AdSense on a Virtual Slot Machine

Does that Violate the TOS?

[brighty]

Hi All, what’s the rules with putting Ads on Games... Here’s what I have.

A small PHP based game that pops up and is played in a window. to play the game the user clicks on the Play button (its a fun virtual slot machine, using points). The PHP code randomly creates a new set of reels which reloads the page to display them. Sat at the bottom of the page is a banner which reloads (I guess) each time.
Is this ok? I don't see that I'm doing much wrong and the advert it shows is related to the game the user is playing so a good advertising opportunity.

Advice?

[humblebeginnings]

Dunno Brighty...

"A small PHP based game that pops up and is played in a window."
As I believe, Adsende code is not allowed on pop-ups.

"its a fun virtual slot machine, using points"
Does it look like gambling? Better be careful...

"The PHP code randomly creates a new set of reels which reloads the page to display them."
Google might interprete this as artificially generating page impressions.

Just my 2 cents.

[brighty]

Thanks for your comments

Its not like gambling at all. more a Points based game. Its just the page refresh i'm worried about.
Don't want to get busted.
But I think the person who has the advert there would quite like it as its a good catch.
Its also not really a pop up, more of a page that loads up at a specific size to show the game layout properly.... so don't know about that either.

[MyGen]

Regardless of whether its allowed or not, I think it'd be pretty pointless, its gonna get a dismal CTR, as people are there to play a game, not click ads...

/twopence

[brighty]

But surely one click is better than none... right? regardless of the CTR%

[europeforvisitors]

But surely one click is better than none... right? regardless of the CTR%

Not if it gets you thrown out of the network. Better check with AdSense Support instead of relying on other publishers' guesses.

[brighty]

Fair Comment, I'll post their reply.

[humblebeginnings]

"But surely one click is better than none... right? regardless of the CTR%"

But for the sake of the argument, let's assume Google is ok with your page. Even then it might not be wise to do this. Cause a low CTR could cause the Adsense algo to 'smartprice' you, resulting in lower earnings per click in your entire account. If you are going to do this anyway it might be a good idea to put some content (text) on this page, related to a subject that you think the visitors of that page are interested in. That way, you might get ads that your visitors are interested in, resulting in more clicks...

[JollyK]

For what it's worth, I have seen Google give approval for putting Adsense on gambling-type games like video poker-type things. Maybe it depends on the context? Definitely better to send them the URL and ask, though. I'd be interested in seeing what they have to say.

JK

[brighty]

They replied last night. Looks like a standard response.

Please review our TOS if you have any further questions please see out FAQ.

With ref to the above replies, I'm not to worried about the content of the page and the fact that its a Fun Slot Machine. I was more worried about the amount of page impressions that would be generated by the refresh of the page after each "pull of the handle" on the slot.

I've decided to pull the google ad off and put up a adbrite advert, I'd rather run the risk with them than be kicked from google.