Will Mountain Dew promotion cause unfair advantages in 'Modern Warfare 3′? - Video Game Writers

Written by Dylan Garner | Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Back in August, Activision announced a promotion with Pepsi's popular Mountain Dew soft drink. Through the promotion, with the purchase of a traditional Mountain Dew or a new Game Fuel flavor, buyers will be able to redeem codes that will get them double experience on Modern Warfare 3′s multiplayer. This same promotion is being done with Doritos. While this seemed like a harmless and fairly normal advertising campaign (we've seen similar things from World of Warcraft and Rock Band), Forbes contributor Paul Tassi has found some offense with it, calling the promotion "nothing short of unholy."

"Why is this a problem? Because XP is currency in these games, and whoever has more of it first is at a distinct advantage. More XP, especially when the game is new, means more weapons, more perks, more attachments, more killstreaks, and subsequently, usually more wins. Offering Double XP to someone who purchases Pepsi products is selling out about as much as you can, and for a franchise that's already been accused of pushing the limits with "Elite" monthly membership and overpriced map packs, it goes to show that Activision will exploit its fans in any way they can."

XP may be the currency, but no amount of XP can override the talent and practice needed to stay competitive in Call of Duty. His main point is that the double XP is making the game unfair for those who put in a ton of time, without buying Doritos and Mountain Dew to boost them along. As an avid Call of Duty player and stereotypical Mountain Dew addict, my first reaction was, "wait, what?"

I completely sympathize with the idea that promotions shouldn't give players an extra advantage, but does double experience really count as an unfair advantage? In the Call of Duty world, everyone loves to level up, but rank means much less than it appears to matter to some in this situation. Rank simply unlocks some new weapons and perks, which as any Call of Duty enthusiast knows, may not mean anything towards quality of weapons.

Targeting this promotion for the sake of competition online was a misfire.

Ask the M16 in every game it has been in.

I also fail to see how this is more of a cash-in or sell out than any other game promotion. As previously mentioned, Rock Band had a significant promotion with Pepsi a couple summers ago where they were giving away tracks through individual bottles. Mountain Dew has also had the Game Fuel brand set up with World of Warcraft Horde and Alliance flavors for a few years, not to mention other games that have taken advantage of the exact same promotion.

In fact, it's a scheme we see in Free-To-Play games constantly, not to mention the majority of pre-order incentives (early access to weapons, faster XP, exclusive guns) for major game releases.

The main issue I have is that he considers the junkfood argument to be secondary to ruining the competition in Call of Duty. Enticing kids to tell their parents to buy as much Mountain Dew and Doritos as possible might actually be worth making a fuss about, because that can have serious health effects if you compare it with how much Call of Duty people play.

Personally, I am a fan of Mountain Dew and Doritos products already, so I'll just be getting a slight boost in my prestige time. Claiming this is any more than the most basic of cross-promotional advertisements is definitely flawed, and Tassi's argument is a misfire.

[Editor's Note: The opinions expressed by the author are his alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of VGW]

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29 Sep, 2011

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