Evony... Evolution of a banner ad

First of all, I am not at all complaining about the blog ad. After all, we know that Doodi has to put up ads to keep the lights on, and he only gets a certain number of vetos. And I do NOT want to even know what he vetoed. Actually, scratch that. Doodi: exactly what do you veto? Tell us a story, Doodi!

Onto the topic at hand. We have all seen the Evony banner ad: sounds like one of these browser based MMOs. I have never played one, so I have no idea what they are like. What I have found interesting is how the ad has changed over the last few weeks and months. When the ad first came out, it was actually called "Civony" looked rather RPG-y. You had a Lady, with the tag "Build your Empire" and "Free Forever"  or something of that nature. The Lady was followed by a picture of a Fairy:

Cute girl... geez. Looks like a fun game. Then the name change and the Knight,with the same tag.

Alright... a change from the usual: let's remind the people that it's still a game, right.? Gotta have a bit of hack n slash in an RPG!  He was quickly taken down for "Save your Queen"  tag. There were two pictures if I remember correctly. The first (this one pictured) your  Queen just seemed pathetic. Looking up at you with her big blue yes... Save me cause I'm a stupid little thing who can't save myself. blarg.  The other one she actually looked a bit more frightened .  The sword was in front of her more, she seemed more in danger.

But, then a sharp turn into sexy...

Why yes, I am bored at the office, and since porn is in the office is  illegal, of course I will play! She looks like she is ... enjoying herself  in the sunshine.  um.  Huh. Can I play this at work and not be fired for sexual harrassment?  Honestly, now I really don't know which way this is slanting.

Now look up, look WAY up to the banner ad above. You've seen it. Evony has foresaken a painted figure and we are now staring at a beautiful blonde woman, but she is in modern day dress, not wearing fantasy type clothing. She is wearing a nice bra and a dress that is OBVIOUSLY pulled down to look sexy. Very cheap looking, actually.

But where is the RPG? Where is the gaming? Makes me wonder, if Civony was a game, and marketed as such, what changed that they had to do a shift and market it as soft porn.  Oh I get that sex sells, but guys, it's the internet. If I want porn, I can kinda find better stuff easily.  Don't you think people are gonna be upset when they click on Evony and find out that it's just an RPG? I  thought that gamers were a) more picky about their games, and b) more picky about their porn. This seems like htey are trying to mask the game with the non-existant porn.

It's just been an odd shift from "Build your Empire" to "Save the Queen" to "Play (me) now my Lord"

Thoughts?

PS: No asking Doodi to take down the ad. This makes him $. It's everywhere anyway... nothing we can do about it now.