Beginning on Monday, Mountain Dew and Doritos are teaming up with SoCal's Activision to run a killer campaign. Through the remainder of 2011, players buying various quantities and sizes of Mountain Dew's specially marked "Gamer Fuel" flavors will receive codes enabling them to receive double experience points in the new CoD game. Specially marked Doritos bags will provide the same Double XP boost. Players who buy both chips and a drink get a special "combo bonus".
Mountain Dew has sold "Gamer Fuel" sporting big game names before - notably, Halo & WoW. However, this appears to be the first time buying these products has had an in-game impact. This has sparked a small controversy on the "fairness" of this arrangement.
Fortunately, the designers put restrictions in place to prevent any extreme unbalancing issues. For the most part, the more players spend on a purchase, the longer their XP gains last (generally between 15 & 45 minutes per purchase). However, players are limited to a total of 24 hours worth of double XP.
Plenty of games allow players to purchase advantage-bearing virtual items - or tangible items in the case of CCGs. People have always worried a game will be unfair (and unfun) if players can simply buy their level-ups. This concern about money creating unfair advantages is not likely to disappear anytime soon. But as long as designers are diligent in restricting the impact of unbalancing on other players, it could remain a viable monetization strategy. Either way, this campaign will be an interesting one to watch.
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