No More Advertising!
Nobody emailed me about it. There was no outcry. Heck, maybe nobody even noticed – but in case they did I want to personally apologize for the Grand Theft Auto IV banner ad that’s been running on this site over the past week. It’s not an actual ad, but a part of a service most websites use called Google Adsense. It’s a clever little program that analyzes your blog and puts up paid ads (paid to Google – then paid to webmasters based on viewership) based on what you’re talking about.
See? Not a problem for 99% of gaming sites, but for us, we just can’t have this. Of course we don’t recommend this game for families (parents? sure, but not the kids) So, GamerDad is going AD FREE for the time being. Click More to find out what else I’m doing about this
GamerDad has never really carried a lot of paid advertising. Partially this is because I’m picky (I turned down a small fortune in gambling website ads) and partially this is because I’m too busy being GamerDad to track down and convince advertisers. Besides, I make decent money with out it.
For the record, these are the ads we’ve run:
Alawar Entertainment (a small indie/casual game website)
Puzzle Pirates (one of my favorite Internet games for kids)
Pop Culture by Christopher Healy (I’m quoted extensively in this book)
Penny-Arcade Expo (because I’m a featured speaker there)
Child’s Play Charity (obvious reasons)
Yeah, that’s it, for 5 years. So why not make it official? Until I can find an advertising solution that is not about recommending a certain company’s games, or products I think are bad for families, there will be no paid product advertising on GamingWithChildren from now on. That leaves more room for helpful links and features, and less absurd situations like my having an ad for Grand Theft Auto IV on my front page!
This DOES NOT mean I’m not open to advertising or sponsorship in the future – so if you represent a parent friend product or industry that’s not game related, click that email link to your right and up. But for the time being and foreseeable future?
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