Can I watch my own ads?

[dehdar]

My game is now in production. It has been released.
Question: Am I allowed to play it myself and watch ads? It’s no longer in development or test. It has been published on playstore.

[mikaisomaa]

Hi,

You can play it yourself, but it’s a good practice to mark your device as one of the test devices to ensure you don’t accidentally break our terms of service. You can add test devices from the Unity Ads publisher dashboard under tab “Test devices”.

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But then, how is it recognized that I, the developer, am playing my game with my phone?
I don’t understand it.
And my family would be allowed to watch the ads?

Thanks.

[system]

I think I’ve found the article about that:

4. Invalid Activity.

4.1. You will not, nor will you authorize or encourage any third party to, use any fraudulent, deceptive or other means to simulate, manipulate or increase impressions, views, taps, clicks, downloads, installs or other User actions relating to any Advertisements (“Invalid Activity”), including, but not limited to, engaging in any of the following activities: (i) running of “robots”, “spiders” or other automated computer generated requests, (ii) encouraging Invalid Activity with offers of cash, prizes, incentives, gift cards, vouchers or anything of value (except for Rewarded Offers that are in compliance with this Agreement), (iii) using a design in any Application that encourages or is likely to lead to Invalid Activity or other unintended impressions, views, taps, clicks, downloads, installs or other User actions, (iv) manipulating or misrepresenting device ids, geolocation or other User information; (v) hijacking of an end user’s device; or (vi) automatic Advertisement refreshes. The determination of what constitutes Invalid Activity will be determined in Unity Ads sole discretion.

4.2. Unity Ads is not obligated to pay you any amounts associated with Invalid Activity, as determined in Unity Ads’ sole discretion. You agree that if Unity Ads determines that Invalid Activity has occurred, Unity Ads may deduct any amounts as are determined by Unity Ads in its sole discretion from amounts otherwise payable to you, and that you will reimburse Unity Ads for losses associated with Invalid Activity, as determined in Unity Ads’ sole determination, immediately upon demand by Unity Ads.

4.3. You may make rewarded video Advertisement inventory available within the Applications, provided any and all rewards provided to Users in connection with viewing such Advertisements must be virtual (i.e., in-application content or in-application currency) and not for (or redeemable or transferable for) real-world goods, services, cash or anything else of monetary value, such as gift cards or vouchers (Advertisements in compliance with the foregoing, “Reward Offers”). You are solely responsible and liable for all Rewarded Offers and you agree to fulfill the terms thereof.

Not sure about playing your own game in order to increase impressions and how Unity Ads would be able to determine that you did it. The sentence “The determination of what constitutes Invalid Activity will be determined in Unity Ads sole discretion.” is quite ominous.

[mikaisomaa]

About invalid activity in general: If a lot of the revenue is attributable to a handful / single device(s) - it’s a telltale sign something is awry. There’s many other factors that are evaluated in analysing fraud and some unclear cases might require closer investigation.

Stay safe and if in doubt - asking the support first is a good idea.

Remember that marking your devices as test devices also lets you test faster, as the test ads are very short.

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But with the limit of 25 ads per day and per user it couldn’t be invalid activity, could it?

I mean, without limit I could simply watch ads until I get tired and it would be very suspicuous but with the limit I don’t know how a single device could be generating a lot of revenue.

Thanks.