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.'"

Comments

Skewed results

[igotmybfg]

How I act when I play online is pretty different my normal behavior, and I suspect that it's the same way for most people. We play these online games because they let us escape from our normal problems & fears, so why would they expect our behavior in a fantasy land to parallel our real lives?

Re:Skewed results

[CastrTroy]

But if they can find that they differ consistently, then they can still get some important information. For instance, if they found that people who spend all their time killing boars in the woods also drink a lot of Mountain Dew, then if you started killing lots of boars in the woods, then they'd show you ads for Mountain Dew. Not to say you like Mountain Dew, but people in your demographic do, and that's good enough for them.

Re:Skewed results

[Anonymous Coward]

Based solely on in-game behavior, Google has come to teh startling conclusion that 98% of humans are racist homophobic white men. The other 2% are hot teen female cheerleaders.

Re:Skewed results

[the dark hero]

...so why would they expect our behavior in a fantasy land to parallel our real lives?

I don't think they understand the concept of role playing games. While many people have virtual traits that parallel their personality it still isn't enough to determine a target audience. This is just plain silly and intrusive. When i pay for a service like that i don't want to see ads. However, if they made a subscription MMO for free, but with adverts. Why not?

Re:Skewed results

[tibike77]

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.

Re:Skewed results

[Mr_Toph]

"All this killing... why do I have a sudden urge for Mountain Dew..."

Re:Skewed results

[symes]

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.

Re:Skewed results

[steveo777]

Can you see the new commercials? A night elf female ranger and a male dwarf warrior hacking away in some EXTREME fashion at boars and shouting, "Do the Dew" or whatever catch-phrase they're using these days.

Re:Skewed results

[the dark hero]

I think you underestimate the game part as well. I play World of Warcraft because I play a game. And my behavior between the two are not the far apart. If I wanna play a role, I can as well, and then those results won't be accurate anymore, but much of the time I wanna play a game and if someone piss me in the game, there is a good chance he'd piss me in real life. I don't take the time to change my behavior just for the sake of it.

I understand the game aspect of it all, but you're immersed in a virtual world. You may respond to stimuli the same, but your reaction is quite different. If someone pisses you off in game do you cuss them out? Do you proceed to beat them? Will you react the same in real life? I'm more of a diplomat and a pacifist than i am a fighter, but when i play games (including MMOs) i become ravenous and i'm not even trying to roleplay. I use sly tactics in games when in real life i'm rather honest. Gaming (esp online) changes you wether you notice it or not.

Re:Skewed results

[dave562]

The reality of the situation is that YOU are the same person on a deeper, subconscious level no matter if you're playing a game, or hanging out in real life. While you are playing online you might manifest different aspects of your personality in different ways. However, marketing can still be targetted to THAT portion of your personality. To think of it another way, if you're in your online world and view that as an escape from "real life", you'd probably be even more succeptible (sp?) to ads that target your "online" persona than you would be to ads that try to engage your RL persona. In other words, if you saw something that reminded you RL, you'd reject it because it was breaking your fantasy experience. But if you saw something to the effect of, "Raiding is taxing. Redbull gives you the wings you need to make it through that next boss fight."... you might consider, "Ya, some caffeine would be good right now. Better go get some Redbull."

Hi, this is Google GameAds...

[cliffiecee]

We've noticed that you're playing a female character. Perhaps you'd like to *BE* a woman, all the time? Here's some links to popular transvestite and sex-change informational sites. Enjoy!

Re:Hi, this is Google GameAds...

[Timesprout]

We've noticed you like to team kill a lot. Here is a list of positions currently open with Microsoft. Enjoy!

Re:Hi, this is Google GameAds...

[ericlondaits]

"Interested in purchasing a CAMPER van?"

In soviet russia...

[davecrusoe]

Evil does no Google! But this is the US, and Google does no evil. Er... right?

Re:In soviet russia...

[sinij]

I don't understand why people still buy 'no evil' from Google. Google is large corporation that is driven by profit generation, and like Microsoft or Monsanto, will perform tasks that do not benefit or improve wellbeing of general population in order to turn profit.

I personally find advertising in games extremely detrimental to my enjoyment of them. Advertising detracts from my leisure gaming activities, breaks immersion and attempts to brainwash me into purchasing things I don't want by playing off my fears and desires while all I want to do is relax and escape these fears and desires of everyday life.

Why advertising must be involved in all of our activities? A lot of people would be pissed if their favorite park gets plastered with billboards, why games should be exception?

A lot of people will respond to this in knee-jerk manner with something along 'it will blend into game environment and it will be non-obtrusive'. To that I respond - advertising designed to grab your attention, it ether does it or you might not bother with it in a first place, since it does not work.

