# Oh, those hilarious Evony ads...



## Obryn

Just wanted to point out a new Gawker article about these things.

And yes, I think the ads _are_ all about the boobage.

Everything That's Wrong with the Internet in One Videogame's Banner Ad Campaign

-O


----------



## Asmor

Jeff Atwood has a great commentary on their ads at his blog Coding Horror: How Not to Advertise on the Internet

I actually came here to complain... I don't mind advertisements as a general rule, and I'm a huge fan of porn, but I browse ENWorld at work and frankly their newest ad showing here (painting of a blonde in black lingerie with ample cleavage) is large, obvious, and it would be embarassing if someone walked in and saw it on my monitor.

I specifically have ENWorld on AdBlock's whitelist to allow ads to be shown on these pages, and Evony's advertisements are strongly making me rethink that decision.


----------



## Harley Stroh

Same. 

In full disclosure, I don't usually log in, so 90% of the time my paid ad-blocker status isn't effect. This afternoon I was sitting in a coffee shop, working on project. I tried to surf ENworld only to find I had to close the window every time someone walked behind me ... otherwise I'd look like I was surfing soft porn. 

Now I'm at home, doing the same thing every time my wife walks by. 

Lame. 

On the amusing side, imagine how many people would switch to paying accounts if you had some hard porn ads.


----------



## Vorput

I'm going to chime in my opinion as well on these ads treading dangerously closely to NSFW.


----------



## wedgeski

Might I just add my voice to this. I'm not sure what course of action I'm advocating or even if there should be one, but those ads don't seem appropriate for ENW. (I also deliberately leave the top banner ad enabled in my settings, by the way.)


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

I'd also like to state that I am unhappy with those ads.


----------



## Morrus

They're Google Adsense ads, and we have no control over them, I'm afraid. I guess Google, in all its wisdom, has deemed those ads to be the most appropriate to show you guys.

Weirdly, I never get them. I just hear about 'em. I keep getting ads for minis on eBay!  Which is weird given that I've never browsed for minis on eBay in my life!  Some screwy algorithms at Google HQ is y guess.


----------



## stonegod

Morrus said:


> They're Google Adsense ads, and we have no control over them, I'm afraid. I guess Google, in all its wisdom, has deemed those ads to be the most appropriate to show you guys.



You can do filtering on AdSense; Evony (on purpose) and Google (on accident) just don't make it easy. This thread seems to be dedicated to it: Filtering Evony Game Ads (AdSense)


----------



## Morrus

Unfortunately, that doesn't woprk in this case:

More about Evony — Bruce On Games



> *Evony are carpetbombing game websites with these adverts using multiple accounts of Google AdWords. When website owners block one source of these adverts another appears. Site owners have complained repeatedly to Google, but to no avail.*




Essentially, these ads are spam.  Blocking one doen't help - a dozen more spring up.  Until Google do something about it, we literally have no way we can address the issue (except stop running Google Adsense, but that would cripple us - literally).


----------



## Kid Charlemagne

Well, we could add our voices to those complaining to Google, which might spur them into action.

Incidentally, the ads use infringed photos that they don't have license to use - as does the game itself - and this violates Google's terms of use for adsense.  If you feel like it you can report the ads for copyright infringement to Google.

http://www.google.com/adsense_dmca.html#notification


----------



## Mustrum_Ridcully

Hmm, reveal on CM found this: 
More about Evony — Bruce On Games

So not just the advertisement is spam - the product itself seems also more than suspect.


----------



## reveal

Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> Hmm, reveal on CM found this:
> More about Evony — Bruce On Games
> 
> So not just the advertisement is spam - the product itself seems also more than suspect.



Pssssttt... Look up three posts.


----------



## kitsune9

Obryn said:


> Just wanted to point out a new Gawker article about these things.
> 
> And yes, I think the ads _are_ all about the boobage.
> 
> Everything That's Wrong with the Internet in One Videogame's Banner Ad Campaign
> 
> -O




This is my chime in that these ads are definitely NSFW where I work at. I like EN World a lot, but my time is greatly diminished here reading the forums.


