Playhaven Game Ads Are Going to Ruin the Image of My Kid's Game

TouchTiltGames

I'm seeing ads for games with half naked girls and blood/gore games just before my kid's game launches (aimed at age 2-5). What the heck do I do there? If I downgrade to the previous version then I can't publish to the MAS because of the Icon issue...Not to mention I've saved the project file with the new version...Then there's the new issue with the distorted custom splash screen...

Really not liking this Playhaven feature for Non-Pros.
Le Sigh...

Ebreeze

That sucks man...i can see this is going to be an issue for alot of free members

capitalcarnage

I love half naked girls....... but this does appear to be an issue

RacetotheMoon

I hate to say it, but did this really need a new thread? It's been mentioned ad nauseam and isn't nearly as bad as you claim it to be. Pick up a copy of Monster Dash and look at the ads listed. Currently the worst game in there is High Noon and VIP Poker. That said, services are meant to be improved. Perhaps use some of this energy to write PlayHaven about your concerns. If they aren't currently vetting the results to the category of the game PlayHaven is in, then perhaps it's something they can build into their software.

LiquidGameworks

The issue here isn't a stand on forced marketing, which is why I think it deserves a new thread. Everything else is getting lost in the fracas, that this important issue hasn't been vetted by GS staff. Its that Playhaven doesn't appear to discriminate with its ads. A kids app probably shouldn't have advertising at all, let alone calls to gambling and violent games.

Edit: Sorry SS, beat me to it!

simo103

@RacetotheMoon ... is your comment just really 'hey your using free so just shut up and go away?' .. cause that's what is sounds like to me, and second 'isn't nearly as bad as you claim it to be' ... how much worse can it be to have half-naked images show up in a kids game! I'd expect you to post here with a concern you had about your games/situation and I'd expect you to get helpful responses or none .... it appears you didn't 'hate to say it ' enough!

LeonardDeveloper

@saladstraightshooter
Heres a couple I found... Not that bad:

Ebreeze

If it's a kid game 2-5 yrs old you bet it's gonna be a problem

TouchTiltGames

@RacetoTheMoon
I will refrain from using my "energy" to dismantle your asinine comments. If you had young kids you'd understand, and a game like Tiny Diggers ready to go live. I had a Pro account but cannot afford the $500 to renew right now.

@SSS I will see if I can get the same ads up but it's kinda pointless as it is a Playhaven issue. Unless you're referring to the distorted splash screen issue?

TouchTiltGames

@SSS I've refreshed my game a dozen times and can't see the same ads again. Will keep trying...

RacetotheMoon

No, my comment is more, "Hey, the official 0.9.91 thread was already 95% of this, and there's already been other threads about this. Do we really need to clutter the messageboard with more talk about this'. Especially when there's not one game listed with a half naked lady as has been claimed.

Everyone has concerns. My current biggest concern is with android performance, but you don't see me starting numerous threads to complain about it. I said my peace, and have started threads when I noticed a problem to see if anyone else is experiencing it and let people know that it's something to look out for. If it's listened too/answered, great. If it's not, then I don't start another thread and I don't litter other threads to talk about it, which is what I feel like I'm doing now.

Getting back, I agree it's not necessarily the best thing to advertise to kids, but have you seen morning cartoons? if the show isn't an advertisement then there's nearly 10 minutes of them in a 30 minute span. So let's not pretent the people implementing these features are heathens. Let's not act like everyone else has no right to make money but ourselves.

I don't want people to go away. This is a community where we should all have each other's backs. I'm not some elitest, despite what you might think. I do however like to make progress, and going over the same thing over and over isn't making progress. There are constructive ways to get things done, sitting in these forums and debating this issue in its current form is not constructive. PlayHaven isn't going away (unless you're a subscriber).

I do however think there's a much easier solution to all this. Right now PlayHaven has a small number of games using the service. I believe that once GameSalad (and Unity3D) games start hitting PlayHaven the ability for them to show ads that relate more closely to your own app will increase. That said, I also encourage you to write the people at PlayHaven. I signed up with them the other day to do some research. They are actually super friendly.

Anyway, I've said my peace. It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone's feelings, but I would like to keep this community as a place where people can come to get educated on how to use the tool, rather than a soap box.

EatingMyHat

It is going to be a problem with Apple if a game with 4+ ranking gets adult ads. If Playhaven will not apply an age filter, that will scare basic users away and will be useless for Pro users. Can you imagine the 'Here, Take this shotgun' ad showing up in front of your kids game?

As a Pro user, if this is a real issue and there is no age filter, it is a very big deal and just having gamesalad associated with it is very bad.

