You shouldn't be shocked when you see MMO ads on any site and don't read too much into it. Almost all sites use a paid service to serve up ads on their pages. The ads they serve up are chosen based on tracking data that is gathered while you browse the web via cookies and other trackers.

For that reason, I see ads for EVE-online and other MMOs all the time when I surf. Meanwhile, someone who frequents gardening and horitcultural websites might see banner ads for "Better Home & Gardens" or other related products, and will never see an ad for an MMO.

Banner ads are among the cheapest forms of advertising around, even on the big sites, and it's a natural forum for MMO advertising.

That said, it is rather like preaching to the choir. Banner ads have prompted me to check out some of the independent MMOs but they've never converted me to actually buy the product. I don't think that's a knock on advertising though, it's more reflective of the quality of the products out there.

I think it will be interesting to see what advertising strategies MMOs use in the future. Currently most banner ads are used to spread the word about special offers but they're not often used to simply spread the word that the game actually exists. Perhaps in the future we'll see more strategical advertising where it's less "offer based" and more evangelist in nature.