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As I was doing research for my previous entry about multimedia, I recalled visiting this website www.hotel626.com a few years ago. This interactive website is known as an advergame, which is basically an advertisement in the form of a game. Hotel626 invites visitors to participate in a game where players are trapped in a haunted hotel and have to complete tasks to get out of the hotel. To create a multi-sensory experience for its visitors, the game asks you to activate your webcam and to switch on your microphone; both devices will be made use of later in the game. Also, for a more realistic experience, players have to play the game in the dark as the website can only be accessed “after-hours” from 6pm to 6am.

 

The game consists of ten levels, each level will have a unique task or puzzle which you have to complete before moving on. Hotel626 uses audio to enhance the experience of being trapped in a haunted hotel. Whilst playing the game, you will be able to hear the sound of your footsteps, your breath as it quickens and your heartbeat as it races. At the last stage of the game, players in the United States are asked to enter their phone numbers so that they will be able to receive a phone call over their actual mobile phone from a ‘friend’ who will provide the player with directions to exit from the hotel.

I first played this game when I was 17, and it was only a year later when I interned for an advertising firm that I realized hotel626 is an advergame launched by Doritos to promote their 2 new flavours of chips. This shows that many companies utilize multimedia for marketing communication purposes and that this strategy is not limited only to companies that sell multimedia products.