----------



## avin

As I said in another topic: I can't use Enworld at work anymore... =/


----------



## Morrus

With all due respect, folks, "me too" posts aren't terribly useful; I'm more than aware of the general opinion of the ads.  The position we're in is that we can't cut of the ads without cutting off Google completely - and doing that kills us permanently.  

Suggestions or solutions will be more than gratefully received!  One angle might be how to replace Google Adsense with actual advertisers.  

My current though is to pay someone (commission based, say 10%) to act as  aproactive ad manager for EN World and actively pursue potential advertisers.  I've tried it before, though, and enthusiasm for the job drops off very quickly!


----------



## Asmor

I've noticed that these latest Evony ads appear to be flash-based. Is blocking flash ads an option?


----------



## William Ronald

The ads seem to promise entertainment for what H.L. Mencken termed the booboisie. 

Maybe someone should take Morrus up on his offer to seek advertisers.  In a community this large, there should be someone with the skills and background to go over ads from potential advertisers and make a good sales pitch for the site.  (The size of this community is a very strong selling point.)  One thing that might be a good idea is to have a page for an inventory of advertisers, where someone can click a link called advertisers and see ads for them.  (A friend who runs a radio show here in Phoenix has tiles on his website for advertisers.)  It may also be possible to run video or audio clips in that section. (With a little coding, something from the add section could appear in one of the side panels.)

I have found the talent pool at EN World to be vast, and I think that if we are tired of some ads, we as a COMMUNITY can do something about it.

I also like Kid Charlemagne's suggestion. If Evony is violating Google's rules, then informing Google could work.


----------



## Mark

I have no problem with the boobs.  I just put them on my ignore list.


----------



## Asmor

Mark said:


> I have no problem with the boobs.  I just put them on my ignore list.




_Ignore boobs_?!?

You, sir, must have a truly epic will defense.


----------



## Thanee

Asmor said:


> I specifically have ENWorld on AdBlock's whitelist to allow ads to be shown on these pages, and Evony's advertisements are strongly making me rethink that decision.




Heh. EN-World is, in fact, the _only_ site, which made me put it on my (very small) list of sites that are heavily modified when showing up in my browser (complete removal of all ads, sidebar, most of the header, etc). It's not even that the ads are annoying (some are even funny), but they take up space in such an annoying fashion. After the changes, the site shows up nice and clean. 

Bye
Thanee


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Morrus said:


> With all due respect, folks, "me too" posts aren't terribly useful; I'm more than aware of the general opinion of the ads.  The position we're in is that we can't cut of the ads without cutting off Google completely - and doing that kills us permanently.
> 
> Suggestions or solutions will be more than gratefully received!  One angle might be how to replace Google Adsense with actual advertisers.
> 
> My current though is to pay someone (commission based, say 10%) to act as  aproactive ad manager for EN World and actively pursue potential advertisers.  I've tried it before, though, and enthusiasm for the job drops off very quickly!




Morrus, thanks for putting up that info about the problems with the ads. I appreciate that you're taking this seriously.

Hopefully the company will go bankrupt soon or something.


----------



## Mark

Asmor said:


> _Ignore boobs_?!?
> 
> You, sir, must have a truly epic will defense.





It's no trouble at all, thanks to my new invention: Blind-Focals.


----------



## Fifth Element

Mathew_Freeman said:


> Morrus, thanks for putting up that info about the problems with the ads. I appreciate that you're taking this seriously.
> 
> Hopefully the company will go bankrupt soon or something.



Some apparently think he's making half a million per day. That seems a bit daft to me, but I guess you never know.


----------



## Plane Sailing

If you check this google thread, the post on 15th July by AdSensePro Policy seems promising.

Filtering Evony Game Ads - AdSense Help

Fingers crossed, eh?


