Well the ad made me chuckle. I think the ad discriminates towards male MMO nerds. Look at the guy with his headset, poor guy.

The point isnt wether you like or dislike the ad, its wether people log on and play the game. Usually it takes a couple of days before one can conclude if the campaig is good or bad.

This campaign is a success allready. You can tell since it has a thread discussing it. Means that it was noticed by the gamers in the middle of all the other ads. .  

ROFL!  That's a perfect ad for the game.  I saw the "where's your head now biatch" one and laughed too cuz that's just ..so appropriate.  Now if they'd just get cross server minis!

The only reason a feminist organization or one for equal rights for the sexes doesn't critize the game is that even if they were aware of AOC, being that its reach online is so tiny hardly anybody but us do, they wouldn't give it any credibilty by making a comment or they'd risk actually doubling the subscriber base for a month. Why promote trash online when you can sell real art and real games. Not this rubbish.

 It's geared towards males. It's sexist. I hardly think they care. It's an M game. That's life.

Yup, seems like the ad campaign is working. As someone already said, this thread discussing it is proof of that (proof inside;)

That's a good thing. More people need to get to know this game, as I believe It's a whole lot better than the latest hyped up games on this forum.

The old haters are back too, and getting their panties in a bunch, which is also a good sign. At least it's fun reading:)

And also, OP, It's Hyboria, the Conan universe, which is sexist by definition.

who give a fuck what they think lol

I think the ad is doing its job....making people talk about their game.  Whether its sexist, or not, doesn't really matter.  It got people talking...lol

Originally posted by DarkPony

AOC marketing ploys are and have alway been:

- tailored to a specific young male audience

- cheap & shallow

- costly

They must spend fortunes on PR, considering their major marketing offenses since launch. They should have rather spent that money on the game itself.

Funcom has annoyed me time and time again by their aggresive and shallow PR. "Online gaming has never been so sexy / brutal / etc"

Guess I don't fall in their target audience of slightly unintelligent pubescent boys who bounce around on testerone :)

I'm NOT saying that all AoC players are like this (I've played it myself a few months ^_^) but it sure looks like Funcom thinks that is where their target audience lies. If I would still play it I would feel insulted.

But how else would you market a game based upon a world that is somewhat male dominated? I realize there are characters in the world who are female and empowered but to "clean up" the advertising to fit todays more politically correct climate seems to do a disservice to the subject matter if not just white wash over it.

Every Conan comic or book that I've seen has some sort of burly man on the cover with perhaps a scantily clad female.

http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/conan-the-barbarian/2

You can browse through the comics if you like. The covers seem to showcase some woman in peril or some such thing, with some skin showing.

I'm not saying that you have to like it but to not acknowledge what you are playing is like insisting that a playboy cover should feature fully clothed women playing chess and reading decartes.

Conan is what it is. Sanitzing it seems to say more about an uptight society that is not willing to acknowledge some of the seamier sides.

And though there might be women who would be horrified there are also many women who would find it all a bit exciting. Remember, there is a branch of feminism that proclaims that women should embrace their sexual power and to utilize it in whatever way they see fit.

I'm not saying one person is right over another but it seems to me that this coin has more sides than two.

"And though there might be women who would be horrified there are also many women who would find it all a bit exciting. Remember, there is a branch of feminism that proclaims that women should embrace their sexual power and to utilize it in whatever way they see fit."

Amen! Well said.

Good ad, I love it.   LOL!

Originally posted by Ozreth

Just saw the AoC banner at the bottom of the forums page. The ad reads (one line at a time, to add emphasis)

"This is mark

Mark just got his head lopped off

By a girl"

 

Seriously? So blatantly sexist. What female would want to pay money for shit like this?

so?

Originally posted by Barteaux

Yup, seems like the ad campaign is working. As someone already said, this thread discussing it is proof of that (proof inside;)

 

That's a good thing. More people need to get to know this game, as I believe It's a whole lot better than the latest hyped up games on this forum.

 

The old haters are back too, and getting their panties in a bunch, which is also a good sign. At least it's fun reading:)

 

And also, OP, It's Hyboria, the Conan universe, which is sexist by definition.

Quite the oppisite as the populations are down down down, www.xfire.com/games/aoc/Age_of_Conan_Hyborian_Adventures/

The purpose of an add is to bringe players in. The funny thing is AoC's advertisers hit the nail on the head...to paraphrase the add "AoC so easy aa girl could play it".  Not many girls would play it but it is easy enought for them if they could.

So the target market of Funcom's AOC is now....people who want stuff for fre elike a mammoth mount AND girls.  They should have just made a quality game and then poeople would play it as it stands now, only social outcasts who somehow have never heard about AOC would play it......Someone said something about Dark Templar in guild chat and I stated "AoC sucks" and 5 other guild members agreed...AOC is that bad.

EDIT: I am glad Funcom doesn't lie as much anymore to push boxes but they sure do lie to the current subscribers.

That ad is sexist? I'd personally find it more sexist if I was forced to wear a virtual burka in the game. ;)

All that ad told me was Mark sucks and he got his ass kicked.

I think these are cool ads and they play well on the generic stereotypes of gamer...if anything maybe its a touch prejudice against the poor maligned gamer geek, but in a tongue firmly in cheek type of way

The impression I got was that Funcom was actually trying to suggest that "girls" play the game.

---Maybe that will attract more of 13 year old male teens that already inhabits the game. 

 Hey guys the game is So-So...but you might get LUCKY!!!...Maybe ask the girl (who just decapitated you) out on a date! ....Surely that possibility is worth 5 bucks to ya!

Well--I found AoC to be an absolute "Sausage Factory." More so than any other MMO Ive ever played.

blackwell...dang...

.....................

. . . . . . .  

im going back to the other thread, this takes the cake.

