In-game ads get sophisticated

Online science-fiction game Project Entropia has taken the idea of in-game advertising further. Players have the tools to put up their own ads in the game.

The latest release of the game, created by MindArk PE AB of Sweden, features advertising billboards. Through a PowerPoint-like system, players create animated ads and buy time on the billboards.

So far, the ads have been promoting player-organized in-game events like fashion shows and hunting competitions, as well as businesses like stores and hunting grounds, said Marco Behrmann, MindArk's directory of player relations.

MindArk said it was the first player-oriented advertising tool built into a game.

In another virtual world, Second Life, players who master its tools can create almost anything they want, including advertising, and enterprising players have created their own ad-exchange program on a Web site.