First the Internet, now the videogame industry. Next thing we know, Google will have its own console in development that only has games that it knows people enjoy most through their use of this technology if the patent is approved.
Yay for Google.
It finally seems like Google may be putting its $23 million acquisition of AdScape to good use. UK newspaper, The Guardian, has caught wind of a patent filed by Google concerning in-game advertising. Judging by the details of the patent, the imposing Internet presence may be readying itself to monitor the games we play, and the way in which we play them.
Google believes that it will be able to track in-game behavior in order to determine crucial information about an individual's purchasing tendencies. The information gathered in this manner could then be sold to advertisers for a pretty penny, we imagine. The details of the patent state that Google will be able to monitor people playing on any game console that hooks up to the Internet, including the PS3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii.
According to the patent, "User dialogue (eg from role playing games, simulation games, etc) may be used to characterize the user (eg literate, profane, blunt or polite, quiet etc). Also, user play may be used to characterize the user (eg cautious, risk-taker, aggressive, non-confrontational, stealthy, honest, cooperative, uncooperative, etc)." Google believes that this information will allow for companies to tailor in-game advertising to make it more "relevant to the user."
Google then cited some fairly ridiculous examples of just how this might play out in actual practice. Players who explore a lot in online games, for instance, "may be interested in vacations, so the system may show ads for vacations." On the other hand, those who spend much of their in-game time communicating with others, might encounter ads for cell phones or other communication-based products. Additionally, the patent covered in-game ad delivery that was not based on behavioral clues. "In a car racing game, after a user crashes his Honda Civic, an announcer could be used to advertise by saying 'if he had a Hummer, he would have gotten the better of that altercation', etc," the patent states. "If the user has been playing for over two hours continuously, the system may display ads for Pizza Hut, Coke, coffee."
Submit a Story
Register
Get Started
Webmaster Tools
Comments with -10 or lower "thumbs" are removed from display.
On another note, this type of tracking can be considered a pretty severe invasion of privacy depending on how broadly Google shares this information, and in my opinion goes against Google's main tenet of "Do No Evil". Will they stop at in game behaviour, or tie your in game behaviour to your web browsing?
Not only that, I'm begining to tire of the product placements in movies already, do we really need that level of invasive advertising in games that we already pay for, and that are already profitable enough?
I was thinking the same thing. This is idiotic and the prices of a stock are ridiculous.