----------



## reveal

Plane Sailing said:


> If you check this google thread, the post on 15th July by AdSensePro Policy seems promising.
> 
> Filtering Evony Game Ads - AdSense Help
> 
> Fingers crossed, eh?



I sent that link and the URLs to Morrus last night. Hopefully he'll be able to filter them out.


----------



## JohnRTroy

Morrus,

How much would an ad-free day cost ENWorld?  Maybe a few of us could sponsor an ad-free day where you disable the ads for 24 hours and we pay you for that ad-free day?


----------



## Orius

Morrus said:


> Weirdly, I never get them. I just hear about 'em.




How is that even possible?  Evony is all over the place with those silly ads.  

And we've been ripping on the ads for that last month and a half over in the Hive:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/off-topic-forum-currently-named-hapax-legomenon/257071-evony-ad.html

And I've been reading some of the blogs linked to here, and then followed some links in them to more.  From what I've been reading, Evony is a game created by gold farmers in China to make money off people paying for items in the game.  I don't have a problem with that in and of itself but there's more.  They're engaging in massive copyright infringements, with stolen images for their ads and in-game content.  The software itself is buggy if it's not actually malware.  There's some concern that the software can steal personal information from one's computer and install Trojans.  All I can say if that I'm glad my initial reaction to the game's ads were "This must be crap", and I didn't bother trying it.


----------



## Plane Sailing

reveal said:


> I sent that link and the URLs to Morrus last night. Hopefully he'll be able to filter them out.




There are problems filtering out URLs because of their practices.

The point of my link to that thread is the information that the Google AdSense specialists have now been informed.




			
				Google Employee said:
			
		

> Thanks for bringing these ads to our attention. I've escalated these ads to our AdWords specialists for review.
> 
> You can provide ad feedback to the AdWords team at Contacting Support - AdWords Help . However, in this particular case, keep in mind that I'm already escalating this thread to their attention, so you don't need to submit anything that has already been mentioned.




It is likely that this will only be resolved by Google.

Cheers


----------



## CapnZapp

Asmor said:


> I've noticed that these latest Evony ads appear to be flash-based. Is blocking flash ads an option?



Yes, and it is easy too. Just switch to Firefox and install Flashblock.


----------



## Asmor

CapnZapp said:


> Yes, and it is easy too. Just switch to Firefox and install Flashblock.




I meant server side.


----------



## Thanee

Blocking the ads you get paid for server side sounds like a really good idea... err... not. 

Bye
Thanee


----------



## Asmor

Thanee said:


> Blocking the ads you get paid for server side sounds like a really good idea... err... not.
> 
> Bye
> Thanee




Well, not all ads are flash-based. If adsense had an option to only show text and image ads, theoretically that shouldn't bite into ENWorld's revenue.


----------



## Mikaze

Though it's fairly obvious, here's a reminder that bountiful breasts are a lesser evil at work here.


----------



## StreamOfTheSky

I don't mind the ads.  I'll never click th link or play the game, but boobage doesn't realy bother me.  Thought it'd be a novelty to be the first person in the thread to say that. 

I don't understand the NSFW...maybe the latest bra close-up ad...maybe.  But cripes, it's really not that bad.

As for the can't view ENWorld at work...lol?  People walking by before saw you had a message board page open, and upon any inspection at all, a D&D one (as opposed to work related, or whatever), and didn't care.  But now that there's sidebar ads of attractive women, they're on to you?  My coworkers would poke fun at me when I looked at ENWorld at work -- they didn't care, when it was slow/dead, they'd similarly goof off -- but never for the ADVERTISING!  They'd make fun of the fact I was so into reading about D&D.  If my boss caught me and was stricter on never looking at non-work content even when there's nothing to do...I'd get fired.  Again, not cause of some ad.


