Without question, privacy is one of the major concerns that has emerged as a by-product of the computer age. Generally, we’ve passively accepted the risks it poses as part of the price for new media, connectivity and the convenience. However, for your consideration, I present the following question for all you gamers to contemplate. If information is truly the new currency of the world, how much personal information would you be willing pay with to play the next big release? I can see the first part of the press release in my mind now…
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":650731,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"gbunfiltered,","session":"A"}']“MASTERCARD ANNOUNCES FREE GAME THAT PROMISES TO BE
ON PAR WITH METAL GEAR
December 23, 2009 NY – MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) today announced that it is funding it’s first ever video game for the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBOX 360, and Sony Playstation 3. With title still unannounced, the game will be directed by Hideo Kojima. Kojima, best known for directing the wildly successfully Metal Gear series for multiple consoles, promises a game full of morality choices to be released by Q1 2011.”
Crazy idea? Maybe, but if you can, suspend your disbelief, and try not to get bogged down in the particulars of the wording, or if someone like Kojima would actually accept this kind of project. Instead, consider one big part of MasterCard’s business model that I’ve pulled from their corporate website.
“MasterCard tracks consumer behavior and buying trends around the globe and provides that knowledge to its customers.”
What this means for us is that MasterCard keeps a record of everything that we buy using its credit card. Whether it’s buying World of Warcraft pets, or bottles of Colt .45, it is all recorded analysed, and sold to companies who are deeply interested in not only our buying behavior, but how good we are at repaying our debts. Often times, marketers will also have an interest in this information in the hopes of targeting you for special offers, and I think it’s safe to say that most of us have just accepted, or simply don’t have much of a problem with these two outcomes. So, why would MasterCard have any interest in sponsoring a free game for us? Well essentially, I can’t think of a better way for companies to learn about us than through our gaming behavior.
Don’t agree? Well, consider these facts taken from the Entertainment Software Association :
- “U.S. computer and video game software sales grew 22.9 percent in 2008 to $11.7 billion – more than quadrupling industry software sales since 1996.
- Sixty-eight percent of American households play computer or video games.
- The average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
- The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 39 years old.
- Forty percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (34 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent).
- In 2009, 25 percent of Americans over the age of 50 play video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
- Thirty-seven percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.”
Clearly, gaming is a high-growth industry to be involved in in terms of its reach.
So how could this Mastercard game work? Well, we can all probably agree that from now on, all consoles and gaming services like Steam will stay connected to internet in order to send and receive information from a central company computer. I can’t help, but wonder in the future what could happen to the information that is submitted and collected in lifestyle games like Wii Fit track and record our physical health, and “moral choice” games like Tropico 3, Fallout 3 and Dragon Age: Origins that can (arguably) give a revealing insight into our attitudes, amd our beliefs. Who’s to say that one day this biometric and physchometric information collected by Bioware couldn’t be analysed and sold to compaines who want to predict and track our consumer behavior? To say the least, they would truly be treasure trove for companies that want to get to know us.
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For instance, is there correlation between individuals that choose to destroy Megaton City, your height, weight and age profile on Wii Fit, and your ability to repay your credit card debt? Well, if there is, I’m sure someone would like to find out? Personally, I don’t think the in-game choices I make say much about my psyche. Then again, I wouldn’t want someone analysing and tracking the in-game decisions that I’ve made, and then building a psychological profile of me.
Admittedly, this idea does sound a bit like a tin-foil hat territory, and gaming is just escapist fantasy, right? So, if that’s the case, then why do I have a niggling problem with the idea in the back of my mind?