When the Themis folks approached me a few months back about the idea of allowing an advertiser to skin GU, I was vocally skeptical. But when the first bite came from Blizzard, there was no questioning it. I had to give it a shot. The way I saw it, I might as well break fans in on the idea by putting up a skin for a game most of them like.

I was absolutely delighted when the Wrath of the Lich King skin came in and was a blue similar to the blue that usually sits behind the GU design. That would make the skin even more palatable. And quite frankly, I just plain damn think it looks nice back there. My only complaint is its file size.

The WoTLK skin looks great!

I knew something was different when I saw the front page...but I couldn't put my finger on it.

To be perfectly honest, I had to go back and look again to see the skin. I guess after years and years of blinking, flashing, irritating advertisements my mind is numb to anything but the website content.

I didn't even notice it at first, and then i was suddenly noticed that the WoTLK ad look slightly larger than usual. Looks good.

Kaultek are you taking about GU specifically or websites in general. Because I work hard to make sure that the ads on GU are relevant and tasteful. I also increased the size of the comic to lessen the impact of the ads creating more work for myself for the same pay.

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Da Dude, the ads have been the same size for a few years now.

I like the look of the skin, tasteful and at the moment it doesn't detract from the sight.

I think Da Dude was alluding to the same thing I thought when I first noticed it. The Banner was displaying Lich King ad and it kind of flowed into the background which has the same artwork. So it looked like the ad was bigger but then you realize it is just a skin for the background. Anyway I think it looks pretty cool and is subtle enough to mesh with the site well.

Yup. I got his point I was just assuring him the sizes had not changed in years.

I don't know what I'll do if I get approached to accept a skin that I'm not okay with. Because of the nature of my contract I have to be very careful about what ads I refuse and when.

I work for a company that deals in internet marketing platforms and all things related. Now, before everyone tries to find and kill me I must say that I really like the approach that you have here on GU.

Simply to affirm what you've said, Woody. In the years which I've read your comic. I've never seen an ad here that has struck me as irrelevant based on the user group where your comic holds the most influence.

On the topic at hand, I love the skin. Admittedly, there's some bias there as I've always been a fan of Blizzard's artwork and already have 2 copies of wrath pre-ordered. And though the idea of turning everything other than the content of your site into an ad can be a bit troublesome, companies with solid art direction and a mindful consideration of your user can do it right. Blizzard did, and if you work with anyone else in the future I encourage you to use this set up as an example.

As far as the skin, I was talking about the GU website that I had to go back and see to actually 'see' the skin. Blizzard advertising is moot to me in any case, as I already have two reserved copies of the collectors edition locally and i'm currently in the wrath beta, they got me =P.

As far as the blinking/flashing advertisements, or any ad, I really relegate to the same category. You definitely prune your ads well and they are very unobtrusive and relevant to the gaming culture. Sorry if it sounded like I was saying that GU ever had them, bad posting on my part.

Unfortunately most websites just spam any advertisement that will pay them to place it on their website, or use Google ads to 'attempt' to have relevant ads on their website. It's just lead me to train my eyes to only what I'm looking at the website for. The layout of GU really draws your eyes to the comic in any case.