----------



## Asmor

StreamOfTheSky said:


> I don't mind the ads.  I'll never click th link or play the game, but boobage doesn't realy bother me.  Thought it'd be a novelty to be the first person in the thread to say that.
> 
> I don't understand the NSFW...maybe the latest bra close-up ad...maybe.  But cripes, it's really not that bad.
> 
> As for the can't view ENWorld at work...lol?  People walking by before saw you had a message board page open, and upon any inspection at all, a D&D one (as opposed to work related, or whatever), and didn't care.  But now that there's sidebar ads of attractive women, they're on to you?  My coworkers would poke fun at me when I looked at ENWorld at work -- they didn't care, when it was slow/dead, they'd similarly goof off -- but never for the ADVERTISING!  They'd make fun of the fact I was so into reading about D&D.  If my boss caught me and was stricter on never looking at non-work content even when there's nothing to do...I'd get fired.  Again, not cause of some ad.




Strange though it may seem, not all work places are identical in nature to yours.


----------



## StreamOfTheSky

So you're saying there are places to work where browsing on a non work-related site is ok, but you would be held accountable for the google sidebar ads you have no control over and aren't actually indecent in any legal sense?


----------



## Obryn

StreamOfTheSky said:


> So you're saying there are places to work where browsing on a non work-related site is ok, but you would be held accountable for the google sidebar ads you have no control over and aren't actually indecent in any legal sense?



Shockingly enough, not everyone works in an area where management cares about the difference between an ad and site content, especially when they're just wandering by and glancing over at your screen.  Congrats if you work in a company which does, but it's poor form to rub it in the noses of people who aren't so fortunate.

Also, a good many places work on a "don't push it" basis.  Non-work stuff could be a grey area, but nobody will say anything so long as it's not inappropriate.  These ads push that boundary.  And as for me, I'd rather not explain to the division director that it's just a gaming site, and that the boobies really weren't my fault.  Whether or not I'm allowed non-work browsing (which I am, clearly), I'd rather not chat about it with the boss.

-O


----------



## MarkB

StreamOfTheSky said:


> So you're saying there are places to work where browsing on a non work-related site is ok, but you would be held accountable for the google sidebar ads you have no control over and aren't actually indecent in any legal sense?




There's a difference between not being held accountable and not suffering any impact. It's easy for work colleagues, or indeed superiors, to draw erroneous conclusions as to the nature of the site you're browsing based upon the very obvious, eye-catching advert sitting next to it - especially when it's labelled "Visit Our Sponsors".


----------



## xechnao

Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> Hmm, reveal on CM found this:
> More about Evony — Bruce On Games
> 
> So not just the advertisement is spam - the product itself seems also more than suspect.




A phrase from the article:


> Exactly what you would expect of a Chinese gold farmer.




To me this article sounds a bit racist. The advertisements are annoying but the tone of the article is non the less the same.


----------



## Mean Eyed Cat

CapnZapp said:


> Yes, and it is easy too. Just switch to Firefox and install Flashblock.




You, my friend, are a genius.


----------



## reveal

xechnao said:


> A phrase from the article:
> 
> 
> To me this article sounds a bit racist. The advertisements are annoying but the tone of the article is non the less the same.



How can it be racist if it's true? They're gold farmers who live in China. Chinese gold farmers are a big problem and are know to cause issues with MMORPG's.

Gold farming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



> However, China is by far the major location, employing an estimated 80-85% of all gold farmers.
> 
> Chinese gold farmers typically work 10-12-hour shifts. Average earnings are around US$150 per month with (limited-quality) food and accommodation provided; more skilled farmers who can farm more in-game gold will earn more. Separate from the gold farms - which are often in low-cost, outlying locations - are the brokerages, typically based in city centres and employing well-educated customer services staff earning around US$350 per month[5].
> 
> Ge Jin, a 30-year-old Shanghai native, made a documentary on "gold farms" in China as part of his doctoral research at the University of California, San Diego showing the actual conditions and lives of gold farmers.[6] Anthony Gilmore is making a feature documentary, "Play Money", on the same subject.[7]
> 
> In July 2009, the Chinese government banned the trading of virtual currency for real money.


----------



## xechnao

reveal said:


> Gold farming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




So it seems to be an acknowledged problem for the government of PRC. I was not aware of that. Thanks for the info.


