ABSTRACT
As electronic games have become an ingrained part of consumers' recreational life, advertisers have focused their attention on using online gamerelated advertising tactics (Emling 2001; Freeman 2001; Ghose and Dou 1998; Neff 2001). According to Jupiter Media Metrix, some 35.1 million people play online games, and this number is estimated to grow to 104.9 million by 2005 (Hopper 2002). With this potential increase in online garners, advertisers have been experimenting with the strategic idea of advertisingas-entertainment or advergames by incorporating advertising messages into interactive games on commercial Web sites (Nelson 2002). Advergames, designed to blend a company's brand with entertainment, are expected to have a lot of benefits for online advertisers (Emling 2001 ). Advertisers hope that these advergames will capture online users' attention to get their message across. They also hope that the play value of advergames will improve the attitude toward the game, the site, and the game sponsor.
