BrettArchibald
04-30-2009, 07:05 AM
I got notification this morning of a couple of games that had updates waiting to be downloaded, and so I went to read what was new under the appropriately-titled "What New In This Version" section, as I always do.
And I hafta say, I was somewhat irked to see that, alongside the usual expected one line of text describing "minor bug fixes", there was also an additional two paragraphs of advertising, where the developer thought it would somehow be appropriate to reel off a list of their other games available and also a list of their sales!
This happened with two games, but one of them was more blatantly over the top than the other.
The other thing to note is that I checked these updates on my iPhone which normally lists *ONLY* the changes under What's New, and does *NOT* include the usual main paragraph description text that you would normally see when just browsing for the app.
I initially saw this to be a pretty blatant abuse of the "What's New" section, and thought developers should not be using this to advertise their other products. And I do still think that, but I'm just wondering if I'm in the minority here?
I mean, is it any different to saying the same thing in the main main paragraph description text?
I'm guessing it *IS* different, because advertising in the main description could be considered helpful to the customer if they are looking for more information or similar products, and it's unobtrusive.
I feel that advertising in the What's New section *IS* obtrusive, because that's a unique section where customers go to find very specific information.
Whatever, I just hope it isn't a trend that's gonna spread...
Thoughts?
And I hafta say, I was somewhat irked to see that, alongside the usual expected one line of text describing "minor bug fixes", there was also an additional two paragraphs of advertising, where the developer thought it would somehow be appropriate to reel off a list of their other games available and also a list of their sales!
This happened with two games, but one of them was more blatantly over the top than the other.
The other thing to note is that I checked these updates on my iPhone which normally lists *ONLY* the changes under What's New, and does *NOT* include the usual main paragraph description text that you would normally see when just browsing for the app.
I initially saw this to be a pretty blatant abuse of the "What's New" section, and thought developers should not be using this to advertise their other products. And I do still think that, but I'm just wondering if I'm in the minority here?
I mean, is it any different to saying the same thing in the main main paragraph description text?
I'm guessing it *IS* different, because advertising in the main description could be considered helpful to the customer if they are looking for more information or similar products, and it's unobtrusive.
I feel that advertising in the What's New section *IS* obtrusive, because that's a unique section where customers go to find very specific information.
Whatever, I just hope it isn't a trend that's gonna spread...
Thoughts?