GR

---

Follow Eating My Hat on Facebook and the Blog
Check out my templates in the GS Marketplace or at the store

quantumsheep

I think TT games has good reason to be upset.

I'm not a parent (that I know of!) but if I saw any 'inappropriate for kids' content pop up before the game started, my confidence in that app, and the creator of that app, would be seriously eroded.

It only needs to happen once for someone to delete the app, then to go online and leave a less than flattering review of the app, possibly affecting the game's future.

As a games' designer, a lot of my time is spent asking 'what if?'. What if the player presses these two buttons at once? What if the player goes off-screen? What if the player's health goes below 0? Or above 10?

I think the GS crew would do well to have some game designers look at all these marketing things and ask 'what if?' in future. You will never account for everything, but looking at as many possible outcomes will help bring up possible problems, which can then be addressed before rolling them out.

Cheers,

QS

simo103

@RacetotheMoon ... sorry was too quick to jump down your throat ... I'm still smarting from the 'free users are valueless' position that seemed to establish itself yesterday so I appreciate your thoughtful second post and patience not to return fire. Hope this is an easily sorted issue and they get back to improving Android performance for you!

RacetotheMoon

@simo103 No Problem. I know how sensitive of an issue this is. People hate having things forced on them, especially when they deem it as being unfair. Look how we all reacted to SOPA/ACTA/PIPA?

I just know there's a better solution to this PlayHaven mess.

I think there are two things everyone here can agree on.

-GameSalad needs/deserves to make some money off those who use the tool.
-Users of the tool deserve to have their voices heard.

Having both of the above is the only way the community will stay intact/continue to grow. Working with each other, rather than against each other, is the only true path forward. Calling each other out, or drowning the messageboard in one topic, serves nobody's purposes.

Actually, I think that if their projections are correct, one could earn back the cost of a Pro membership 'rather quickly' with PlayHaven alone. I know the upfront investment is sizable. (At least I know it is for me at the moment.) I'm trying my hardest to make a proper business out of this. I've been making games for over 14 years, with nearly 12 of those being at professional studios. In fact, some of those where among the most popular kids games to come out over the last decade. The first two Cars games, a Casper game, Matchbox Emergency Patrol on the GBC (Some of them were intensely violent too.. WuTang Clan: ShaoLin Stlye, X-Men: Mutant Generations) and some of them where just fun (MTX: Mototrax). I am proud to say however I haven't released one violent game since going indie.. Anyway...

I think it's important to keep all things in perspective.

jonmulcahy

as a workaround-
iOS version using .9.90
mac app store using .9.91?

is play haven part of the mac side of things as well?

HoneyTribeStudios

@TouchTiltGames - Is this the game from the appstore or an adhoc?

If an adhoc, then the category info won't be there for PlayHaven to read. So hopefully once Apple add the category info to the app PlayHaven will read that and filter accordingly.

It's such an obvious issue that I can't imagine they wouldn't have addressed it a long time ago.

I'll be using it in the kids category too so will find out soon enough.

TouchTiltGames

Ok I was only able to find 1 of the 3 images. Here's the only 1 I could duplicate
The other 2 - One was a girl in a very minimal string bikini and another was a bloody war game (lots of gore on the graphic).



@Honey That's a good point, it is an adhoc so hopefully it would be filtered once on the Appstore.
@SSS Thanks buddy, I'll contact support.

Ebreeze

LaurenSalad

Hey @TouchTiltGames & all- We are discussing with Playhaven the categorizing ability for ad placement and the age appropriateness of the ads that are currently part of the referral system. Just know that your concerns are shared with us and it is something we are investigating for further clarification. As soon as I have more information- I will share ASAP.

TouchTiltGames

Thanks Lauren!

RacetotheMoon

@TouchTiltGames Well.. to say half naked is a still a bit of a misnomer, we don't know what the lower half looks like.

Aside from this being an inappropriate ad for a children's audience, it's also not conducive for getting business for PlayHaven or its advertisers. I have to imagine that if this is not something that's fixed via how @HoneyTribeStudios mentioned. It's something they'd be wise to fix soon. Especially with an influx of games they'll have to advertise.

