimately settled with Gatorade paying a $300000 fine to the state, part of which the state used to promote health conscious water drinking habits for children.

In the United States, attempts have been made by the United States Congress to give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority to oversee online advertising aimed at children, including advergames, but had been challenged by lobbies representing the food industry and effectively shut down such attempts. Nevertheless, the propagation of online games and advertising aimed at children led to passage of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 2000, which set strict standards for what type of private information websites could collect from minors, with the FTC overseeing any such fines.

Messaging in advergames may backfire and impact the reputation of the brand the game promotes. A notable example from Intel, which had published in 2004 The Intel IT Manager Game, a browser based game that attempted to give insight into the job opportunities of an information technology manager, including simulating the hires of new employees. However, the game only allowed male employees to be hired by design, and Intel received criticism for discounting female hires. The game was taken offline and later replaced with a new version that had equal gender representation. While the situation could be compared to a similar problem around the game Fable which also forced players to male avatars, the real world setting of Intel's game was seen as a more serious flaw, and at the time, gender representation in the information technology industry was a serious concern.