Not knowing more about Evony's business model, I think this is likely an example of optimizing for the wrong metric - in this case clicks versus conversions. The creator of the last ad is probably thrilled that it's "performing" better than the earlier ads, although I'll bet the actual return on investment is the same or worse.

On the other hand, if the site is ad-supported in addition to the freemium model mentioned in the article, this is a way to drive up the number of unique visitors in their traffic stats.

for all we know the clicks are translating into sales. I mean why else would they slowly optimize it for more boobs?

I imagine it worked something like this:

"check out this civilization like game" = 20 clicks, 1 signup

"BOOOOOOOBS!" = 500 clicks, 2 signups

It may not be targeted advertising, but if it gets them twice as many signups, you can't say it doesn't work.

Dealing with 500 clicks can be a lot more expensive than 20, especially at that conversion rate. Bandwidth, support, contact, etc.

500 clicks for a landing page costs pennies

I'd really like to perform a split A/B test on some of these ads or similar ones to prove one of these theories. I'd rather support the sex gains attention but doesn't sell off topic products assumption at least on the Web.

Btw. I did a similar thing in real life already. A post on "Apple porn" didn't get many click thrues on Apple ads. Something like 0,x %.

However, with the number of random flash games on the net, I wouldn't be surprised if making yourself stand out and get more clicks might be worth it even with a lower conversion rate. If you are still reaching your target audience, and a new add opens up an entirely new audience, you don't really care what the conversion rate on the new audience is because you weren't reaching those people to begin with.

Interestingly, going so far in the extreme will probably get them more press than otherwise. I wouldn't have known the name of this game if it weren't for this article.

I clicked on some of the earlier ads, out of curiosity, and I was presented with a zero-information sign-up page. Eventually I googled around to find some screenshots of the game, to get some idea of what it was like.

I suspect that the curiosity about what the game is, and the fact that most people won't bother to poke around, might make quite a few people enter their details into the game, so it's probably not all that ineffective.

Their target audience is probably

a) Male

b) Bored

c) Not so jaded that they won't click on ads or try something new

d) Interested in rts gaming

So yeah, that’s how you reel in that audience. You control for their interest in gaming by placing the ads on gaming sites.

Additionally, your ad stands out because the gaming sites are clogged with ads for games that involve swords.

Once you’ve got them on your homepage you have the opportunity to show them fullscreen art, shots, animations, etc to actually sell the game.

Yup, these ads really do make them stand out. In the long term the press might be bad, but it's better than no press at all.

Also, yet another online free game with swords doesn't really bring in many clicks. Adding some breasts will bring in people they wouldn't have been reaching otherwise. Even if they have a low conversion rate they are getting customers they wouldn't have otherwise.

No matter how much Jeff and many other people might take the moral high ground, they have to admit that this is nothing more than an appeal to the true nature of an average human (male). The "problem" is not with the advertisers; they are simply doing their job in the most effective manner possible.

Not really sure that applies in this particular case.

First one looks like an ad for a game. I might have clicked that if bored. Second one? The text is kinda odd, but maybe?

Then it just goes downhill fast. Last one looks like I'm signing up for porn site, with free spam until the end of times. I would have never clicked that.

Yeah the 3rd ad onward I thought they were advertising for either a sex fantasy game, a new kind of dating service, or porn. I think advertising like this dilutes your advertising dollars across a broad range of people who are only remotely interested in your product. Sure, they can get a lot of click with boobs, but people clicking on boobs are looking for boobs. If they don't get them, it's ad money wasted. They would probably have more quality leads if they targeted their advertising to paid gaming sites. Those people are already willing to pay for their online games, and are obviously looking for games to play.

But are you their average target customer? That's my real point: people who look down on these sorts of things are not the intended advertising targets.

I don't know, but consider: Their target customer who will actually pay them money is someone who is going to sign up to play a Civilization-like game in their browser, and likes it so much that they're willing to buy in-game perks.

Are those people the sort of people who click on softcore porn banner ads? Could be, but my intuition would have suggested that they aren't.

The people who click on TEH BOOBS don't have to directly convert into paying customers, as just having more people playing adds to network effect.

Maybe that "nerd" target customer does not exist, so they settle for the softcore clients (who might be more willing to pay for whatever, too).

But so that's an admission that they're in the wrong business. They should trash the game and start a softcore porn site.

Their game is a Flash-based Civilization clone with a twist. They are clearly not targeting the average internet user - if they wanted to they would've done it like Playfish and not create games based on medieval Europe.

e.g. Two of the most popular games on Facebook right now involve running your own restaurant or running your own cartoony farm. This is the kind of thing that would hook mainstream users. Knights and ladies of the realm do not.

As a game developer, I find myself clicking on a lot of game ads...both for fun and "research". Out of all of the game ads I've seen, Evony fr. Civony are the only ads out of all of the game ads i have ever seen that I haven't clicked on. And I see them a lot.

Because I see them a lot, it makes me wonder if this means they are actually profitable? They've been running these ads net-wide for at least a year.

I spent a lot of time looking for something akin to "we made the last ad up". And I was shocked to find out that it is real.

Sex sells. Every marketer knows this.

Not necessarily true:

In Buyology [1], the author claims that sexual ads cause the person seeing the ad to remember the sex object and forget whatever was being advertised.

Of course, if you're advertising porn, then a picture of some boobs is probably a good way to get people to click through. But most people aren't advertising porn.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Buyology-Truth-Lies-About-Why/dp/03855...

This is hardly a new development, but it is a particularly ironic example.

Sorry, but apparently these ads managed to gain some extra attention. I don't believe the sex sells mantra (most wankers don't buy unrelated products) but a well known blog like this spreading them is not a bad thing in today's tight attention economy. Displaying sexist ads as "bad" is like beating someone up to show how bad it hurts.