----------



## Obryn

FWIW, I found a list of sites if you'd like to block them...  Obviously, it's completely not my call, but like 90%+ of all pages I load have two Evony ads on them.  It's kind of insane. 

Block Evony Ads from Google Adsense | HyTek Gamer

blueseawar.com
bugutomorrow.com
chooselucky.com
clickevony.com
comeplaymylord.com
evony-game.com
evony.com
evony.net
evonyarmorgames.com
evonycents.com
evonyfacebook.com
evonyfreeonlinegames.com
evonygame.com
evonygamezer.com
evonyhome.com
evonyminiclip.com
evonymyspace.com
evonyonline.com
evonyonlinegames.com
evonystartvg.com
evonyy8.com
evonyyoutube.com
evonyzombol.com
hellogamesonline.com
hotevony.com
playevony.com
playnowmelord.com
playnowmylord.com
sweetgameonline.com
theevony.com
topevony.com

I beg you! 

-O


----------



## resistor

I've pinged people I know working at Google about this.  It's affecting not just all the gaming sites I visit, but many of the tech ones too.  Hopefully they'll get something worked out.


----------



## Logan_Bonner

Unfortunately, I haven't seen this ad pop up.


----------



## Obryn

Along with the server fixes, it looks like the Evony ads disappeared too.  At least I haven't seen one since the server sped up.

Coincidence?  BAH!

-O


----------



## TwinBahamut

Obryn said:


> Along with the server fixes, it looks like the Evony ads disappeared too.  At least I haven't seen one since the server sped up.
> 
> Coincidence?  BAH!
> 
> -O



They are not quite as common, but they are still there, I assure you.


----------



## Obryn

Yeah, I got a page full of the damn things right after posting about it...


----------



## ki11erDM

WotC_Logan said:


> Unfortunately, I haven't seen this ad pop up.





that.  is awesome.


----------



## JoeNotCharles

Just posted to the Google support thread:



> Hi everyone -- thanks for your patience so far. We've received all of your feedback and have looked into your concerns. Any Evony ads should now point only to *evonyonline.com*, so having *evonyonline.com* on your filter list should now effectively block all Evony ads. If you still see ads after adding this URL to your filter (and it's been over 48 hours since you've added it), reply to this thread and we'll look into it.


----------



## Orius

WotC_Logan said:


> Unfortunately, I haven't seen this ad pop up.




*snort*

I wonder if Evony's infamy is so great that it's turning into a meme....


----------



## Dannyalcatraz

You mean like being Rick-rolled?

That would be cruel.


----------



## Orius

Hrmm?  Was tht link supposed to go to the Evony homepage?


----------



## Dannyalcatraz

Yup...and it went there for me when I just clicked it...

D'OH!  I just revealed the secret! _ Oh nooooes!_


----------



## Dannyalcatraz

Try it now.

(Said the world's worst trapmaker...)


----------



## resistor

Morrus,

Actually, it is possible to control the ads that are served through AdSense, see here.  Now that Google has narrowed down the source of these ads to a single domain (evonyonline.com, see above), is there any chance we could see some progress on this?

Thanks!


----------



## pawsplay

I briefly savored blocking the site just for me personally, but I couldn't get IE 8 to stop informing me it was blocking it. *le sigh*


----------



## Thanee

Just use Firefox. 

Bye
Thanee


----------



## Asmor

Yep, that's the best way to stop all of IE's nuisances.


----------



## Orius

Looks they have a new ad now, with some shiny or exploding castle or something.  

You know, it just doesn't feel the same without the pointless half-naked women.


----------



## Aus_Snow

Orius said:


> You know, it just doesn't feel the same without the pointless half-naked women.



 Dayumn, now I _almost_ wish I _hadn't_ been using *AdBlock Plus* all this time. . . *sigh*


----------



## jaerdaph

One of these days I'm going to start one of those follow-along-with-me threads called "In Which I Play Evony. For Free. Forever."


----------

