Slashdot Mirror
Google Files Patent to Monitor Gaming For Ads
Tookis writes "In a recent patent filing, Google has proposed a real time profiling of players of online games such as World of Warcraft. Soon players of such games may see in game ads directly designed to appeal to their persona. Last month Google filed a patent in both Europe and the US which outlined plans to psychologically profile people simply by their style of play in popular online games. 'From the patent; "User dialogue (e.g., from role playing games, simulation games, etc) may be used to characterize the user (e.g., literate, profane, blunt or polite, quiet etc). Also, user play may be used to characterize the user (e.g., cautious, risk-taker, aggressive, non-confrontational, stealthy, honest, cooperative, uncooperative, etc)." Taking this a step further, Google also believe if a player likes to explore their new virtual world, that they would be interested in the real world, as such would target the player with travel ads.'"
Well, contrary to "nerdculture" beliefs, the way we play games LONG-TERM actually DOES reflect our personalities and even desires FOR MOST PEOPLE.
However, they don't reflect it directly, they don't reflect it for all people, and they certainly don't reflect it short-term.
And it's a sad thing if "the ad servers" would take everything you do in a game literally, as you do it.
Like, for instance, if you explore the virtual world a lot, it certainly does NOT mean you like to travel in real-life.
Sure, if the exploring in the game world would be purely optional, and you do it a lot even for "non-level-typical" spots, and there's no in-game incentive to go there other than looking at the pretty sights, then and only then COULD you conclude the person controlling the character likes to travel.
By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
Indeed - and one of the more interesting pieces of information they will collect is risk taking attitude. There's a bunch of psychology studies suggesting that risk attitude measured one way (e.g. in a poker game) can explain risk taking in a bunch of other domains. For example, smeone who enjoys gambling would most likely like the odd alcohol drink, or investing in more risky stocks, etc. There are, of course, a lot of other factors which mediate this relationship but when you are aggregating across a large population, as Google are, these predictions can make a lot of sense. But of course, perhaps the simple fact that someone is playing poker on line is enough to say they are risk takers without doing any additional fancy analysis. Still, all very interesting stuff.