7-Eleven Stalks Gamers with Slurpee Code Campaign

7-Eleven, which probably numbers a large number of gamers in its regular clientele thanks to its 24-hour operation, has signed a deal with online game provider Nexon America to roll out a promotion that will drive game-players to Nexon’s free Web game sites.

The “Where U Play for Free” campaign, launched Monday in participating U.S. 7-Eleven stores and running through Dec. 31, will offer four Nexon game-branded 22 oz. Slurpee cups featuring characters from four of the developer’s most popular massively multiplayer online (MMO) games: MapleStory, Mabinogi, Combat Arms and a new game not yet in general release, Sugar Rush.

When customers buy a Slurpee in one of the promotional cups, they will also receive a DVD that will enable them to download the games to their computer and get started playing.

And as an added customer incentive, the themed Slurpee cups contain game access codes that allow the users, once inside the game world, to unlock special themed virtual tools, weapons and powers that will help them play the games.

The codes are not specific to the cup themes, so a MapleStory cup will carry an access code that can be used in Combat Arms. Customers can enter their codes and find out more about what they unlock.

In the war game Mabinogi, for example, using the access code can produce 20 virtual Slurpees your character can use in the game to recover his health points. In the role-playing game MapleStory, using a 7-Eleven code brings double experience points for 90 minutes of play. In the Combat Arms online shooter, the access code will equip your fighter with a 7-Eleven branded forage cap and a special weapon in a locked box—also branded.

And Slurpee buyers who use their codes in Sugar Rush will get a chance to take part in that much-anticipated game’s closed-beta development phase, which will last from Nov. 20 through Dec. 4. They’ll also receive three special apparel items their character can use in the game: a 7-Eleven T-shirt, a Slurpee-style wig and cap, and a Slurpee straw weapon. In other words, you can dress up online as a Slurpee. (No word on what that does for your game play.)

7-Eleven has introduced a new promotional Slurpee flavor, Vanilla Crème, to mark the Nexon campaign.

The game co-promotion is the second partnership between 7-Elevem and Nexon America, the North American publishing arm of Seoul-based Nexon Group. While the Nexon games can be played for free, players can also spend cash to quip their avatars with ultra-cool gear and top-shelf weapons; and in November 2007 7-Eleven agreed to sell Nexon-branded game cash cards in many of its stores.

“We’ve see great success with the Nexon pre-paid cash cards, and this partnership further solidifies 7-Eleven as a premier gaming destination,” 7-Eleven senior product director of services Brad Haga said a statement. “Free-to-play games are more popular than ever in North America, and with Nexon, we can deliver a dynamic experience for our customers looking for great entertainment.”

Acceptance into the closed beta phase of Sugar Rush is a highly prized benefit among gaming fans, and some resentment has already appeared in blogs and discussion forums online at the notion that 7-Eleven customers can get guaranteed slots in the trial while other online fans have to apply and wait to be invited in. many of the complaints have come from game fans not near participating stores.

“This is so unfair,” writes one Canadian author, Anbu_Koss, in the Nexon Sugar Rush forum. “there are 7/11 stores all over north america, yet the nexon branded slurpees are sold only in the US. That’s kinda messed.”

But others have been philosophical, like kjrokanoshi: “Yeah it is a bit unfair. If they were going to make prize for buying a slurpee, it shouldn’t have been guaranteed [closed beta] access. But then again…I can’t say I didn’t cave in and buy a slurpee.”

Sugar Rush is slated to launch publicly in 2009. Another Nexon multiplayer game, MapleStory, offers different versions for specific global regions, and the North American game has more than 3 million registered players. Worldwide, the game’s versions have a combined subscriber base of more than 50 million registrants.