Buy Snacks; Earn Double XP Time

So, Modern Warfare 3 has sunk to yet another low by engaging in a promotion where buying various snacks like Doritos and Mountain Dew give you a code to redeem at DewXP.com for a bank of double-XP time. Frankly, the only thing that actually surprises me about this is that MW3 is doing it before BF3 is. Hell, forget following which one sells more. It's getting more intriguing to find out which can out-whore the other.

According to Eurogamer, this is the breakdown:

Also, you can only redeem up to twenty-four hours worth of time on a single account. That means they're going to cut you off at "only" 32 cases (384 cans) of Mountain Dew. Also, this is apparently only valid in the United States, because of course it is. Using the soda as a base point (it sells for $5.27 with tax and deposit at the local supermarket), it means you can get 24 hours of double XP time for only $168! Note this calculation does not include medical care after you consume those 63,360 calories.

Disclaimer: I have my qualms with both games, but am looking forward to buying and playing both, so . . . it's a love/hate thing.

I think it was a smart move to not include the medical care in thet calculation. Unless of course there are morons out there who are dumb enough to consume all that in one day.

Wasn't aware that creative advertising and promoting a product was sin, or is the gaming community so pissed off now that a company trying to make money makes everyone angry?

I think it's neat and seeing as I level slowly anyway, this will help me out and I I already purchase Mtn. Dew anyway.

Wasn't aware that creative advertising and promoting a product was sin, or is the gaming community so pissed off now that a company trying to make money makes everyone angry?

I think it's neat and seeing as I level slowly anyway, this will help me out and I I already purchase Mtn. Dew anyway.

@csoup said:

Wasn't aware that creative advertising and promoting a product was sin, or is the gaming community so pissed off now that a company trying to make money makes everyone angry?

I think it's neat and seeing as I level slowly anyway, this will help me out and I I already purchase Mtn. Dew anyway.

It's just tacky, is all. Nobody likes being patronized and that's essentially what a lot of these promotions do to their user base. Granted, if you were going to do something like this, there aren't many more appropriate games than MW3 and BF3 to do it with. I guess the next step is directly selling "double XP cards" via XBLA for $5/hr. I also absolutely concede that this is preferable to "sign up to our mailing list to get this weapon" and "watch these ten videos, submit four KFC receipts, and buy this other game to get a special unlock code for this other weapon" stuff.

On the other hand, I also enjoy watching (sometimes bemused) spectacles. I remember how over the top the Halo 3 launch was an even though I'm not much of a Halo fan, I was kind of riveted by the whole process. Same with the Madden release whatever year they had Ozzy performing live on the top of a shop in Times Square.

I wonder what's next? I could totally see a a Saints Row promotion for some brand of malt liquor or a Forza or NFS promotion with a gas station. The more gas you buy, the more something or other you get in the game.

It makes sense to market Mountain Dew and Doritos to the pretty large Call of Duty bro-tastic fanbase. I also don't understand why you are surprised MW is doing it before BF3.,,,,,explain?

I am looking forward to both games, but I can't be mad that they know who their target audience is, and a re marketing in that direction.

Both? What are you? Shooter crazy? Oh I get it, you're one of those people, the ones that played both Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 and Homefront. Anyway that's my offtopic shooter rant sorry, but 15 minutes doesn't seem like much, it would only save me... 15 minutes. Clever promotion but probably not something that's going to move bottles but it will probably do good things for Call of Duty.

@Doctorchimp said:

@csoup said:

Wasn't aware that creative advertising and promoting a product was sin, or is the gaming community so pissed off now that a company trying to make money makes everyone angry?

I think it's neat and seeing as I level slowly anyway, this will help me out and I I already purchase Mtn. Dew anyway.

I'm all for parents raising their own kids and what-not. But I'm also for corporations trying not to push their own agenda too in weird subliminal ways. The fact of the matter is...12 year olds play Call of Duty. Whatever, kids play soldier. I played Counter Strike when I was in 5th grade. But a company trying to get these kids who are already not going outside to drink Mountain Dew and eat doritos while they sit on their ass and play games? Bad habits form early and are hard to get rid of.

