I am genuinely curious and want to know what people think
There are ads?
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Yeah, I was going to ask this. If you’re playing the demo there’s the start and final page, and the few games that have DLC can have an extra “get this option unlocked by buying DLC”, but otherwise I can’t remember any.
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If you’re using the app (certainly with the Hosted Games app on android) you get an ad at the bottom of your screen all the time if you’re on the demo, but I can honestly say I had to double check that because I just don’t notice it.
I don’t remember ever seeing one for a game I’ve paid for, though I believe there’s some ad supported games somewhere? Ones that let you play a chapter for each advert you watch?
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You’ve got it right those are the ones I’m talking about
That’s a tougher thing to judge - I do think some games use much shorter chapters than others, and those mobile game adverts can be really annoying for certain.
I think it’s tolerable for me, but then I’m usually playing a chapter at a time between chunks of work so I personally don’t have much of an issue with it.
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Thank you for your answer
No. The ads are minor and unobtrusive. Especially compared to other free games that have 60-second long auto-sound video ads with nearly invisible x buttons.
If you don’t want ads, you can always pay for the game.
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When you’re solely playing the ad-supported option some have, yeah it can be kind of ridiculous.
*Play for 5 minutes, whoops here’s an ad. Now watch an ad to begin the countown to when you can play again: 1hr
*Okay here’s an ad so you can play your next 5 minute section. Please wait 15 minutes so you can watch an ad to begin playing.
*you need to restart? Watch this ad. Oh no you made the wrong choice because you had the finger slide option enabled. Watch another ad to restart again.
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I have no doubt that they are, but there’s a reason for that. They want you to buy the game. The ads don’t actually make the company very much money at all, as every author knows quite acutely (and sadly, it has gotten a lot better than it was). The ad-supported route is offered as a concession to the needs of the market and to make the stories more accessible to all, but they don’t actually want people to do that if at all possible.
Presumably the other reason there are so many is what I already mentioned: the ads make almost no money. So the more of them there are, the more can be made. Even if there’s zero chance anyone will ever play an ad-supported game enough to equal the earnings that could be gotten by them buying it. I really cannot stress enough how little gets made by the ads. I don’t have access to my full royalty sheet right now, but I would estimate ad revenue has been about 2-4% of what The Parenting Simulator has earned. I would also bet that percentage is higher than average.
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I don’t think I’ve ever gotten an ad before
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I’ve had one in Donor. I’m reading my MC taking xanax and having a narcotic-induced meltdown while the ad below the text suggests buying some fresh birch planks from a trusted factory in Lower Belyaevo. Very… underwhelming in certain moments.
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They started to let ads play when you go through the demo. Which I find very frustrating. I wanna try it and not be bombarded with ads if I haven’t bought a game yet (which I most often do). I mean I get it from a monetary standpoint (even though if it doesn’t make money why bother) but it does rip me out of the story when I am trying to get to know a story. I actually stopped playing hidden sanctuary because I found it quit frustrating and I know I am going to buy it as soon as I got around to upload some money on my account. I hope the authors at least get the money for the ads then. Also it is very frustrating to have to play an ad to restart and if you have an unstable internet connection it does sometimes play them back to back. And you have to watch the ads if you had a break in-between.
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I wanted to thank everybody for their differing points of view and for satisfying my curiosity, so thank you everybody I really liked this little discussion it was fun.
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I’d like to add that I think part of it is that games that can be read by watching adds tend to be on the shorter end. Almost all of the longer works (outside of Heart’s Choice) are buy only. So chapters are usually shorter and the ads feel more frequent. If there’s an ad at the beginning of every chapter, you’re going to feel like you see more ads if each chapter is 5k words instead of if each chapter was 30k words.
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I’m not going to close this post I’m just going to let it do so naturally, but do you know how to do it because I don’t normally post things very much and I have no idea how to do that
What I find annoying is that, when I’m playing a game I purchased in the omnibus app and I switch away from it for whatever reason, sometimes there’s a banner ad at the bottom of the screen when I switch back, and the only way to get rid of it is to leave the game ansd come back again. Also, when I open one of the omnibus apps, it takes a while to recognize games I’ve purchased that were transferred from Steam. I’m used to it now, but it was pretty unsettling at first.
@Phantomblade - posts like this usually aren’t ever closed unless they turn combative for some reason. The only time people usually request a post to be closed is if they’re abandoning a WIP or going on hiatus. To close a post, you’d have to contact a Moderator or Leader and ask them to close it for you.
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Thank you for explaining, but isn’t that weird UI design I mean that feels like something you should be able to do pretty easily don’t you think?
I’ve got the same issue as @AletheiaKnights, at first it was a bit disorientating finding this banner on a purchased game when coming back in the app, but I think they fixed it with a recent update of the omnibus app.
Regarding ads on the demos, I usually read them either on Steam or on the website (even on mobile). Using the website you don’t get the ads banner at the bottom of the page, so you can happily read the demo without any distraction.
Not unless it was in the last twelve hours.