As is my understanding from reading their site, each game gets up to 1MM free impressions a month. I don't know what sort of deal GameSalad has worked out for getting GameSalad games to appear in these slots rather than 'Valor HD', or any other game that doesn't fit the demographic of the game it's in, but I have to imagine this problem will get sorted soon. At least I hope it is for anyone sensitive to these things. That goes for you too, @TTG.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Hey @touchtiltgames As a fellow children's developer I'm with you man. Do you have Skype? As I can provide you with some info to help you out. Check your PM

TouchTiltGames

Yep I'm under 'Aeropause'

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Sent you a contact request. it'll be from David Souza

gyroscope

I'm guessing that if there are inappropriate game ads for children's apps, there will be inappropriate ads for any other app; the ad is surely random and has no bearing on the type of app where the ad is shown.

Not as important as a child's welfare: but some of my projected apps are non-game - an interactive multimedia app, for instance; etc; I won't bore you with the other projected apps I hope to get finished within a year and a half. A cartoon-type ad placed before the app or game starts would not only be inappropriate for the app-type - or rather not relevant - but has the potential to take the user away from the app while they check out the game from the ad.

There must be others where this placement of a random ad in their apps will affect the app adversely (as other members have pointed out already). And since there's no way to get out of it if you are a free beta user ... I'm sorry, I have to say my mind ... there feels like a touch of blackmail about it, forcing one's hand to go pro just to get rid of the ads. Please note, GS HQ, I am not accusing you of blackmail of any sort, it just feels like that to me personally, even though it isn't. (I'll gladly be buying pro when I've earned enough money from my apps made in GSC). Edit: I keep fretting about this paragraph, but it's written now and been read, so I'll leave it; I hope my meaning was understood in the way it was meant....

I've said this before in another thread, but if only GS HQ would consider the option of allowing free users the choice of the splash screen or the ads, then everyone will be happy; no inappropriate ads, no damage to a game designer's "ambience" (if that makes sense) and still GS will be advertised for new people to check out, start using and some eventually buy pro as well.

I can't see that GS will make that much from me anyway if the ads are pay per click and no more than iAd pricing; I can understand the need for income as they are a business but this is riding heavily over free beta users/reporters/testers, I have to say. Perhaps if GS thinks they'll earn $50 over a year from me from ad clicks then I'd rather pay them $50 up-front and be done with the ads, still showing the GS splash - I'm not ashamed of that and I'd be glad to advertise a marvellous bit of software which I can use for free while it's in beta and until I go pro.

I've written enough, and about to post the comment without reading through it first.... gulp... ;-)

Seriously, I dislike the forced-upon Playhaven system intensely and will keep my fingers crossed for a choice. In the meantime, I'm sticking with 0.9.9.0 and will have to stay here until I can afford pro to switch it off if it's still there.

Head Chefs and TouchTiltGames: if you think I've veered off too much from the subject of the thread, please let me know and I'll delete this comment and maybe start it up as it's own thread; although it'll be the umpteenth thread on the subject, as we all know...

----------------------------------------------
http://davidgriffinapps.co.uk/

iPad: End of the Earth game coming soon to the iTunes App Store....

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Okay, as everyone has great concern for touchtiltgames as I do, update, I showed him how to re-version a GS file so he's all set to go back to whatever version of GS he feels he need to. All systems go!

gyroscope

THat sounds neat, Dave, however it's done! Any idea about revisioning of the viewer stuff perchance?

PS I till haven't gotten around to Skype, but I will relatively soon... I haven't forgotten!

Glad that @touchtiltgames is sorted now.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

What version of the viewer do you need as I always save the last three versions as in the past I have updated and then an issue caused me to go back to the older version and had trouble finding the viewer so now I save the older ones.

LaurenSalad

@All-
We immediately brought the concern to Playhaven's team and have implemented a solution in regard to the use of inappropriate/unsafe for all ages ad content within Playhaven's referral system.

PlayHaven has identified two ads that are considered not for appropriate for children. One is the ad for Valor HD that was posted on the forums earlier with a scantily-clad woman, and the other was for a gambling site/application. Playhaven will be providing GameSalad a list of all of their ads shortly so that we can continue to monitor content on an ongoing basis.

In order to remedy this situation, this afternoon Playhaven wrote a script that scrubbed all current GameSalad developer accounts of those inappropriate content ads. Starting tomorrow, that script will run automatically every hour, thus protecting new accounts from those ads.

We believe that this is a short-term solution. GameSalad will be working closely with Playhaven to set up flags in the API to screen out ads that we deem inappropriate content, and they are also working on improving technology that will allow them to see the rating (age) of the game from the App store and send only appropriate ads. We will convey more details about this long term solution as they become available.

gyroscope

That's good of you: I dumped 0.9.9.0 viewer when I updated (then went back again...). I've got the viewer on my iPad but need it for the viewer on the iPhone...

Edit: written while @LaurenSalad was posting.