I would obviously never suggest they shouldn't be allowed to do this. Just that it seems tacky and possibly poor judgement. Like it's handing over some talking-points to the ever-so-public detractors of gaming. I've seen comments elsewhere, which suggest this counters the industry's attempt to be considered art, but that seems less relevant when the game the promotion is tied to is MW3. You see similar promotions (buy this thing and get a discount on your ticket to that movie), but you don't see them for, say . . . Schindler's List. It does seem a bit stereotypical to suggest "hey, people who like videogames like soda and chips!". Almost like (and I'm stretching here, obviously) doing a grape Kool-Aid promotional offer for a Tyler Perry movie. On the other hand, I love video games . . . and I like Code Red and Doritos, so fuck me if I'm not a spitting image of their demographic, I guess.

Anyway, my original post was intended to be critical of the level of whoring from a sort of bemused perspective. The same way I observe politics. A sort of functional and structural way instead of having some inherent position that I'm entrenched in. I find the grand displays of commercialism and the insanity of some launches to be curious, if nothing else. My noting of the particular calculations, also, were just a sardonic observation and nothing more.

I'll bet anything that there will be at least one guy out there who goes to all the local stores to hunt down all the product necessary to maximize his double-XP limit before launch day and sits there punching in all the codes. And if someone does, I totally want to see a video of it.

@CactusJack said:

It makes sense to market Mountain Dew and Doritos to the pretty large Call of Duty bro-tastic fanbase. I also don't understand why you are surprised MW is doing it before BF3.,,,,,explain?

I am looking forward to both games, but I can't be mad that they know who their target audience is, and a re marketing in that direction.

My comment was in reference to the history that BF has with annoying promotions. Remember how awful BF:BC's unlocks were? Some of them didn't even unlock properly. Others required you to jump through truly tasteless marketing hoops. It seems they have gotten a bit better about that, but still . . . As bad as COD has been on that level, I would have said that BF has a worse history.

@Grissefar said:

Both? What are you? Shooter crazy? Oh I get it, you're one of those people, the ones that played both Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 and Homefront. Anyway that's my offtopic shooter rant sorry, but 15 minutes doesn't seem like much, it would only save me... 15 minutes. Clever promotion but probably not something that's going to move bottles but it will probably do good things for Call of Duty.

Not sure if you're referring to the commenter above you or to my original post about both games. To put it in perspective, I'll also be playing Saints Row 3, Skyrim, Red Orchestra 2, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Rage, Batman: Arkham City, the Ico and Shadows of the Colossus HD release, and Uncharted 3 by the end of the year, so . . . hardly a "bro-shooter-dude" person or a genre-specific gamer.

Also, I would think the promotion would counter your suggestion. That is, sell more snacks than copies of MW3. I could be wrong, but it seems that "MW3 will be on my doorstep in a month, so I might as well consume lots of snacks between now and then!" is more likely than "I'm enjoying this refreshing drink, so I might as well go pre-order that game where you shoot dudes in the face and knife them all uh uh uh uh uh like".

america

@Doctorchimp said:

@Branthog:

I agree with you 100 percent. There shouldn't be a law against it. And Activision is more than welcome to try it. I was just pointing out one more ugly tacky angle to the whole thing, and I'm usually never "THINK OF THE CHILDREN" especially when it comes to games and movies. But jesus I'm sure there's going to be kids begging for Doritos and Mountain Dew for some boosted XP. It should be frowned on is all I"m saying.

Yeah, I think the concern probably tends more toward "yes, let's just hand critics yet one more round of ammunition against gaming and gaming culture" than "game company gives little johnny diabetes while teaching him to murder people". As it is, a lot of products are not allowed to be advertised in certain ways that might potentially be alluring to children (I don't think by any law, but by voluntary industry standards).

But yes, I want to see the youtube video of some idiot with bags of doritos and cases of mountain dew so he can take out his little calculator and tell us how many days he'll get much more XP than us "noobs". This is the internet, anything and everything happens

By the way, I'm not going to lie to everyone. If the reward was a lot more time per purchase and the limit was more than a measly twenty-four hours, I would absolutely cave in and buy a few sodas and bags of chips. I like snacks, gaming, and extra XP like anyone else. :)

Imagine what else you could apply this too, though? COD games come out around the week of the presidential elections. Maybe you get a full week of double XP for your account, if you register/vote for so and so? Elect me and I will promise double XP to every man, woman, and child in this great nation! *snicker*.

