ForumsSupport Forum[Answered] The need to ban mouseover ads

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Retiarius
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Retiarius
2 posts
Jester

I understand that ads are a necessary part of just about any website. The bills have to be paid. I didn't say anything when some ads were distracting from the games, making some of them harder to play. After all, the games are free and Armor Games has to generate revenue to support that and profit.

But the mouseover ads are a bridge too far. The new M&M's ad, in particular, is a maddening nuisance that pops up a full screen ad in the middle of playing if the mouse strays but a quarter inch off the bottom of the play field. This made one of the new games, Frantic 3, almost unplayable: I had to keep closing the **** M&M's full screen popup in the middle of playing several times, and the game doesn't stop whaling on you while you are trying to close the **** popup.

At the very least, Armor Games needs to tell their ad feed providers to not put mouseover ads in the feeds that go below games. Put them in the above-game feeds if you absolutely must have them on game pages, and watch them like hawks, as mouseover ads are used by hackers to slip malware installers into ad feeds. One bad mouseover ad and your user base can be infected with fraudulent antivirus programs.

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EagleOfFire2
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EagleOfFire2
125 posts
Shepherd

Congratulation on reciting exactly why I use an ad blocker and never actually see ads on any site whatsoever.

I know that most site rely on those to make money... But seriously, if they are going to get a nuisance and a danger to my computer then I won't think twice about it.

If AG really wish to continue to get good revenue from those ads then I agree that they need to follow those problems closely. Every single time such a problem come up (not only on this site or forum, I see it everywhere) there is always someone like me who pop up the most obvious solution. Which are the ad blockers.

I wonder if AG actually get money from me visiting their site even though the ads don't load? Maybe they do. If yes then I'm happy for them... But I doubt having more and more users who get introduced to solutions to block ads would help the industry in the long run. I imagine that if those who pay for those ads realize that they are getting ineffective then they will stop using it, which mean that the revenue will also drop down.

dragonball05
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dragonball05
1,717 posts
Shepherd

I think it might just be random, since I had the same thing happen to me when I went to my friends list and accidentally clicked on the person's armatar instead of username. An ad came up as I put my mouse over the armatar. Not a problem for this scenario, as I wasn't in the middle of gaming, but I think they might still be around.

Rayce002
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Rayce002
135 posts
Scribe

I went to Frantic, I went to all the new games, I went to the MMOs, no trace of this M&M rollover ad.


The M&M ad has been on Sinjid for quite some time for me now.
Retiarius
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Retiarius
2 posts
Jester

I just went to Frantic 3 again, and the M&M rollover ad is still there, and comes up every time I refresh the page, and always below the game where the mouse is going to stray.

The ironic thing is that I like M&Ms but should never have them, as I am diabetic. The ad is having the opposite effect in that I am growing to despise M&Ms. I suppose I should thank them for that.

Perhaps the ads vary by the IP address of the page visitor, which is why Rayce002 doesn't see them.

dragonball05
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dragonball05
1,717 posts
Shepherd

Ah didn't notice it was Frantic 3 until your most recent post. I went to check it out, and I saw the ad you were talking about. It is annoying since if you don't notice the mouse lands on the ad while you're playing, before you know it, the whole screen is covered by the ad after only three seconds. Pretty lame if I do say so. Haven't played the game, though. Does the game require your mouse to be near the bottom of the screen, or can you leave it somewhere else out of the way?

weirdlike
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weirdlike
1,299 posts
Prince

hold ctrl then roll the mouse wheel up or down then when the screen is of good size... hide the ad in the bottom

click me

trying
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trying
467 posts
Bard

Are the ads tailored to the user? Like how on google you can have 2 people search the same thing and get 2 different results.

EagleOfFire2
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EagleOfFire2
125 posts
Shepherd

Most probably the case. There is a ton of info your browser leak out even simply by surfing around. Even with JS, Java, Flash or whatever you can think of.

Only with IP the ad server company know which country you're from, which city, likely which suburb if it's a big city, etc...

EagleOfFire2
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EagleOfFire2
125 posts
Shepherd

I wanted to say "even with all that stuff off. Sorry.

I so wish there was an edit button on this forum. Even if it would be active only for the next 5 minutes after a post...

Ferret
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Ferret
9,323 posts
Bard

We understand ads aren't a pleasant thing, but they are what keeps the lights on and the servers running. I've tripped the M&M ad myself once or twice, but it's not that annoying.

Also, for those talking about ad blockers. We'd hope that users would be proud to support Armor Games and making more amazing games.

Since this really isn't a support issue, I'm going to lock the thread.

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