Microsoft Seeks Patent On Shaming Fat Gamers

theodp writes "A newly disclosed Microsoft patent application — Avatar Individualized by Physical Characteristic — takes aim at fat people, proposing to generate fat avatars in gaming environments for individuals whose health records indicate they're overweight, limiting their game play, and even banning them. From the patent application: 'An undesirable body weight could be reflected in an overweight or underweight appearance for the avatar. Only requisite health levels are allowed to compete in a certain competition level. A dedicated gamer could exercise for a period of time until his health indicator gadget shows a sufficiently high health/health credit in order to allow reentering the avatar environment.' Linking one's gaming avatar to one's physique, explains Microsoft, will produce healthy and virtuous behaviors in individuals. Microsoft also proposes shaping gaming experiences by using 'psychological and demographic information such as education level, geographic location, age, sex, intelligence quotient, socioeconomic class, occupation, marital/relationship status, religious belief, political affiliation, etc.'"

Comments

From TFA:

[jockeys]

"The physiological data can be gleaned from a third party health data collection repository"

As someone who worked in the healthcare industry for a number of years, this seems like a HIPAA violation lawsuit waiting to happen.

Re:*cough* HIPAA

[Mister Whirly]

I work in the medical research field, and trust me, HIPAA does much more to protect your privacy than inconvenience your relatives at the pharmacy (Which may be a store policy and not a HIPAA thing. One pharmacy I went to would not let me fill someone else's prescription, but the next one I went to did. neither mentioned HIPAA as a reason.). It was a huge deal that our division spent 2 years getting ready for, and everyone had to do training on what is legal and what isn't. There was also a lot of behind-the-scenes work done with existing medical data - de-identifying them, randomizing them, etc. Just becasue you are not directly aware of what changed under HIPAA does not mean that nothing changed. HIPAA also gives the law some teeth - if you really think that your privacy was violated by a health provider, report them. This isn't something the courts simply look the other way on anymore.

Re:Digital medical records

[Beardo the Bearded]

Well, I used Wii Fit to level up my rig -- I lost 20 pounds in the first two months while adding a significant amount of mass onto my arms and shoulders.

I'm now at about 165 pounds. My peak weight 10 years ago was about 250.

I note that Mario Kart uses your Mii info to determine what weight class you race in once you unlock yourself. That's probably enough prior art to invalidate this patent.