Maybe, next, there will be some sort of gaming website that rewards you with some sort of "XP" for quests that are promoted by Best Buy or something. :P

This sounds way more appealing to me than simply buying double XP like in a free to play game or something. And I don't even like Mountain Dew.

@Branthog:Yeah, I do remember that now. I think I may have blacked it out from my memory. I see where you are coming from......

Also: "Both? What are you? Shooter crazy? Oh I get it, you're one of those people, the ones that played both Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 and Homefront" - Dial that back a bit, man. Uncalled for.

I also hope nobody thinks I don't like CoD dude-bro's. I love them, because someone has to. That's for you, SmokeDawg420, wherever you are.

@CactusJack said:

@Branthog:Yeah, I do remember that now. I think I may have blacked it out from my memory. I see where you are coming from......

Also: "Both? What are you? Shooter crazy? Oh I get it, you're one of those people, the ones that played both Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 and Homefront" - Dial that back a bit, man. Uncalled for.

I also hope nobody thinks I don't like CoD dude-bro's. I love them, because someone has to. That's for you, SmokeDawg420, wherever you are.

I played the hell out of Black Ops from launch day until Christmas day. My ears finally had enough racism and homophobia and other bullshit that I woke up one morning and could not bring myself to play again. I've started playing a bit to get back in the flow before MW3 a few days ago and have started to play a game I like to call "how many players in this current match have 420, pot, smoke, weed, or kush in their name". I wish I had a screenshot of this -- because I swear to absolute fucking god (I'm an atheist, but you know what I mean) -- I was the only person out of twelve that didn't have "420" in the name.

@Branthog said:

@CactusJack said:

@Branthog:Yeah, I do remember that now. I think I may have blacked it out from my memory. I see where you are coming from......

Also: "Both? What are you? Shooter crazy? Oh I get it, you're one of those people, the ones that played both Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 and Homefront" - Dial that back a bit, man. Uncalled for.

I also hope nobody thinks I don't like CoD dude-bro's. I love them, because someone has to. That's for you, SmokeDawg420, wherever you are.

I played the hell out of Black Ops from launch day until Christmas day. My ears finally had enough racism and homophobia and other bullshit that I woke up one morning and could not bring myself to play again. I've started playing a bit to get back in the flow before MW3 a few days ago and have started to play a game I like to call "how many players in this current match have 420, pot, smoke, weed, or kush in their name". I wish I had a screenshot of this -- because I swear to absolute fucking god (I'm an atheist, but you know what I mean) -- I was the only person out of twelve that didn't have "420" in the name.

Turn that into a drinking game and, well, you'll die pretty fast, but the game will be awesome up untill that point at least!

Next week, EA announce their innovative Double-Double XP promotion with their sponsors: Dr Pepper and Satan.

Whatever they do I can totally see them whoring it out over the menus/screens in the game too - as is the EA way. At least Activision generally keep the out of game promotions out of the game.

So silly.

Never though XP was any kind of issue in MW games. Like seriously. Why would you want more? Unless you're some kind fo prestige whore I guess.

/shrug

Well, I'll give them credit for being creative I guess. Nothing like rewarding obesity by bribing the consumer with digital rewards in a video game.

What is this, I don't even...

This is amazing.

First I read this today, so I was already a little bummed about video games today and now this.

Sounds like straight out of a Penny Arcade strip.

Simply amazing.

How long until people will give blowjobs for 15min of couble XP? Seriously this is disturbing. If it was something healthy maybe, but snacks and soda is not a good idea. But I guess that's what the CoD players are consuming.

Is this a real thing? That's pretty disgusting.

At this rate I honestly don't think it's going to be long before people start asking serious questions about the (behaviourally) addictive nature of certain aspects of gaming and how they're being abused. I mean, certain mechanics have always been open to abuse, and that's one thing, but once they actively start trading on it to push junk food on vulnerable people then it becomes something else. I say 'vulnerable' because I think anybody who is prepared to pay in order to chase an arbitrary XP loop has probably lost perspective and been rendered vulnerable to it by behavioural addiction. It's not like you're getting more game here, like an exclusive map to play on or something, you're just getting a bar to fill up quicker, the speed of which can be freely manipulated by the game operator anyway. It's not a million miles away from a gambling habit once it becomes something you feel the need to keep throwing money at.