Last but not least, to deliver targeted and personalized advertising Google need to collect personal information bout you. Regardless of how they do it I still see it as breach of privacy and concerned that such information will not only linger but also has a potential to be abused.

Google, keep the frak out of my games! I strongly suggest any gamers serious about future enjoyment of our shared hobby to avoid any titles with advertising.

Just look at modern television - its not uncommon to have 15 minutes of each hour wasted with advertising. That is QUARTER of your leisure time WASTED. Convert this into hours over a period of one year and then multiply it by your hourly salary. Not sure about you, but I can't afford such expensive past time as watching adds.

rpgs -- dialogue inaccurate for targeting?

[Red Flayer]

"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).

So now all the balding, overweight middle-aged men playing hot female characters in rpgs will be targeted with ads for cosmetics and tampons?

Awesome.

Seriously, though, this makes me wonder if people who truly roleplay are going to be served ads based on their in-character dialogue -- could lead to some interesting (and profitless for the company being advertised) ads being served.

Not that there's much roleplaying in most popular games anymore, other than the above-mentioned example.

Obligatory PA comic

[MeanMF]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/19

Dynamic types

[RichMan]

I will be "polite" until I encounter an in game add.
I will then become "profane" for a short period of time.

blargh

[djasbestos]

Am I the only one who is sick of:
a) being advertised at during things I ALREADY FUCKING PAID OUT THE NOSE FOR?!?! (Movies, games, etc)
b) yet more additions to the Patent Minefield. I seriously fear that if I ever try to be innovative, I'm going to wake up in the (proverbial) hospital with my (proverbial) bits and legs blown off and a couple million dollars in "doctor's" fees.

Re:blargh

[Sporkinum]

I didn't buy Battlefield 2142 due to the in game ads. My son bought it though, but did so only after finding out it was trivial to block the advertisements. They playfields are littered with blank billboards now. BTW, I like the way BF2142 plays, but there are a lot less servers available than BF2. Judging from the scuttlebutt I have heard, it is due to paying $40 for a game that is full of ads. Targeted ads would be even more annoying.

Re:blargh

[MeanderingMind]

Problem: GP doesn't like advertisements in video games he paid for.
Proposed solution: Get a job.
Solution benefits: Money, possible health and retirement plans.
Solution detriments: Doesn't do anything about ads in video games the GP paid for.
Conclusion: Proposed solution is completely irrelevant to the problem.

"As someone who likes shooting people...

[u-bend]

...we've noticed that other people who like shooting people purchased the following semi-automatic rifles."

Annoying ADS!!!

[LordBafford]

It's already in CS 1.6, and I find it annoying, but I can deal cause at least ti is just games off steam ads, like TFC2 and Portal. If I buy future games and it is plastered with Coke, Ford, and GAP ads or crap like that I will just return it. Ads are just wasted space fr something else. Now I do remember a CS map that had a bunch of phony ads a while back that were funny. that was ok cause it was part of the map. They made fake billboard ads for a town.

I don't watch tv or listen to radio

[SmallFurryCreature]

It ain't because I do not like tv. Well I don't, the recent drive to reality tv is one I could do without, but mostly it is because I just don't have time for the ads. Since tv programs are interrupted by them and I just don't have the patience to wait the 5+ minutes before the program resumes I just don't watch anymore.

Radio? The same story. Apart from the fact that I just don't like a lot of modern music, I also just don't want to have 5+ minutes of ads before the news and 5+ minutes after and that is if you don't count the station jingles as ads. Just how much ads do you need to play some music?

I run an ad-filter on my pc to filter ads, google including.

I have a NO-NO sticker on my door wich in the netherlands is the legal way to force ad companies to not post ads in your physical mail box.

GET THE FUCKING PICTURE! I DO NOT WANT YOUR GODDAMNED ADS!

It ain't even the principles of ads that upsets me but that the majority of them are so damned annoying. I suppose an annoying ad you notice you work better, I am probably the only person in the world who absolutly refuses to buy products related to annoying ads (or so ad-companies seem to think), but they annoy me.

And now they want ads in games. Right.

Google has the motto "do no evil". Am I the only one who realizes that the slogan of an ad company is not worth a goddamn thing?

Other ads

[Hoi Polloi]

"We see you are being owned, could we interest you in a Logitech controller?"
"You've been playing for 13 hours straight, click here to see free information on pressure sore care and heart disease."
"Wow, your reflexes really suck! How about some Red Bull?"
"We've noticed you always play the Axis in BF1942. Could we interest you in some Nazi memoriabilia?"
"GTA fan, click on this ad for a special offer from Glock firearms."

I was against this...

[2008]

...but then I realised that getting served adverts like "Upgrade your Zerglings TODAY" and "Scourge now two for one at all hatcheries" would actually be pretty cool.