No, it's not some super secret plan to circumvent FISA or broadcast "Google Is Peace, Everyone Else Is Slavery" over your PC speakers. But it is a bit disturbing, if you, like me, prefer to take your advertisements on your own terms (muting commercials or excising them entirely with recorders) and not the advertisers'.
You know how Amazon aggregates your shopping habits and, even if you explicitly tell it to stop, still tosses basic recommendations at you via intractable cookies? Google wants to do that and much more to online gamers. According to IT Wire, Google last month filed a patent in both the U.S. and Europe which outlines plans to profile people according to their conduct in virtual worlds. And we're not just talking the safe, anonymous "how much do you play" sort of metric either. From the patent:
"User dialogue (e.g., from role playing games, simulation games, etc) may be used to characterise the user (e.g., literate, profane, blunt or polite, quiet etc). Also, user play may be used to characterise the user (e.g., cautious, risk-taker, aggressive, non-confrontational, stealthy, honest, cooperative, uncooperative, etc)."
IT Wire adds--and I can't tell whether this is from the patent or speculative--that "If the user has been playing for over two hours continuously, the system may display ads for Pizza Hut, Coke, coffee."
We already know from early studies that in-game ads will have to mesh seamlessly with their environments to be successful. Frodo munched lembas on his trek south from Lothlorien, not Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki foot-longs, and I doubt the Night Elves of Teldrassil would know what to make of Pepsi One. But even assuming they get the integration right, somehow...do you really want anyone directly and quite specifically monitoring your game playing activities, much less feeding you ads tailored just for you?
My take: File this under "opt out" to the point of "won't play" if I'm not allowed to turn it off completely.
If I can OPT IN and get a reduced monthly subscription fee then please count me in.
We all are faced with ads, already, everywhere. At least this way they'd be tailored to what I actually care to purchase.
Who knows, maybe it will help support an economy of products I care about---and not just another shade of iPod?
The author needs to reasses his grandios stance on this matter as well before placing his blog entry surrounded by AD BANNERS. ***HELLO ANYONE IN THERE??? KNOCK ON HEAD***
Tom
You do me too much credit in terms of the ads above, which of course have nothing to do with your browsing habits here (as far as I know). That said, much as I don't like 'em, I have no problem with basic in-game ads. I just have a problem with ones that target me without my consent. Optional? Fine. But for the same reasons I'd rather not have a floating camera following me around in my "real life" monitoring my every action, I don't want that camera tracking me (at the level described in the patent) in a virtual environment for any reason whatsoever.