The fact that they're using it to push junk food doesn't help either. It just looks like they're actively encouraging their customers to live an even unhealthier lifestyle, so that they will end up spending even more time sat on their ass throwing money at their XP loop masquerading as a game. Using it to push junk food of all things seems very self-serving and very cynical of them.

Achievements are another aspect of gaming which are open to abuse and I think could easily be monetised if they wanted to. It's not been much of an issue so far, because the companies handling them have shown a little restraint. Addictive mechanics being open to abuse isn't really a problem in itself; it's when they start actually being abused -which I would argue they are here- that it becomes a problem.

This is futile.

This game is going to get hacked to shit like the previous games, saddos will pay for hacks to get prestige points, the world is still spinning.

Haha, awesomely written post OP.

@Branthog: I'd be set for that if they did something along the lines of "buy gas, get free stuff".

Next week, EA announce their innovative Double-Double XP promotion with their sponsors: Dr Pepper and Satan.

Whatever they do I can totally see them whoring it out over the menus/screens in the game too - as is the EA way. At least Activision generally keep the out of game promotions out of the game.

Is this a real thing? That's pretty disgusting.

At this rate I honestly don't think it's going to be long before people start asking serious questions about the (behaviourally) addictive nature of certain aspects of gaming and how they're being abused. I mean, certain mechanics have always been open to abuse, and that's one thing, but once they actively start trading on it to push junk food on vulnerable people then it becomes something else. I say 'vulnerable' because I think anybody who is prepared to pay in order to chase an arbitrary XP loop has probably lost perspective and been rendered vulnerable to it by behavioural addiction. It's not like you're getting more game here, like an exclusive map to play on or something, you're just getting a bar to fill up quicker, the speed of which can be freely manipulated by the game operator anyway. It's not a million miles away from a gambling habit once it becomes something you feel the need to keep throwing money at.

The fact that they're using it to push junk food doesn't help either. It just looks like they're actively encouraging their customers to live an even unhealthier lifestyle, so that they will end up spending even more time sat on their ass throwing money at their XP loop masquerading as a game. Using it to push junk food of all things seems very self-serving and very cynical of them.

Achievements are another aspect of gaming which are open to abuse and I think could easily be monetised if they wanted to. It's not been much of an issue so far, because the companies handling them have shown a little restraint. Addictive mechanics being open to abuse isn't really a problem in itself; it's when they start actually being abused -which I would argue they are here- that it becomes a problem.

This is awesome. And when I say awesome, I mean fucking ridiculous. But you have to give the guy who thought this up props, because it is going to sell some mountain dew and Doritos.

@Branthog said:

I suspect that the argument would be not only that they aren't forcing anyone to buy anything, but that they're not encouraging people to buy more junk food as much as they're just coaxing consumers to -- hey, while you're getting some convenience store grub -- buy our brand.

I suppose it's how this actually plays out which will tell us just how addictive or not these mechanics possibly are. If it really does just result in a sales shift from one brand to another then, well, it's still kinda tasteless, but not that big a deal. But if it results in total market sales going up noticeably, and people buying more junk food than they really want just because they want an XP multiplier, then I think it does raise questions. If it does become accepted that these metagame mechanics are addictive enough that people will pay to get ahead / keep up, then how long will it be until they are just straight up charging people to compete in an XP or 'Achievement' score virtual arms race? Will that still be ok? Because personally, I have no doubt there are a significant number of people who would pay for XP or Cheevo booster packs if they offered them.

As for this junk food promotion specifically, I'm not sure if it's something which necessarily requires a legal solution, or more of a Super Size Me scenario where the companies involved need to be exposed as plainly not giving a fuck about the well-being of their customers and shamed into acting a little more responsibly.

In slightly related news, the HERO who invented Doritos has died: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/220002/20110926/doritos-arch-west-dead.htm

I think it's silly, but I don't get why it's an outrage.

@crusader8463 said:

I think it's silly, but I don't get why it's an outrage.

Yep. Especially since "you can only redeem up to twenty-four hours worth of time on a single account." You would think the permanent XP boost we'll get for our clans through Cod Elite would cause a bigger stir.

