Poll of the Day > People playing video games in commercials ALWAYS comes off awkward. why is that?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Even if it's celebrities that really do play video games instead of obviously having never seen a game console before?

It always just comes across as incredibly awkward and inorganic, that they're just there for the paycheck and leave immediately after camera is down.
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It's because they aren't really playing
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It's because it's supposed to convince people who don't own the console or play games (and thus don't know better) that they're fun. Real gamers know how to figure out if they want a game or not though avenues other than commercials.

It's the same principle as the super fake "squad chat" some games throw into their trailers/presentations. People who actually game know how fake it is, but outsiders might think it seems cool.
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the hell is squad chat?
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It’s like that in movies and TV too.
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Video games are interactive. Commercials are not. A video of game play can demonstrate the graphics and style of play but not how the controls feel. Watching someone tap buttons isn't entertaining. To convey what it's like to play the game they have to exaggerate what a player looks like when tapping buttons.
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I hate how tv shows tend to have bad, pre-rendered fake games and everyone always talks about scores and levels when those aren't all that relevant now for a number of reasons.
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News flash: gamers are awkward

Why do you still watch add-riddled television, TC?
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

I hate how tv shows tend to have bad, pre-rendered fake games and everyone always talks about scores and levels when those aren't all that relevant now for a number of reasons.

I hate this shit.
Always so cringy to watch.
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Largely because people playing games is really boring to watch, most of the time. Even for those of us that are interested in watching it, we want to watch the game itself, and that relies on an understanding of the game that the majority of a TV audience isn't going to have. Therefore, when people act like they're playing video games, they don't behave like they're actually playing the games, and instead ham it up to the point where they're actually doing something.

saspa posted...

People playing video games in commercials ALWAYS comes off awkward. why is that?

Because they're always actors hired to pretend like they're playing video games, rather than actual gamers playing actual video games.

Doubly so since most of the time, they may not even have the game visuals in front of them, as much as they're looking at a blank screen and acting like it's the greatest experience of their life (because commercial). And even if the actors CAN see the screenshots, they're almost certainly seeing an out-of-context demo reel animation put together by the game devs that makes absolutely no sense to the actors.

Hiring actual gamers to play your game, film them for hours, and then edit out the best highlights and moments to make a more "realistic" gameplay scenario might be the most truthful way to do it, but literally no one is going to do that because time and money are precious.


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TheCyborgNinja posted...

I hate how tv shows tend to have bad, pre-rendered fake games and everyone always talks about scores and levels when those aren't all that relevant now for a number of reasons.

The problem is, most writers are in their 40s (at the very least), and when they were growing up, those things WERE relevant. It's all they know.

You're not going to get high-tier quality scripts from the guy who's currently playing Overwatch and who really enjoyed playing Horizon: Zero Dawn. You're getting scripts from people who vaguely remember playing Pac-Man or Super Mario Bros as a kid.


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Because most gamers lack social normalities and they're just trying to market towards their target demographic.

TheCyborgNinja posted...

I hate how tv shows tend to have bad, pre-rendered fake games and everyone always talks about scores and levels when those aren't all that relevant now for a number of reasons.

I get where you're coming from, but those things are absolutely still relevant to many games.
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it's just as bad in movies.

charlies angels 1

two kids were shown playing a game, and from the looks of it it appeared to be a fighting game.

it was final fantasy 8.

it's not even two players.
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Here's the real reason: The screen that the person in the commercial sees is actually blank. It's turned off. The gameplay is digitally inserted onto the screen in editing.

As far as technology has come, we still can't get an LCD or CRT screen to show up well on a camera.

People playing video games in commercials ALWAYS comes off awkward. why is that?

Because someone playing vidya just sits still and looks at the screen, fingers/thumbs moving and that's not very photogenic. When they're advertising games (or anything for that matter), they're selling the experience and try to convey the amount of fun you can have with their product so they make the actors look like they're borderline hysterical and are having some sort of seizure/life changing experience.
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WarGreymon77 posted...

Here's the real reason: The screen that the person in the commercial sees is actually blank. It's turned off. The gameplay is digitally inserted onto the screen in editing.

As far as technology has come, we still can't get an LCD or CRT screen to show up well on a camera.

I've actually heard something like that! Like how you can't put a crt screen on the copier because it won't actually show anything besides scan lines.
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WarGreymon77 posted...

As far as technology has come, we still can't get an LCD or CRT screen to show up well on a camera.

Yes we can, in fact my phone matches up the frames to kill the flicker.
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Because someone playing games "realistically" looks really fucking boring. Think about it - what do you look like when you're playing a game? 90+% of the time, you're sitting still, a blank expression on your face, and the only thing moving is your thumbs. In order to make that visually interesting, they have to have gamers looking super excited and thrashing around in their chair as they hit the buttons, which no gamer ever does.
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darkknight109 posted...

what do you look like when you're playing a game? 90+% of the ti-

90% of the time is irrelevant, that doesn't make the "up to 10%" irrelevant too.
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Because they have to show them doing something...not slumped on a couch staring vacant-eyed at a TV like it really is.
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Regarding movies, how about the teenage white boy who falls in love with his schoolmate crush/similar who is always portrayed to be socially awkward, not having any game at all, yet somehow he gets lucky (I guess he's attractive, even though he's basically portrayed as a beta cuck pussy?) and wins her over by the end

or whatever race i don't care, i'm just tired of the awkward beta cuck pussy as a male protagonist scenario

that ends up getting the pussy

actually I can't stand a lot of shticks

entertainment ceases to be entertaining once you enter these territories
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When they're shown playing video games, it's usually on a console. That's just how it looks when people play on console.

:P :P :P

123pizza2 posted...

It's the same principle as the super fake "squad chat" some games throw into their trailers/presentations. People who actually game know how fake it is, but outsiders might think it seems cool.

I gotta agree with this. I've seen presentations where they have some squad chat going and it always just feels...off or something.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1N6lfZp2g
Because even without the cringey controversy it's still awkward and not dynamic, and cringey to watch. So the best you'll get is intense button mashing for a racing game or flying the controller around like a space ship for everything else.

what bugs me is when they are playing a modern day console but its making atari or nes era sound effects.
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Consider this:
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/11/13/you-know-it-to-be-true

Which do you suppose makes for better advertising and/or "this person is playing videogames now" signalling?

Well if you play wii sports while sitting down and flicking your wrist it just removes all the fun out of it and is equivalent to being a party pooper
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Peterass posted...

It's because they aren't really playing

Pretty much this. If you look at their fingers and what is happening on the screen it never matches up.
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guess not
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