Originally posted by Blackwell99

Well--I found AoC to be an absolute "Sausage Factory." More so than any other MMO Ive ever played.

Thats strange because my friend and her two sisters absolutely loved AoC. Very few MMOs offer the type of character customization that AoC had and they actually spent time making the female characters look appealing. Ive seen a lot of comments about underage boys running around as female toons with their boobs hanging out. I think this happened early on because it was something new and different but after the 1st week most of the kids went away as the newness wore off. The women I played with spent more time flashing their boobs than any of the guys I that I knew playing female toons.

Just about every one of AoC's ads is sexist. What do you expect from a game whose one of two selling points is "Female breasts! Lookie!" To be fair, the other selling point, cutting off people's heads, is something we all can enjoy.

But then again, they aren't the only ones with sexist ads, if you just glance at most of them. To be clear, I'm not against "sexy" ads, but double standards are really unacceptable. When the female character is hyper-sexualized and the male is head-to-toe armored, that is sexist. But if they are both fully armored or both wrapped in bondage gear, then it' s okay.

Not to mention it only reinforces the (false) stereotpye that only males enjoy games. While you will find more males playing games, the reasoning for that stems entirely from cultural preconceptions - as in, it's "okay" for guys to play video games as part of accepted culture. Which is why many a young gamer girl has had to steal, borrow, or otherwise bogart the video game console or gaming computer their parents bought for her older brother, who may not be a real gamer and only use it to play Halo and Grand Theft Auto.

And MMORPG.Com is really not shy about being sexist themselves on occassion, nevermind the ads (which, to be fair, if I owned a successful site like this, I'd probably have to run at least some of them). They had a front page link to that "Booth Babes" nonsense awhile back too, as if that is news. I had thought E3 had given up that crap, but apparently the prebuscent male and wasted frat boy demographic is just too tantalizing!

It's just sort of sad. And not in the Old Yeller way.

Originally posted by cyrana

That ad is sexist? I'd personally find it more sexist if I was forced to wear a virtual burka in the game. ;)

/Word

the instance brought up by the OP is most definitely sexist because it communicates gender inequality. this is a fact that cannot be disputed. however, you can argue about whether or not it bothers you. you can also argue whether or not it demeans women. personally, i think it demeans women because it reinforces stereotypical gender roles. in another reply it was mentioned that what if the roles were reversed and it said "This is Jane . . . She got her head cut off by a guy." That actually would in fact empower women, contrary to what the poster asserted. This is because the woman would assume the gender role of expected power. In that case, the woman would in fact be humiliated by an "inferior" male and thus the advertisement would be empowering women, despite the ironic fact that a woman was defeated in that specific case. Furthermore, giving her an identity suggests that the female's identity is important while the male's isn't. So, the actual ad is in fact negatively sexist on multiple levels. It suggests not only that women are collectively physically inferior, but also that a woman's identity is not important even if she achieves something unexpected. And by contrast, a male, even if he is weak and fails, is important enough to identify as an individual.

Perhaps this advertisement is fitting for Age of Conan because Age of Conan is a game that reinforces gender roles and so to have an advertisement that reflects the game's content may be a good idea. It would probably be a bad marketing strategy to promote gender equality and then needlessly alienate a gender sensitive audience once they started playing the game. I can actually agree with the blatant sexism for this reason. Potential players should have an idea of what they're getting into and know from the advertisement if it is a game for him/her. It would be the same with any other mundane feature.

Originally posted by todayisblue

the instance brought up by the OP is most definitely sexist because it communicates gender inequality. this is a fact that cannot be disputed. however, you can argue about whether or not it bothers you. you can also argue whether or not it demeans women. personally, i think it demeans women because it reinforces stereotypical gender roles. in another reply it was mentioned that what if the roles were reversed and it said "This is Jane . . . She got her head cut off by a guy." That actually would in fact empower women, contrary to what the poster asserted. This is because the woman would assume the gender role of expected power. In that case, the woman would in fact be humiliated by an "inferior" male and thus the advertisement would be empowering women, despite the ironic fact that a woman was defeated in that specific case. Furthermore, giving her an identity suggests that the female's identity is important while the male's isn't. So, the actual ad is in fact negatively sexist on multiple levels. It suggests not only that women are collectively physically inferior, but also that a woman's identity is not important even if she achieves something unexpected. And by contrast, a male, even if he is weak and fails, is important enough to identify as an individual.

Perhaps this advertisement is fitting for Age of Conan because Age of Conan is a game that reinforces gender roles and so to have an advertisement that reflects the game's content may be a good idea. It would probably be a bad marketing strategy to promote gender equality and then needlessly alienate a gender sensitive audience once they started playing the game. I can actually agree with the blatant sexism for this reason. Potential players should have an idea of what they're getting into and know from the advertisement if it is a game for him/her. It would be the same with any other mundane feature.

okay, now im interested how it will end..

im going to see if i can jack AOC's advertisement, and reverse the rolls just to see how many people would follow it in that manner.

Originally posted by Ozreth

Just saw the AoC banner at the bottom of the forums page. The ad reads (one line at a time, to add emphasis)

"This is mark

Mark just got his head lopped off

By a girl"

 

Seriously? So blatantly sexist. What female would want to pay money for shit like this?

I'm trying not to be rude, but you really need to get a life, i truly hope your not like this is real life for ur own sake.

Originally posted by Ozreth

"This is mark

Mark just got his head lopped off

By a girl" 

Bleh. I believed this kind of shitty ads was gone with the wind.

To illustrate how bad this kind of  doing is I would like to give you guys two example: 

"You suck at gaming."  and

"you suck at gaming cuse you are a girl."

No freaking way I will support a company that is so rude to my friends.

OP, shut up and get me a sandwich pronto!