Frankly, people are acting a tad bit high and mighty as far as the whole "gamers being painted in a negative light" thing, simply because games are being marketed alongside Doritos and Mt. Dew. I'd almost be inclined to agree if we didn't live in a world of pizza lan parties, the Spike VGAs and that South Park WoW episode.

And lets not pretend like CoD isn't marketed alongside with Monster Energy promotions every year, either.

Well that's certainly some unique marketing cross promotion.

It's not quite the same thing to say "marketed along with" and "the more snacks you buy, the more XP you get". There is a distinct difference there, though they're both sides of the same coin. Also, we do live in a world of Spike VGAs and people generally agree that they are terrible and do a fair bit in their own attempt to set back the perception of gaming, too.
 
If you were going to do this with any game, I can't think of one better than a COD. Still, it's hard to equate it to movie promotions, even. You might have a shitty movie where you can get half off your theater ticket with proof of purchase from Taco Bell -- but that isn't rewarding you for massive amounts of purchases.
 
It's definitely fair of us to note that while people may purport games to be art just as movies are, games and movies both have a wide spectrum to cover. Some of both are definitely pieces of art while others are cheap, sadless, bad, embarrassing shlock with all the lame mass market tie-ins that you can possibly get.
 
I've seen plenty of people all over the place commenting on how lame and classless it is, but I haven't seen anyone "high and mighty" about it. It's curious. It's interesting. It's kind of sad. But more than anything, it just kind of seems like a bit of "WTF?", because an industry wanting to be taken so seriously as art one moment is doing something that opens them up to such criticism the next. You and I may say "wow, that's kind of idiotic, but whatever", but this kind of thing is definite ammo that they're just handing over to the same type of people who think every game should be Imaginez: Babies, for the "sake of the children".
 
As for the clans XP boost thing. Yeah, I don't know why that isn't a bigger deal than it is. I was tempted to say "because almost nobody is in a clan", but that seems like even more reason for more people to dislike it.

Double diabetes amirite?

@Branthog said:

You see similar promotions (buy this thing and get a discount on your ticket to that movie), but you don't see them for, say . . . Schindler's List. It does seem a bit stereotypical to suggest "hey, people who like videogames like soda and chips!". Almost like (and I'm stretching here, obviously) doing a grape Kool-Aid promotional offer for a Tyler Perry movie.

I understand what you're trying to say but this is a piss-poor comparison.

@Branthog: I just realized how successful this campaign is going to be. That promo I mentioned for MW2 and Monster suckered me into picking up a 4-pack one time, for the chance at a map pack or a Jeep™. Ended up with a lame dashboard theme or something. And that was just for a chance to get something.

On a side note, I'm wondering if they would ever hold a double XP event just for Elite members. That would be twice as dirty.

I totally had a good point I was going to make but I forgot because I can hear my neighbor practicing her stupid flute.

AMERICA!

Fuck it all.

pretty good i guess. i don't plan on getting  modern warfare 3 but good. it probably is going to be good for a lot of promotions for modern warfare 3 because of the hype that it is going to get. 
 
you know us americans we are fat people. just think of fat people with mountain dew and doritos everywhere.

@Branthog said:

In slightly related news, the HERO who invented Doritos has died: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/220002/20110926/doritos-arch-west-dead.htm

"The 97-year-old died of natural causes"

That's not bad for a guy who created Doritos lol.

How much XP time do you get for insulin?

It's an interesting idea, actually...

Lame. I drink ridiculous amounts of Mt. Dew, but I don't play CoD at all.

I will almost guarantee you that somebody will simply buy 32 cases of Mountain Dew and not even drink it, just so they can get 24 hours of Double-XP.

bought a MT dew from the vending machine in my University today, it had a code. The Doritos though did not, probably because they have a longer shelf life. Just as a note I did not buy these for the code, I just buy these two snacks on Mondays because I'm at school late and I like them.

@Branthog said:

You see similar promotions (buy this thing and get a discount on your ticket to that movie), but you don't see them for, say . . . Schindler's List. It does seem a bit stereotypical to suggest "hey, people who like videogames like soda and chips!". Almost like (and I'm stretching here, obviously) doing a grape Kool-Aid promotional offer for a Tyler Perry movie.

I understand what you're trying to say but this is a piss-poor comparison.